Aviation Entrepreneur Steven Udvar-Hazy to Speak at Embry-Riddle Commencement
Daytona Beach, Fla., Dec. 1, 1998 -- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will hold its Fall graduation ceremony for 470 students on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 10 a.m. in the University Fieldhouse. The ceremony will include the hooding of 90 master's candidates.
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy will be the commencement speaker. Udvar-Hazy is president and chief executive officer of International Lease Finance Corporation, the international leader in the leasing and remarketing of new-generation commercial jet aircraft to airlines around the world. ILFC owns nearly 400 aircraft valued at more than $17 billion.
Under Udvar-Hazy's leadership, ILFC has become the largest aircraft lessor in the world, measured by fleet value. ILFC's fleet is also the most modern in the world, with an average age of less than four years.
Udvar-Hazy's family came to the United States in 1958, fleeing the Soviet occupation of Hungary. He found early success in his adopted homeland. In 1966, while still attending the University of California at Los Angeles, Udvar-Hazy formed Airlines Systems Research Consultants, a firm specializing in airline routes and fleet and planning analysis. His first clients included Aer Lingus and Air New Zealand.
In 1973 Udvar-Hazy and two partners formed Interlease Group Inc., which is now known as International Lease Finance Corporation. ILFC went public in 1983 with $220 million in assets and $8 million in profit. Since 1990, ILFC has been a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group Inc., the leading international insurance organization.
Udvar-Hazy holds a bachelor's degree in economics from UCLA.
Embry-Riddle President George H. Ebbs will award Udvar-Hazy an honorary doctorate in aviation business administration.
Watts S. Humphrey, a Fellow at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon University, will receive an honorary doctorate in software engineering.
From 1959 to 1986, Humphrey worked at IBM in various technical executive positions, including the management of all IBM commercial software development. He oversaw the 19 releases of OS/360, the largest operating system of its time. Most recently, Humphrey was IBM's director of Programming Quality and Process.
Since 1993, Humphrey has visited Embry-Riddle frequently as part of the University's formal cooperative research and development agreement with SEI to transition software engineering technology into academia and industry. Many of Humphrey's ideas have been incorporated into Embry-Riddle's software engineering curriculum, and he often collaborates with University faculty on research projects. He has been a keynote speaker at Embry-Riddle's annual Academic Workshop on Personal Software Process.
Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Degree programs through the master's level are offered in Daytona Beach, Fla., Prescott, Ariz., and at more than 100 teaching sites in the U.S. and Europe.
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