Retired Senator John H. Chichester, who represented the Fredericksburg area for nearly 30 years in the Virginia Senate, and Daniel R. Wolfe, an executive vice president for Universal Pictures, will speak at the University of Mary Washington 2010 commencement ceremonies. This year, the university will celebrate graduate and undergraduate commencement in separate events on Friday, May 7 and Saturday, May 8.
John Chichester will address the graduate students at the 7:30 p.m. ceremony on Friday, May 7, in Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall. The Stafford County native played a key role in the establishment of UMW’s Stafford campus.
Chichester was elected to the Virginia Senate for seven consecutive terms and served from 1978 until his retirement in 2008. At that time, he was the longest-serving Republican in the Virginia Senate. He was the Senate’s president pro tempore for the final eight years of his legislative career.
As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and of its Subcommittee on Education, he worked tirelessly on behalf of public and higher education, developing policies and securing funding to enable public schools, colleges, and universities to advance. He also chaired or co-chaired the Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Virginia, the Joint Subcommittee Studying Public Funding of Higher Education in Virginia and the Joint Subcommittee on Administrative and Financial Relationships in Higher Education.
Dan Wolfe, executive vice president of Worldwide Creative Operations for Universal Pictures, will address undergraduates at the 9 a.m. ceremony on Saturday, May 8, in Ball Circle. A 1984 graduate of Mary Washington, he was named the UMW 2004 Distinguished Alumnus. In 2007 Wolfe served as a Distinguished Graduate-in-Residence and currently serves on the College of Business Advisory Board.
Wolfe has been an executive at Universal Pictures for nearly two decades. He oversees a staff of 100 people who provide support for all Universal marketing materials, including theatrical trailers, television commercials, online advertising, print advertising and theme park placement.
During his tenure at Universal he has held several positions, working his way up to department head. He played an integral role in the integration of all NBC Universal’s marketing services worldwide when General Electric purchased NBC Universal in 2004. He has been involved in more 350 films, including “Fast & Furious,” “Mamma Mia!,” “Wanted,” “ Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “American Gangster” and “Shakespeare in Love.” Before coming to Universal he worked for New Line Cinema and Orion Pictures as a manager of creative advertising. While at Orion Pictures, he worked on campaigns for the Academy Award winning films “Dances With Wolves” and “Silence of the Lambs.”
He earned a postgraduate degree in communication industries management from Emerson College in Boston. A member of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, Wolfe recently served as the southern California General Electric employee volunteer council leader and is a current member of the NBC/Universal community affairs council.