Suneel Gupta and Farhan Latif to address grads at commencement ceremonies Dec. 16

November 16, 2017

The morning ceremony will recognize graduates of the College of Business and the College of Engineering and Computer Science; the afternoon ceremony will recognize graduates of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, and the College of Education, Heal

Mortar board with M block and commencement 2017
Commencement

Suneel Gupta ('00 B.B.A), entrepreneur-in-residence with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and a visiting scholar at Harvard University, and Farhan Latif ('05 B.B.A.), president of El-Hibri Foundation, will be the keynote speakers at UM-Dearborn’s commencement ceremonies on Saturday, December 16.

Entry to the Fieldhouse and all venues is by ticket only. Additional commencement information is available on UM-Dearborn’s website.

Gupta will speak at the morning ceremony, beginning at 10 a.m., for graduates of the university’s College of Business and College of Engineering and Computer Science. Latif will speak at the afternoon ceremony, which begins at 3 p.m., for graduates of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters and College of Education, Health, and Human Services.

Suneel Gupta is an entrepreneur-in-residence with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and a visiting scholar at Harvard University.

He is the co-founder and former CEO of Rise, a healthcare service that connects patients to top-quality health professionals at a fraction of the traditional cost. In 2016, Rise was sold to One Medical, which Fast Company Magazine named the most innovative company in healthcare in 2017.

Prior to Rise, Gupta was the first vice president of product development at Groupon. There, he helped the company grow from an early-stage startup to a public company. During his tenure, Forbes magazine named Groupon “the fastest growing company ever.”

He holds an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, where he was a McKormick Tribune Scholar. He also holds a JD from the Northwestern School of Law and is licensed to practice in California and in front of the United States Supreme Court.

He graduated from University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2000, and served as his class's commencement speaker.

Farhan Latif is the president of the El-Hibri Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based private foundation, focused on advancing inclusion in America through grant-making. Prior to joining the foundation, he led the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a policy think tank focused on policy development contributing to democracy and pluralism in the U.S.

He spent over a decade in higher education, building a culture of philanthropy and enabling access for underrepresented, low-income and first-generation students. At University of Michigan-Dearborn, he served in the Offices of Admissions and Orientation, Institutional Advancement, and Alumni Relations. As a social entrepreneur, he also founded Strategic Inspirations, a social impact consulting firm.

As an interfaith leader, Latif has worked with state and national faith-based organizations to promote religious understanding and inclusion. He is a fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute. As an engaged community activist, Latif has appeared on numerous media outlets, including ABC, FOX, BBC, LA Times, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Voice of America, Gulf Times and USA Today. Authors Genieve Abdo and Akbar Ahmad have chronicled Latif’s journey in combating extremism and working toward inclusion in their books Mecca and Mainstreet: Muslim Life in American After 9/11 and Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam.

Latif received an M.A. from Harvard University, where he completed a specialized interdisciplinary program focused on social entrepreneurship and philanthropy.  He also earned a degree in business management from University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2005 and completed graduate work in nonprofit management at the university.