Florida Tech to Hold Summer Commencement July 29, Will Confer 850 Degrees
By Space Coast Daily // July 20, 2023
ceremony starts at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 29
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Florida Tech will hold its summer commencement on Saturday, July 29 and confer 850 degrees.
Jorge Mesquita, a successful business executive and recipient of Florida Tech’s prestigious Jerome P. Keuper Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022, will offer the keynote address.
The ceremony starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Charles and Ruth Clemente Center and will feature both undergraduate and graduate students from the main Melbourne campus, off-campus sites, and online. More than 450 students are scheduled to cross the stage.
Graduates hail from 43 countries and 28 U.S. states.
John Nicklow, who began at Florida Tech’s sixth president on July 1, will preside over his first commencement. He will welcome one of the university’s most successful graduates in Mesquita ‘83, who compiled a decades-long career in marketing and leadership roles at multiple Fortune 500 companies.
Prior to joining BlueTriton Brands, he was formerly the executive vice president, worldwide chairman, consumer of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) from December 2014 until February 2019. He was responsible for increasing the competition of J&J’s consumer business through a transformational strategy and for accelerating the growth of brands such as Listerine, Neutrogena, Aveeno and Tylenol.
Mesquita was employed by the Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), where he held various marketing and leadership positions, for 29 years from 1984 to 2013.
During his tenure at P&G, Jorge’s assignments included group president of global fabric care and president of global home care. He was recognized for the reinvention of brands such as Tide, Swiffer, Febreze, Mr. Clean, Downy, Dawn, Cascade and Iams.
He currently serves on the board of directors of Mondelēz and Humana.
Mesquita was born in Maputo, Mozambique, where he lived until his family fled to Brazil during a civil war when he was 14 years old.
He then came to the United States for college, enrolling at Florida Tech shortly after his older siblings, with whom he lived throughout his college career. While earning his chemical engineering degree, he played on the men’s soccer and rowing teams and worked part time in the cafeteria.
Coverage of the commencements can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV.
