Entrepreneur and Washington Post V.P. to Provide Commencement Addresses

November 29, 2017

Drew Ungvarsky Miki Toliver King

Old Dominion will hold its 127th commencement exercises Dec. 16 with a University alumnus and entrepreneur and Washington Post vice president providing keynote remarks.

The first ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. for graduates of the College of Sciences, Darden College of Education and Batten College of Engineering and Technology. A second ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. for graduates of the College of Arts and Letters, Strome College of Business and the College of Health Sciences. Both events will be held at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

The 9 a.m. ceremony will feature an address by Drew Ungvarsky, a 2002 graduate of Old Dominion University who is the CEO and executive creative director of Grow, one of the top digital advertising agencies in the world. Under his leadership, Grow has created marketing for leading brands like Google, Spotify, EA Games, Nike and HBO.

Ungvarsky and his company's work have been recognized by The New York Times, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Mashable and Adweek, which included him in its "15 chief creative officers who are inspiring the advertising of tomorrow." They've also received the industry's top awards.

Ungvarsky is an active community advocate and civic leader in Norfolk. He serves on the executive board of the Downtown Norfolk Council, where he's helped create the successful Vibrant Spaces program and the Selden Market.

He's a founding board member of the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation, as well as RISE, a nonprofit dedicated to coastal resilience innovation. Ungvarsky is also a founding member of Re:Vision Norfolk and AIGA Hampton Roads. He lives in Norfolk with his wife, Amber, and their children, Austin and Annabelle.

The second ceremony at 2 p.m. will feature an address by Miki Toliver King, who is vice president, operations and digital marketing at the Washington Post, where she oversees digital subscription and new product marketing, finance enterprise systems and facilities operations and security. Since joining The Washington Post in early 2016, King has helped lead growth in digital subscriptions by more than 200 percent.

Previously, King was executive vice president, operations at Politico, where she launched the company's first paid subscription product, POLITICO Pro, created a talent acquisition team and spearheaded community engagement initiatives.

King also was a litigation attorney at Seeger, Faughnan, Mendocino and director of business development for the health care practice of the law firm of Manatt, Phelps and Philips.

She holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from George Mason University. She also serves on the corporate advisory board of So Others Might Eat, which is dedicated to helping homeless and other low-income people in our nation's capital. King lives in Virginia with her husband and two sons.