Commencement 2009 Dignitaries

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

T. Gary Rogers

T. Gary Rogers is Chairman of Levi Strauss & Co., a company founded and headquartered in San Francisco since 1853.  He also is Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.  He is the immediate past Chairman and CEO of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc., a company he and his partner purchased in 1977, took public in 1981, and sold to Nestlé in 2003. Mr. Rogers has a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Rogers is a director of Shorenstein Properties LLC, Stanislaus Food Products and the UCSF Foundation.  He is a former Chairman of the Bay Area Council and Chairman of the Oakland Chief Executive Officers Council and the Oakland Dialogue.  He is a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Harvard Business School and a member of the Chancellor’s Executive Advisory Council of the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Rogers is the primary benefactor of Lighthouse Charter School, a K-12 charter school serving Oakland youth and is Chairman of Oakland Partnership, a public-private collaborative economic development program.  He is sponsor of the Rogers Family Foundation, a major supporter of the University of California, education and activities for youth in Oakland and the East Bay, Bay Area Hospitals, and medical research and innovation.  He also is the primary benefactor of the University of California Men’s Crew, the T. Gary Rogers Rowing Center, and the California Rowing Club and is a member of the High Performance Committee of U.S. Rowing. 

Mr. Rogers and the Rogers Family Foundation have generously contributed to various projects at Holy Names University. It is with honor that we bestow on him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

PRESIDENT’S MEDAL

Joan Payden, CFA

Joan Payden is the president and CEO of Payden and Rygel, the global investment management firm that she founded in 1983. She is a graduate of the Advancement Management Program at Harvard Business School and she earned a BA from Trinity College in Mathematics and Physics. She is a trailblazer in the field of investment management.

Since 1983, Payden and Rygel has advised corporations, foundations, endowments, pension plans, public funds and individual investors on their overall investment strategies. The firm, headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in London, Dublin and Frankfurt, is the adviser to the Paydenfunds family of no-load, low-expense bond and stock mutual funds. Ms. Payden has overseen the firms’ international expansion and its growth to more than $50 billion in assets under management. Payden & Rygel was named “U.S. Bond Manager of the Year” based on its investment excellence in 2003 by Global Investor Magazine.

Prior to founding Payden & Rygel, Ms. Payden was managing director of West Coast operations for Scudder, Stevens & Clark, where she rose through the ranks to become the first woman partner of the firm. She currently serves on the Board of Visitors of UCLA Anderson School of Management and is a trustee of the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University. Ms. Payden is also a member of the board of directors of the John Tracy Clinic, the California Chamber of Commerce, the LA ’84 Foundation and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. She is past chairman of the Investment Counsel Association of America.  

Ms. Payden is a true philanthropist in the community of Southern California, supporting organizations such as Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Los Angeles; the Union Rescue Mission, the largest, private, homeless shelter in the United States located in downtown Los Angeles's skid row; United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the Union Station Foundation.

Beyond her success as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Ms. Payden has also lent her time and expertise by serving on the Board of Directors of then-Holy Names College from 1976 – 1983. Since that time, she has provided generous support to the University in a variety of ways. Ms. Payden has made outstanding contributions to the growth and development of the University and it is with honor that we bestow on her the President’s Medal.

DUROCHER AWARD

Judith Murphy

Judith Murphy retired in 2008 after serving for 18 years as executive director of the Y & H Soda Foundation in Moraga. She is a native of Los Angeles and attended UCLA and UC Berkeley. She married Roger Murphy in 1959. They have five children, four of whom live in the Bay Area.

During her tenure, the Y & H Soda Foundation grew its assets from $45 million to $150 million, increased its staff from one to eight, and acquired a permanent home in Moraga. It granted more than $79 million to education, health and human services programs in the East Bay, including Holy Names University, St. Mary’s College in Moraga, St. Vincent’s Day Home, FACE (Family Aid-Catholic Education), and Mercy Care and Retirement Center, Oakland.

Mrs. Murphy’s association with the Soda Foundation started in 1979 when she went to work for Y. Charles Soda, a businessman and an original co-owner of the Oakland Raiders. Soda and his wife, Helen, had established the foundation in 1964 to provide financial support to educational, religious and community organizations. After Soda’s death in 1989, Mrs. Murphy was selected by the foundation’s board of directors to serve as executive director. She is currently serving as president of the foundation’s board.

In November 2008 Catholic Charities of the East Bay awarded Mrs. Murphy their annual Catholic Businesswoman of the Year award. CCEB decided this year to begin recognizing outstanding Catholic business women who model the best in religious ethics, in addition to those women who espouse community service and social justice issues.

As an outstanding Catholic business woman and someone who believes that good ethics “should be as natural as breathing in all aspects of life and business”, Mrs. Murphy embodies the spirit and values of Marie Rose Durocher, snjm and it is with honor that we bestow on her the Durocher Award.