Kroger executive will deliver commencement address

COLUMBUS – M. Marnette Perry, senior vice president of The Kroger Co., will be the speaker for autumn quarter commencement exercises on Sunday, December 14 at St. John Arena.

Approximately 1,700 degrees will be awarded during the ceremony, which is the first Sunday commencement at Ohio State since 1943.

Commencement ceremonies had been held on Friday mornings for the last 60 years. The ceremony begins at 2 p.m.

The move to Sunday commencements was approved earlier this year as a way to make it more convenient for families to attend the ceremony. Campus visitors should also find it easier to park since they won’t have to compete for spaces with normal weekday university traffic.

Ohio State joins nearly every public institution in Ohio, and nearly every Big Ten institution, in moving to Sunday commencement. Only Miami University, the University of Cincinnati and Shawnee State continue to hold commencement on Friday. Among Big Ten universities, most institutions hold several ceremonies over the course of one or two weekends. Ohio State’s practice of holding a single, campus-wide ceremony for graduates of all colleges is a rarity.

Perry joined Kroger in 1972 as a part-time cashier in Portsmouth, Ohio, while attending Ohio University. During her 31-year career with the company, she has held numerous roles of increasing responsibility and achieved many “firsts.” In 1997, she was promoted to president of Kroger’s Michigan division, becoming the first woman in the company’s history to lead a retail division. Three years later, she was named president of Kroger’s Columbus division.

In March 2003, she was named group vice president for perishable products and moved to company headquarters in Cincinnati. She was promoted to senior vice president in July, with responsibility for seven of Kroger’s 17 retail divisions. Kroger is one of the nation’s largest retail grocery chains, with more than 2,500 stores in 32 states.

Perry is a member of the Ohio University Board of Trustees and a former member of the Central Michigan University Board of Trustees. She has also served as a member of the Ohio State University Medical Center Planning Group, and on the boards of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA), Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Columbus Downtown Development Corp., and the United Way of Columbus. Perry also served on the Foundation Board of Children’s Hospital.

During her career, Perry has received numerous professional awards. In 2000, she received the “Grant Thornton Executive Women of the Year” award in Detroit. She was also named a YWCA “Career Woman of Achievement” in both Cincinnati and Detroit.