Starting Thursday, Dec. 12, the University of New Mexico will host its commencements for students graduating during the fall semester. The two ceremonies will each feature a keynote speaker: entrepreneur Doug Campbell and St. Vincent Regional Medical Center CEO and President Lillian Montoya.
Campbell is the keynote speaker for the undergraduate ceremony. Campbell, a UNM alum, has a background in engineering and now works as an entrepreneur.
Campbell is a self-described “start-up veteran,” having founded and worked with several tech start-ups such as Solid Power, which makes solid-state rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, according to his website.
Campbell was born and raised in Albuquerque but spent much of his professional career in Colorado. He returned to Albuquerque with the hope of giving back to his community, he said. In addition to giving this year’s keynote address, Campbell is on the Board of Trustees for the UNM Foundation and the Lobo Club.
In 2022, Campbell pledged $5 million to the UNM Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.
“I view having a strong university as central to a robust economy, which we in Albuquerque, New Mexico could use a little help (with),” Campbell said.
Campbell said he hopes to instill and inspire confidence in UNM graduates with his address.
“To put it in very simple terms: The sky's the limit,” Campbell said.
In his industry, his two direct competitors were spin-outs from Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Campbell said.
”Here's a guy with a couple degrees from UNM going head-to-head with companies spun out of some of the world's leading universities,” he said. “So if I can do it, so can you.”
Montoya will deliver the graduate keynote address. She was also born and raised in New Mexico and received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNM.
She said she is glad to have been able to stay in New Mexico and make her own difference. Montoya is the only one of her siblings still in the state, and neither of her kids are in New Mexico, she said.
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“It's been important to me to be able to stay here and not only make a career possible, but to be able to do some really wonderful things with some great people and make New Mexico even better and stronger,” Montoya said.
Montoya said she wants to honor the time and work it takes to complete a master’s degree, particularly drawing on her own experiences completing her master’s degree as a working wife and mom.
“I remember that journey of going back to earn my graduate degree, and the challenges that come with that. For the most part, you're an older student, right? So you already have a lot of life happening,” Montoya said. “And so I want to acknowledge that and celebrate that, because it's one of those things, once you get through it, you don't savor it quite long enough to appreciate the investment you made in yourself.”
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
