Andra Rush and William Taubman to address UM-Dearborn grads

Rush will speak at the morning ceremony, beginning at 10 a.m., for graduates of the College of Business, College of Education, Health, and Human Services, and College of Engineering and Computer Science. Joining Rush in giving remarks will be Mark Engle (’87 B.B.A.), student Roxana Laslau and Ghassan Kridli, professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering.

Taubman will address graduates of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters in a ceremony beginning at 3 p.m. Barbara Farrah (’88 A.B.), student Kaitlin Wlodkowski and Pamela Pennock, associate professor of history, also will give remarks.

Andra M. Rush
Rush is the founder and chairperson of the Rush Group family of companies, which include Rush Trucking, Dakkota Integrated Systems and Detroit Manufacturing Systems. This consortium is one of the largest Native American-owned businesses in the USA.

Rush serves numerous organizations on boards and commissions, including Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Detroit Economic Club, CEO Exchange, Michigan Women’s Foundation, Downtown Detroit Partnership and Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council. She is part of the minority supplier programs for General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota, and has served on the Supplier Advisory Boards for Chrysler and GM.

In 2012, she was appointed to the U.S. Manufacturing Council, which is the principal private-sector advisory committee to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on manufacturing matters. She also was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder to serve as a trustee for Michigan’s Children’s Trust Fund.

Rush has received many honors, including the 2007-2008 Woman of the Year Award from the Native American Chamber of Commerce, and the JVS Business Leadership Award in 2012. She was recognized as a Crain's Detroit Business 2012 Newsmaker of the Year and was a finalist for the 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. In January 2014, Rush was invited to attend the State of the Union address as a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. She was highlighted in President Barack Obama’s address as an example of job creation and business ingenuity. In October of 2014, Rush was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

Rush has a Bachelor of Arts degree in nursing from University of Michigan. She is the proud mother of three sons.

William S. Taubman
Taubman is chief operating officer of Taubman Centers, Inc., a real estate investment trust that owns, develops and operates regional shopping centers, nationally and internationally, through its affiliates. He is responsible for development, operations and leasing. Taubman also serves as a director of the company.

Taubman joined the company in 1986 from Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. in New York, where he was a financial analyst specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He is a graduate of Brown University, where he received a bachelor's degree in religious studies, philosophy and Russian studies. He also holds a master's degree in philosophy from Corpus Christi College of Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.

Taubman is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). He is chairman of New Detroit, an organization dedicated to improving race relations in the Detroit metropolitan area; serves on the board of governors for the Museum of Arts and Design in New York; and is past chairman of International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).