Wilson Hosts 147th Annual Commencement on Sunday, May 14

Entrepreneur and education access advocate David Risher will address the graduating class at the 147th annual Wilson College commencement ceremony, to be held at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 14.

Risher, who will receive an honorary degree from the college, is the president and cofounder of Worldreader, an international organization that works to expand literacy in the developing world; and a former top executive with Microsoft and Amazon.

This year, approximately 108 students will receive bachelor’s and associate degrees during Wilson’s commencement ceremony, which will be held outside on the college’s main green. (In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in Laird Hall.) In addition, approximately 75 graduates of Wilson’s master’s degree programs in education, accountancy, healthcare management, humanities and fine arts will receive their degrees.

During the commencement ceremony, Susan Breakefield Fulton of Washington, D.C.—a 1961 Wilson graduate, former college trustee and faithful donor to her alma mater—will be honored with trustee emerita status, which is the highest honor a college can bestow on a trustee.

A baccalaureate service will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, in Alumnae Chapel at Thomson Hall.

Worldreader, which is headquartered in San Francisco, works to transform literacy by giving children in developing countries virtually unlimited access to local digital books through Kindles and cell phones. The organization has supported over six million readers worldwide over its first seven years. Before co-founding Worldreader in 2010, Risher played pivotal roles at Microsoft and Amazon. At Microsoft, he was general manager in charge of developing the company’s first database product, Microsoft Access. As Amazon’s first vice president of product and store development, he oversaw a sales explosion from $16 million to more than $4 billion. Risher later became a senior vice president of Amazon, overseeing the marketing and general management of retail operations.

Risher, of San Francisco, graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature. He has a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. His mother, Sarah Walker Risher, is a 1963 graduate of Wilson College.