Former Board of Trustees Member to Give Commencement Address at William Penn University

William Penn University

William Penn University

Oskaloosa, IA— William Penn University’s 2016 Commencement Ceremony will be held Saturday, May 7 at 10:00 am in the Penn Activity Center (PAC) on the Oskaloosa campus. Doors will open at 8:00 am.

This year’s speaker is former Board of Trustees Member, Jim Davis.

Jim was born and raised on a farm his maternal grandparents and parents owned and operated for some 80 years near Marshalltown, IA. His family has a long history of involvement with William Penn University. Among his family that graduated from WPU, he is also related to Edwin McGrew, who became WPU’s 8th and 13th president. Dr. McGrew was one of WPU’s most revered presidents.

Jim graduated from Iowa State University with a major in chemical engineering in1956. He was commissioned into the US Marine Corps and spent two years as an artillery officer. Upon completion of his Marine Corps obligation, Jim joined Purex as a chemical manufacturing supervisor. While working at Purex, Jim served in the US Marine Corps Reserve, achieving the rank of captain.

He left Purex in 1963 to pursue a MBA at Harvard University. Jim received a HBS MBA with distinction in June 1965 and joined Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in its chemical manufacturing operations. The operation Jim worked in was sold by ADM to Ashland Oil two years later. Jim served a total of 20 years with ADM/Ashland Oil in a variety of manufacturing and executive positions, including more than five corporate executive positions.

Jim was recruited to a New York City graphite manufacturing company to serve as its Executive Vice President. Jim was then recruited to be President and Chief Operating Officer of Quanex, a $1 billion dollar metals recycling and manufacturing company headquartered in Houston, TX. Jim retired from Quanex in 2000 and formed a consulting company, Jim Davis & Associates. He continues today doing a modest amount of business consulting.

He served 18 years on the board, including two years as president. In 1989 Jim’s family established and funded the Ware-Davis Scholarship Fund. In 2003, Jim accepted WPU’s Torch Award on behalf of the Howard and Emma Ware Family. William Penn University is honored to welcome Jim Davis as this year’s commencement speaker.

Posted by on Apr 27 2016. Filed under Education, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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