Hagen to give spring 2009 commencement address

Hagen to give spring 2009 commencement address

Thomas B. Hagen, chairman of the board of the Erie Insurance Group companies and chairman/owner of Custom Group Industries in Erie, will give the spring 2009 commencement address at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Hagen, an active alumnus and friend of the college, was asked to deliver the address in honor of the college's 60th anniversary year.

Penn State Behrend will hold its spring commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16, in the Louis J. Tullio Arena, located at Eighth and French Streets in downtown Erie.

Hagen, a former CEO of Erie Insurance, spent more than 40 years with the Erie-based Fortune 500 company, starting as a part-time file clerk while he was a student at Penn State Behrend. In addition, he is a former secretary of commerce and secretary of community and economic development for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a retired U.S. Navy Captain, and the current chairman of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.

Active in the Penn State Behrend community, Hagen is a member of and former chair of the college's Council of Fellows. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Sam and Irene Black School of Business and sits on the Penn State Behrend 60th Anniversary Committee. He and his wife, Susan Hirt Hagen, also serve on the advisory board of the college's Institute on the American Dream.

Hagen studied business administration at Penn State Behrend from 1953 to 1955. He continued his education at Ohio State University where he was a Griffith Scholar and earned a bachelor of science degree in business in 1957. He received an honorary doctorate in public service from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1996.

In 1988, Hagen was honored with the Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Penn State Alumni Association.

For more information about Penn State Behrend, visit behrend.psu.edu.