Chad Goldman (’93), lifelong philanthropist and member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, is this year’s college commencement speaker.
A lifelong philanthropist, Goldman has generously supported UT, providing funding for the Pride Center, the Language Resource Center, Ayres Hall renovations, and travel abroad scholarships for students in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures.
Goldman graduated from UT in 1993 with a BA in Spanish and spent the next four years living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before getting his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix. He made another big move and relocated to Los Angeles and started CauseForce, an event production business focusing on fundraising events that has raised nearly a billion dollars for health-care organizations.
When Goldman heard that the Pride Center would lose funding in 2016, he held a fundraiser in conjunction with a Super Bowl party, raising $9,000 in a single night. Goldman has held fundraisers in Nashville, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Knoxville, raising well over $500,000.
Goldman has been responsible for many philanthropic achievements including the Goldman-Pendleton West Hollywood Library Mall, two Pendleton-Goldman Learning Centers in the Philippines, the Pendleton-Goldman PrEP HIV prevention clinic in Los Angeles, and the Goldman-Pendleton Language Learning Center at UT.
He has won numerous awards including the Los Angeles Gay Men’s Chorus Voice award, the Out100 Award, the PREA Rich Chicotel Award, the State Farm Good Neighbor Award, and the 2014 Community Impact Award from the Los Angeles Association for Corporate Growth.
The College of Arts and Sciences spring 2023 commencement ceremony will take place Saturday, May 20 at 2 p.m. in the Thompson Boling Arena on the UT campus. Visit commencement.utk.edu for more information about spring 2023 commencement ceremonies at UT.