Kurt Landgraf, '68, will be the 2008 Commencement Speaker at the Wagner College Commencement on May 16, 2008.

Kurt M. Landgraf joined ETS as President and Chief Executive Officer on Aug. 7, 2000. Since then, he has overseen ETS’s entrance into the K-12 market, expanded its international businesses, broadened its education research activities and raised the company’s profile as a voice for education reform.

Besides strengthening ETS’s business and research initiatives, Landgraf has nurtured the company’s social and community outreach efforts, in part by instituting a policy that provides one paid community service day for every employee each fiscal year and that actively encourages employees’ participation. He has also led the establishment of innovative company programs to assist local communities and service groups and improve education. These include the ETS-Trenton Community Partnership, which aims to improve student and teacher performance in the Trenton, NJ, public school system by bringing to bear ETS’s resources, including research-based instructional tools and tactics on curriculum and student needs. ETS, moreover, works with the school system and the community to help build a school culture that fosters motivation and learning.

In its ongoing efforts to help close the academic achievement gap between affluent and disadvantaged students, under Landgraf’s leadership ETS has strengthened ties and collaborated with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the Urban League, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the ASPIRA Association and Native American education groups.

A Foundation in Leadership and Caring Landgraf began his career at ETS more than 30 years ago, when he served as Associate Director of Marketing. Before returning to ETS in 2000, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company, having previously held a variety of leadership positions at DuPont and the Upjohn Company.

Landgraf is a member of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, a post to which he was appointed by former Gov. Richard Codey; a member of the Washington Higher Education Secretariat, American Council on Education and serves on the board of directors of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Landgraf is also a member of the board of directors of IKON Office Solutions, Inc., Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, and Corning, Inc. He has chaired the National Pharmaceutical Council, United Way of Delaware and the Delaware Association for Rights of Citizens with Mental Retardation and Delaware CarePlan. He recently completed a term as president of the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Sciences, Inc. Landgraf is a member of the board of directors of Jobs for America’s Graduates, a national nonprofit organization that helps keep at-risk students in school and then in jobs; and is a member of the Rock Institute of Ethics at Pennsylvania State University.

Landgraf earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from Wagner College. He also holds three master’s degrees: an M.Ed. from Rutgers University, an M.A. in economics from Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in sociology from Western Michigan University. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. He has also received three honorary doctorates.

In addition to the work he has done in the corporate world, Landgraf has taught college-level economics, sociology and labor relations at institutions throughout the United States. ETS’s mission is to advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related services for all people worldwide. In serving individuals, educational institutions and government agencies around the world, ETS customizes solutions to meet the need for teacher professional development products and services; classroom and end-of-course assessments and research-based teaching and learning tools. Founded in 1947, ETS today develops, administers and scores almost 50 million tests annually in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.