SHU Announces 2025 Commencement Speakers

Leaders in health care, education, broadcasting and information technology will address graduates

Sacred Heart University will host six commencement ceremonies to confer degrees upon the class of 2025. William F. Baker, Anne Davila Casas Diamond, Stephen E. Ferranti, Manisha Juthani, Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld and Beverly Daniel Tatum will deliver keynote addresses.

Undergraduate Ceremonies

Diamond, the president of Bridgeport Hospital and executive vice president for Yale New Haven Health, will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa honorary degree and address students graduating from the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Health Professions at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport on Saturday, May 10 at 10 a.m.

Baker, a distinguished professor, American broadcaster and author, will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa honorary degree and address students graduating from the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology, the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development and the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport on Saturday, May 10 at 3 p.m.

Graduate Ceremonies

Juthani, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, will deliver the keynote address to students receiving graduate degrees from the College of Health Professions and the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing at the Martire Family Arena on Sacred Heart’s West Campus on Tuesday, May 6 at 10 a.m.

Tatum, best-selling author and president emerita of Spelman College in Georgia, will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa honorary degree and address students graduating from the College of Arts & Sciences and the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development at the Martire Family Arena on Sacred Heart’s West Campus on Tuesday, May 6 at 2 p.m.

Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at Yale University School of Management, will receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa honorary degree and address students graduating from the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology at the Martire Family Arena on Sacred Heart’s West Campus on Wednesday, May 7 at 10 a.m.

Ferranti, a leader in information technology and cybersecurity, will deliver the keynote address to students graduating from the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology’s School of Computer Science & Engineering at the Martire Family Arena on Sacred Heart’s West Campus on Wednesday, May 7 at 2 p.m.

Speakers

William F. Baker, Ph.D.

Baker directs the Bernard L. Schwartz Center for Media, Public Policy & Education at Fordham University. He was a distinguished professor of media & entertainment at IESE Business School, Barcelona and taught the Juilliard School’s first business class for 10 years. Currently, Baker is executive producer for the upcoming Wisdom Keepers series on PBS.

During his 21-year tenure as president of WNET, Baker developed one of the largest endowments in public broadcasting history and oversaw its peak as a leading producer of arts, nature, biography and public affairs programming. In commercial broadcasting, Baker helped start several cable networks, launched Oprah Winfrey as a talk show host and was involved in the early stages of the Discovery Channel and Disney Channel. He served as president of Westinghouse Television and chairman of Group W Satellite Communication for a decade. He has received seven Emmy Awards, two Columbia DuPont Journalism Awards and three Gabriel Awards for religious programming. His latest major national documentary film, Wisdom Keepers, will debut on June 9 on PBS at 10 p.m. and be available at PBS.org.

Baker holds a bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. in communications sciences and organizational behavior from Case Western Reserve University. He is believed to be the eighth person to have stood on both the North and South Poles.

Anne Davila Casas Diamond, DBA, JD

Diamond has led an impressive career in health care for more than 30 years. She is the president of Bridgeport Hospital and an executive vice president for Yale New Haven Health. Bridgeport Hospital is a 501-bed, two-campus, acute care hospital with two emergency departments, a trauma center and the state’s only burn center.

She started as a nuclear medicine technologist, radiation safety officer and researcher and moved through the leadership ranks of hospitals until arriving at the C-suite. She is a visionary chief executive who is passionate about patient-centered care and providing a secure environment for her employees. She was recognized by the American Hospital Association as the 2020 Grassroots Champion and was the recipient of the 2017 Lamplighter Award of Excellence and the 2025 Woman of Distinction Award from the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce.

Diamond holds a doctorate in business administration, homeland security, leadership and policy from National University and an executive juris doctor degree with a concentration in health law from Concord Law School at Purdue University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nuclear medicine technology from Cedar Crest College.

Stephen E. Ferranti 

Ferranti serves as the vice president of information technology and information security at Esusu. He is a distinguished senior technology leader with expertise in cybersecurity, IT operations and infrastructure management. Throughout his career, which has spanned the financial services, education, health care and utilities sectors, he has demonstrated exceptional leadership in developing innovative technical solutions that drive business value and protect assets.

