Stanhope Kelly, Economic Leader and Alumnus, To Address 2025 Graduates
Forty-five years after earning his bachelor’s degree in business management, Kelly is returning to deliver the fall commencement address to the university’s more than 3,000 graduates.
NC State will celebrate the class of 2025 during its fall commencement ceremony in the Lenovo Center on Saturday, Dec. 13, at 9 a.m. Stanhope Kelly, economic leader and NC State alumnus, will deliver the commencement address to the university’s more than 3,000 graduates.
Kelly most recently served as CEO and president of the Piedmont Triad Partnership, where he developed the Carolina Core — an economic initiative in central North Carolina driving billions of dollars in investment from industries around the world. Prior to his work launching the Carolina Core, Kelly held roles in management and executive leadership during his 34-year career at the Wachovia Corp. and Wells Fargo.
Kelly earned a Bachelor of Arts in business management from NC State in 1980 and completed an Executive Development Program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1993. His work to enrich local communities includes serving as director of Glen Raven Inc. and Front Street Capital. He also serves on the NC State Endowment Fund Board and NCInnovation board of directors, and as the executive chair of the Piedmont Triad Partnership board.
In 2025, the Triad Business Journal recognized Kelly with the Power Players Legacy Award. He also received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2022, the Distinguished Citizenship Award from the NC Chamber in 2015 and the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy Scouts of America’s Old Hickory Council in 2014.
The ceremony will also feature remarks from Urwa Rashid, a transfer student and Eagle Scout who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with minors in biological sciences and English. For more information on the ceremony, visit the university’s commencement website.
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