Converse University says its commencement speaker for the Class of 2026 will be former Governor and Nobel Laureate David Beasley.
Beasley will speak to Converse undergrads during their ceremony in Spartanburg on May 23.
Beasley was South Carolina’s governor in the late 1990s. In 2017 he took over as executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme.
In 2022, Beasley received a Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work which made the World Food Programme the largest humanitarian agency in the world. He’s still an influential advocate for global food security and humanitarian causes.
Beasley is married to 1984 Converse alumna Mary Wood Payne.