UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Louis A. Martarano, director of the Science BS/MBA accelerated joint degree program at Penn State and an independent consultant, will deliver the commencement address for the Eberly College of Science undergraduate graduation ceremony. The ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 5, at the Bryce Jordan Center on the Penn State University Park campus.
In addition to overseeing the BS/MBA Program at Penn State, Martarano assists educational, business and not-for-profit organizations in organizational assessment, executive coaching, and management best practices, and writes thought leadership columns for several business publications.
"We are honored to have Lou Martarano as this year’s commencement speaker,” said Douglas Cavener, Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Eberly College of Science. “As a Penn State alumnus, Lou is truly exemplary of how our students can have a positive impact, be it on a global scale or within the community. Through his leadership of the Science BS/MBA program, Lou has had a profound and lasting impact on Penn State students. We are thrilled to have him share his insights with this year’s graduating class.”
After graduating with honors from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1976, Martarano worked at W.R. Grace as a manufacturing chemist. He then attended the Yale School of Management, where he earned a master’s degree in public and private management in 1981. He started his financial services career as a project finance specialist at Kidder Peabody & Co., and continued there for 11 years. Martarano was then recruited by Merrill Lynch to take a leading role in its project finance business, eventually establishing and managing its London Project Finance Group. Over the years, he counseled a wide range of domestic and international clients in their efforts to raise funds for large-scale energy, environmental and infrastructure facilities, raising several billion dollars through public and private offerings, and assisting them in joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and financial advisory assignments.
Martarano’s commitment to Penn State includes his role as chair of the Penn State Eberly College of Science Dean's Advisory Board, for which he was a founding member. For over two decades, he has participated in the Eberly College of Science Development Committee, which he previously chaired. He has served on the Palmer Museum of Art Advisory Board for over a decade, where he also served as chair. Outside of Penn State, Martarano is a founding board member and vice president of the Yale Alumni Non-Profit Alliance, and he has advised and is a partner in Yale’s alumni-run venture capital partnership, Bulldog Innovation Group. He was a trustee for Marymount Manhattan College and board chair.
Martarano received the Eberly College of Science Outstanding Alumni Award in 1998, the Penn State Alumni Fellow Award in 2002, the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society's Distinguished Service Award in 2003, and the Marymount Manhattan College President’s Medal in 2011.