Two enterprising entrepreneurs will speak at the 2014 commencement ceremonies for the University of Mary Washington on Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10.
Kenneth Lopez, the founder and CEO of A2L Consulting, will give the graduate address on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the William M. Anderson Center. Rebecca R. Rubin, founder, president and CEO of the environmental consulting firm Marstel-Day, LLC, will speak at the undergraduate ceremony on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. on Ball Circle.
Kenneth Lopez
Lopez, a 1992 graduate of Mary Washington and a member of the UMW Board of Visitors, is the founder and CEO of the Alexandria-based A2L Consulting, a leading provider of jury consulting, litigation graphics and courtroom support to all of the nation’s largest law firms. He founded the company in 1995 after receiving a law degree from the Widener University School of Law.
A2L Consulting was recently voted Best Demonstrative Evidence Firm in D.C. by the readers of LegalTimes and, on a national level, a Best Demonstrative Evidence Firm by the National Law Journal. He was recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal.
Lopez serves on the advisory board of UMW’s College of Business and on the Dean’s National Advisory Council at Widener. He was UMW’s Junior Executive-in-Residence in 2008 and is a frequent guest speaker for classes and student organizations.
Rebecca Rubin
Rubin founded Marstel-Day in 2002 as an expression of her commitment to the conservation of natural resources, especially habitat and open space, energy and water. Her company serves various public and private clients, including the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. Marstel-Day is one of several Fredericksburg-area organizations collaborating with UMW to develop a Climate, Environment Action Readiness (CLEAR) Plan.
In 2013, the White House named Rubin a Champion of Change for Community Resilience, and Virginia Business Magazine listed her in 2011 among the “Top 25 People to Watch.” Marstel-Day has been named to Inc. Magazine’s 500/5000 and Zweigwhite’s HOTFirm list for the past five consecutive years.
A former director of the U.S. Army’s Environmental Policy Institute, Rubin received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and a master’s degree in international security from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
