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Walsh To Give Honorary Degree To Alum, Citigroup Chief Innovation Officer Deborah Hopkins

TROY -- Walsh College will confer an honorary doctor of laws degree on its keynote speaker, Walsh alumna and Citigroup Chief Innovation Officer, Deborah Hopkins, at its 101st Commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 22 at 10:30 a.m. at Zion Christian Church, 3668 Livernois Road in Troy.

"We are pleased to welcome Debby home to Walsh College," said Stephanie Bergeron, Walsh College president and CEO.  "Her extraordinary success in finance, global business, board service and innovation are inspirational to Walsh students and demonstrate how knowledge, determination and leadership skills can create unlimited potential."

The college will award graduate and bachelor's degrees to a class of 479; 193 will receive bachelor's degrees and 286 will receive graduate degrees.

Hopkins joined Citigroup in 2003, and has filled several executive positions, including head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions, chief operations & technology officer, and a senior advisor to the Global Investment Bank, a role she continues to this day.  She was appointed to her current position in 2008.

Her mission is three-fold: to identify disruptive trends and technologies and invest in those relevant to the future of financial services; to design, prototype, test and scale new products and services that create a differentiated customer experience; and, to build the systems and processes that support a culture of innovation inside Citi.

The title of her commencement speech is "Made in Detroit."

Before joining Citi, Hopkins held senior-level positions at several global firms, including chief financial officer for The Boeing Co. and for Lucent Technologies, and vice president of finance for General Motors Europe.

Fortune magazine has twice named her one of the most powerful women in American business, and Hopkins has been named to the Institutional Investors Top Tech 50 list for the past three years.

Hopkins holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from Walsh College in 1977.  She also holds an honorary doctorate degree from Missouri College in Fulton, Missouri.

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