Dear Bentley community,
I’m excited to announce that we will welcome two renowned business leaders to campus this spring to receive honorary degrees and deliver keynote addresses at our 2026 commencement ceremonies.
Sarah Iselin, president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, will deliver the keynote address at our undergraduate commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16. Sarah leads one of the largest independent Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country. She played a key role in the development of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation’s “Roadmap to Coverage,” which contributed to the passage of Massachusetts’ landmark 2006 health reform law. It resulted in the lowest uninsured rate in the country and later became the model for the Affordable Care Act. Sarah served as the foundation’s president from 2010 to 2012, and later as the company’s chief strategy officer and senior vice president of strategy, policy and community partnerships.
Jon Bernstein, New England regional president of PNC Bank, will deliver the keynote address for Bentley’s McCallum Graduate School of Business on Friday, May 15. Jon has more than 30 years of financial services experience. Before joining PNC in 2019, he served as a managing director in the Financial Institutions Group at Barclays. In this role, he advised on several transactions for nationally branded financial services firms and led coverage for banking institutions that included PNC as well as banks from New England, the Midwest and Southeast. Jon’s experience also includes private equity investing, corporate development and investment banking at Morgan Stanley, A.G. Edwards and Credit Suisse Group. Jon also co-chairs the Massachusetts Early Childhood Coalition, a group of business leaders advocating for policies and programs that make early childcare and education more available to Massachusetts workers.
I have had the good fortune of getting to know both Sarah and Jon through the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, an organization that brings leaders from public and private sectors together to strengthen the state's economic vitality.
They both exemplify the Bentley ideal of “good business” that we all strive for, and their careers have impacted the world in positive ways. I’m certain that our entire Bentley community — including the family and friends who join our celebration — will find them as inspiring as I have. I look forward to welcoming them to campus and honoring the accomplishments of the Class of 2026 at our commencement ceremonies on May 15 and 16.
Sincerely,
President Chrite