NASDAQ stock market President Alfred R. Berkeley III will be this year's commencement speaker, 35 years after he participated in one of the most famous pranks in University history.
In 1996, Berkeley admitted to being one of the perpetrators of an infamous 1965 prank in which he and four other conspirators led a scared 250-pound bovine to the top of the Rotunda dome. Officials had to administer tranquilizers to lead the cow back down, but the farmyard animal died as a result of trauma, dehydration and sedative overdose.
Berkeley paid $1,765 in restitution in November 1997 - the same amount of money that was spent in attempts to rescue the animal and solve the crime.
To select the commencement speaker, Fourth-Year Class President Rhodes Ritenour said a committee of students, faculty and administrators worked together to develop a list of possible speakers.
The committee then forwarded that list to President John T. Casteen III, who made the final selection.
Ritenour said while Casteen was free to choose any speaker, including one not on the committee list, Berkeley was among the recommendations.
"I think it is very important" to have a successful alumnus come back to address the graduating class, Ritenour said. Berkeley "embodies the qualities" the committee was looking for when searching for a speaker.
"We narrowed it down to people we really wanted," he added, saying the committee would have been pleased if Casteen had selected any of their final choices.
Apart from Berkeley's success in the business world, Ritenour said the 1965 cow incident has made him a "U.Va. legend in his own right."
Board of Visitors Secretary Alexander G. "Sandy" Gilliam chaired the committee that made the recommendations on speakers.
"We always look ... for someone who's got some connection to the University," Gilliam said. "We pretty traditionally have felt this is a University occasion" and the speaker should have a tie to the University.
He said one factor that can make it difficult to attract high-profile speakers is that "Thomas Jefferson decreed that we award no honorary degrees" and many potential speakers expect to receive one.
He added that Berkeley also was chosen because of his noted skill as a public speaker.
Wayne Cozart, assoc. director of alumni affairs, said he has seen Berkeley speak several times and believes he is an engaging speaker.
Berkeley has "a really fascinating view of the changing nature" of markets, Cozart said.
After graduating from the University, Berkeley attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and received an MBA in 1968. He served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1968 to 1972.
Berkeley became president of NASDAQ in 1996. NASDAQ is the world's first electronic-based stock market and the second-largest stock market in the world.
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