Commencement keynote speaker promotes corporate social responsibility

Commencement keynote speaker, CEO and Chairman of American Express, Kenneth Chenault, provided graduates with an unexpected message during a stormy commencement ceremony in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 17.

After applauding the graduates for four years of hard work, Chenault told the new grads something they may not have wanted to hear; “You’re not done,” he said. “You leave with a mission, to take what you learned and lived here, and apply it. This is not just an opportunity, it’s an obligation.”

Responsibility, according to Chenault, who came of age during the era of the civil rights movement and the first environmental movement, is the price successful men and women, no matter what their business, must pay to their society in return for the opportunity to succeed.

“Business exists because society allows it to exist, and in exchange for that permission to pursue profits, business must act in ways that protect and enhance the world we live in,” he said.

This obligation applies just as strongly to the 2010 graduating class of Wake Forest University. “Your school motto, ‘for humanity,’ is not just a meaningless Latin phrase, it’s who you are,” Chenault continued.

“Now it’s your turn to make your mark, you will shape society… not just in your own communities, but in the global community. Enlighten our discourse and determine the future and know how grateful we (the older generation) are knowing that you are not done. Shake up the world!” he concluded.

Visit http://www.wfu.edu/commencement/webcasts.php for the complete Web Cast of Chenault’s speech and the rest of the Commencement ceremony.

Caitlin Brooks, Outreach and Communications Intern