LeBow’s Class of 2026 Embraces Optimism and Takes on the World at Commencement
The LeBow College of Business celebrated the Class of 2026 at the Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts, in a ceremony that invoked the wider world that graduating students are entering and the impact they hope to make.
Ahead of record-breaking high temperatures and Drexel University’s Commencement ceremony later in the day, LeBow recognized graduates from its undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in front of family, friends, faculty, staff and members of LeBow’s Dean’s Advisory Board.
LeBow’s ceremony featured a number of global touches: the student speaker and keynote speaker included shout-outs to Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively, and their family roots in those countries; international flags and soccer jerseys were unfurled on stage, and still more flags could be found emblazoned on graduation caps and draped around students’ shoulders.
After opening remarks from Drexel President Antonio Merlo, PhD, LeBow Dean and R. John Chapel Jr. Dean’s Chair Vibhas Madan, PhD, addressed the graduates, noting that the ceremony would be “shorter than your ECON 201 lecture.”
“Remember the vital role you play in society,” he says. “Your mission is to lead and collaborate, creating value that no single individual can achieve alone.”
After an introduction from Dean Madan, keynote speaker and alumnus Lenny Comma, BSBA finance ’92, encouraged graduates to pursue their dreams and goals with empathy and gratitude. Comma, an executive coach and former CEO and chairman of Jack in the Box, emphasized two overarching questions: “Are you putting food on the table, and are you feeding your soul?”
He also recalled that, early in his career, he was more focused on paying rent than on finding meaning and fulfillment in his work.
“It took me a long time to learn that life is not a problem to be solved. It is a journey to be lived—with optimism, with gratitude, and with hope,” he says, before closing his remarks with an excerpt from “Wonderful” by British poet Harry Baker.
Student speaker Arianna Cabrera, BSBA finance and business analytics ’26, made space for both reflection and action in her remarks. In the face of an uncertain future, like her fellow graduates, she expressed relief at no longer having an assignment due or a test to take.
“We are stepping into a world that will compete relentlessly for our time… the world will tell you there is a ‘right’ way to spend it,” she says. “But one of the most important lessons you can learn is this: Your time belongs only to you. It is up to you to protect it and respect it.”
Your time may be limited — but your potential is not. So go out… take your time… and make it count.
Before the traditional reading of the graduates’ names and the bestowing of degrees, six graduating students were recognized for attaining 4.0 grade point averages during their studies, along with additional students who achieved Latin honors.
25 graduates from the PhD in Business and PhD in Economics programs and from the Executive Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) program received their doctoral hoods, followed by over 260 graduates of LeBow’s MBA and MS programs, including the Executive Master of Business Administration. Finally, 572 undergraduate students were recognized for completing their bachelor’s degrees.
The graduates’ procession across the Mann Center stage prompted cheers, photos, phone calls and elaborate handshakes and gestures to the crowd — a joyous stream all the way until the final toss of graduation caps.