As lead instructor of cybersecurity, he continues to share his expertise by empowering the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. His dedication to cybersecurity education reflects his belief in developing skilled professionals to address the growing digital security challenges.

Previous to Esusu, Ferranti directed all technology initiatives as the chief information security officer and chief technology officer at Learning Ally, an education technology company. His visionary leadership resulted in the complete re-engineering of the organization’s technology platforms, including developing an award-winning mobile app and innovative “virtual volunteer” systems that enabled remote book recording—expanding educational access for students nationwide.

Manisha Juthani, MD

Juthani is the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH). She is the first Indian American to serve as a commissioner in the State of Connecticut. Juthani served as professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine through September 2024 and currently serves as an adjunct professor of medicine. She served as director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program from 2012 to 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Juthani was a leader in the COVID response at Yale which led to her appointment as commissioner of CT DPH in 2021. In the early days of the pandemic, she was a voice to help educate the public in both local and national media outlets, a role she was able to expand in her role as commissioner. Upon joining CT DPH, she helped guide Connecticut out of the pandemic and worked to revitalize areas of public health, such as gun violence, maternal health, opioid use and sexually transmitted diseases that were exacerbated during the pandemic.

As she continues in her role as DPH commissioner, she has shifted her core vision to “Preserve and Protect Core Public Health Principles and Services.” As Connecticut is presented with new public health challenges, she remains committed to preserving public health achievements made over the years, including improvements in regulatory oversight in health care, drinking water and environmental health which includes food safety. It is more important than ever to highlight the importance of vaccines, control of infectious diseases, road safety and healthier mothers and babies. Clear, accurate communication about public health risks is vital to her mission. She continues to advocate for health as a human right which is the core vision of CT DPH.

Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, DBA

Sonnenfeld is the senior associate dean for leadership studies and Lester Crown professor in management practice at the Yale School of Management, as well as founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, focused on CEO leadership and corporate governance. He was a full tenured professor at Emory and a professor at the Harvard Business School. He informally advised five U.S. presidents across parties. He advised President Trump’s Mideast Abraham Accords; helped catalyze the exit of over 1,000 companies from Russia under President Biden; and joint action CEOs on safeguarding U.S. democracy.

His research has been published in 100 scholarly articles appearing in leading academic journals. He has eight books including The Hero's Farewell, on CEO succession, and another best seller, Firing Back, a study on leadership resilience in the face of adversity. He is a staff contributor for CNBC and a staff columnist for Fortune, Time, Chief Executive and Corporate Board Member. Sonnenfeld was recognized by Poets&Quants Magazine as the 2022 Professor of the Year and received the 2023 Greatest Impact on Corporate Boards award by Corporate Board Member Magazine, also receiving the Academy of Management's 2023 Distinguished Scholar Practitioner Award. He is a member of the board of Lennar, IEX, Atlas Merchant Capital and the Ellis Island Honor Society. He was appointed by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to co-chair of Advance CT, and the Board of Directors of Connecticut Innovations where he helped lead the state’s economic development.

Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D.

Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College in Georgia, is an award-winning psychologist widely known for her expertise on race relations and as a thought leader in higher education. Her 13 years as the president of Spelman College (2002-2015) were marked by innovation and growth, and her visionary leadership was recognized in 2013 with the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award. In spring 2017, she was named the Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor at Stanford University. During the academic year 2022-23, she served as interim president at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

Tatum is also the author of several books, including the New York Times best-selling book, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And Other Conversations About Race. In September 2025, her next book, Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times, is set for publication, delivering thought-provoking perspectives on the contemporary challenges and opportunities facing higher education in a time of rapid social change.

Tatum holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, a master’s and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan and a master’s in religious studies from Hartford International University.

Top, from left, are William F. Baker, Anne Davila Casas Diamond and Stephen E. Ferranti. Bottom, from left, are Manisha Juthani, Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld and Beverly Daniel Tatum.