A global competitiveness expert will deliver Pitt’s winter commencement address

The Honorable Deborah L. Wince-Smith, president and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness, will serve as the University of Pittsburgh's 2025 winter commencement speaker. She will address the latest class of Pitt graduates during the Dec. 14 ceremony at the Petersen Events Center.

As head of the Council on Competitiveness - a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs, university presidents, labor leaders and national laboratory directors - Wince-Smith leads efforts to advance U.S. economic and productivity growth, innovation and prosperity. She also founded and serves as president of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, an international network that engages leadership from two dozen nations to promote growth through innovation.

Before assuming her current role, Wince-Smith spent more than two decades in senior positions in the U.S. government. She was the first Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for technology policy in the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she oversaw federal technology-transfer policy and helped shape the White House National Technology Initiative. Earlier, she served as assistant director for international affairs in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

An internationally recognized voice in innovation strategy, competitiveness policy, and science and technology, Wince-Smith's leadership played a central role in launching the National Innovation Initiative, which influenced the bipartisan 2007 America COMPETES Act, and the Council's more current "National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers." She continues to guide efforts in advancing manufacturing, innovating across the nation's energy portfolio, defining and preparing for the future of work, and building regional innovation ecosystems.

A native of Akron, Ohio, Wince-Smith graduated magna cum laude from Vassar College and earned a master's degree in classical archaeology from the King's College at the University of Cambridge. She holds multiple honorary doctorate degrees from institutions including Michigan State University, the University of Toledo, Queen's University Belfast, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the University of South Carolina and the European University of Tirana.

For more information on graduation celebrations, visit Pitt's commencement website and follow @PittCommencement on Instagram.