Commencement Speakers
Gerald Chan
Gerald Chan is a scientist by training who has helped to forge positive change across medicine and health care through technology.
Chan is a co-founder of Morningside, a venture investment enterprise that works with technology-based startups. Working with academic scientists, he has started more than two dozen biotech companies across diverse therapeutic areas. As a result of this pioneering work, some of these biotech companies have created entirely new fields of medicine, addressing diseases arising from mitochondrial dysfunction, defects in the innate immune system, and autoimmunity.
He has also pioneered ventures in health care delivery, launching a number of companies that use artificial intelligence to improve the quality and accessibility of health care. These companies include Linus Health, which uses AI to assess cognitive impairment in patients at risk for dementia. Cognoa utilizes AI to render fast and accurate diagnosis for patients on the autism spectrum. Lastly, Ieso uses AI agents for cognitive behavioral therapy.
Because of his leadership in the biotech industry, Chan serves as the chairman of NASDAQ-listed biotechnology company Apellis Pharmaceuticals. He also serves on the boards of several privately held biotech companies.
Outside his work in biotech and health care, Chan is a trustee of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and a member of the Dean’s Board of Advisors of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He also chairs the Advisory Committee of Emory University’s Center for Innovative and Affordable Medicine and served as a previous chair of the Innovation Advisory Committee of the Wellcome Trust in London.
Chan received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering from UCLA, as well as his master’s degree in medical radiological physics, and a Doctor of Science degree in radiation biology from Harvard University. He received his postdoctoral training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Chan has also received seven honorary degrees conferred by universities in the United Kingdom, United States, and Hong Kong. Additionally, in 2017 he was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2019 he gave the Andrew Carnegie Lecture at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and he held a fellowship at the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College.
Manny Maceda (CHE ’84)
Manny Maceda is a culture-setting leader who has helped lead one of the “Big Three” global management consultancies through an era of accelerated growth.
Maceda began his unique path to leading a world-renowned management consultancy firm after graduating from Illinois Tech with a B.S. in chemical engineering. He worked for a short time in industry before attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, where he earned an M.S. in management. Upon graduation from MIT, he joined Bain & Company in 1989—and he has served at the firm ever since.
Throughout his more than 35 years at Bain, Maceda has advised global CEOs across industries, with a specific focus on enterprise-wide transformations that involve strategy, growth, cost reduction, performance improvement, and organizational effectiveness. He has held a multitude of senior leadership roles. These include chairman of the Asia-Pacific region, global leader of the Transformation and Performance Improvement practices, and as a member of the firm’s Management, Nominating, and Global Operating committees.
In 2018 Maceda’s career-long record of culture building and achievement led him to be promoted to worldwide managing partner and CEO, a role that he served in until 2024. In his time leading the firm, Maceda helped Bain double in size, embedded the firm with advanced digital and technology capabilities, and completed more than 20 strategic transactions. Maceda helped to drive those successes while also continuing to develop and nurture Bain’s long-lasting and distinctive culture. The firm has regularly been ranked #1 on Glassdoor’s list of Best Places to Work, and in 2024, it was named #1 on Glassdoor’s inaugural list of Best Led Companies in the U.S.
As an established management consultancy leader, Maceda has brought his expertise and insight to the Board of Directors for the Bridgespan Group and to the North American Advisory Board at the Sloan School of Management. He has also served as a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum and for the U.S. Business Roundtable. He is also a founding partner of the Asian American Foundation and the OneTen Initiative, and he has received an honorary degree from De La Salle University in the Philippines.
Earlier this year, Maceda was named chairman of Bain, a role that will allow him to continue to serve as an innovative management consultant and culture-setting leader.
Student Speakers
Azzam Abu Hamdan
Candidate for the Degrees of Bachelor of Information Technology and Management and Master of Cyber Forensics and Security
Driven by a passion for cybersecurity, Azzam Abu Hamdan built his career breaking into systems—ethically—to help some of the biggest companies in the world stay secure. He has interned for leading global companies such as Amazon and Tesla, where he specialized in offensive security engineering. And he did well enough to get a job offer from Amazon, where he will work after Commencement.
But Azzam didn’t just hack systems—he hacked the college experience itself.
Graduating from Illinois Tech’s Accelerated Master’s Program, Hamdan completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in cybersecurity in just four years. He did this while maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average in his master’s program and while taking on a maximum course load.
At Illinois Tech, Hamdan didn’t wait for opportunities to come to him, he created them. From career fairs across the country to cold-messaging industry leaders on LinkedIn, he leveraged every opportunity to learn.
“I approached networking the same way I approach hacking: figure out how the system works, and then find a way in,” Hamdan says. “I realized you need to make connections, put yourself out there. Building relationships can be just as powerful as technical expertise.”
It’s that same mindset that he shared in his recent TEDxIllinois Tech Talk, “Social Engineering Your Way to Success.”
Born in the Chicago suburb of Orland Park, Illinois, Hamdan moved with his family to Dubai in middle school and graduated from high school there. He took a virtual cybersecurity boot camp one summer at Illinois Tech, solidifying his interest in the field and the school.
In addition to his internships, during his time at Illinois Tech Hamdan also worked as a cybersecurity engineer for the Chicago White Sox and volunteered his time teaching career advice and interview skills at the Illinois Tech chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
“Talent is everywhere—sometimes people just need someone to believe in them,” Azzam says.
Deana Exline
Candidate for the Degrees of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Science in Environmental Engineering
Growing up in Indiana, Deana Exline had always been drawn to science and the outdoors. As an Illinois Tech student, she decided to bridge her love of science with her passion for the outdoors and pursue an Accelerated Master’s degree in mechanical engineering and environmental engineering.
With special interests in conservation, sustainability, and community work, Exline has taken part in many academic, research, and social experiences as an Illinois Tech student.
“My first year, I joined basically every club that looked interesting,” she says. She has been a member of Fighting Hawk Tang Soo Do, the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Community Engagement Council, and more.
She also took part in Illinois Tech’s Socially Responsible Modeling, Computation, and Design (SoReMo) initiative. She published research on Redlining and its correlation to environmental indicators; took part in a summer internship at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Denver where she worked on modeling a solar reactor for carbon neutral airline fuel production; and volunteered with St. James Community Farm.
“This is the first real community I’ve ever been a part of or built for myself,” Exline says, reflecting on the friends she’s made and the many things she’s been a part of at Illinois Tech. “Even the idea of that is something that I’ll miss.”
The day after Commencement, Exline and two friends plan to begin a month-long road trip around the country, making a stop at her favorite place, Sequoia National Park.
Going forward, Exline plans to stay in Chicago and work to grow the community she’s built and pursue a career in environmental justice work.