Ralph W. Christie, Jr. to be Spring 2005 Engineering Commencement Speaker
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Spring 2005 Engineering Commencement Speaker Ralph W. Christie, Jr., P.E. Chairman, President and CEO Merrick & Company |
Ralph W. Christie, Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Merrick & Company, will be the Spring 2005 College of Engineering commencement speaker. The college will host two graduation ceremonies in the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom on May 14 at 1 and 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Christie is chairman, president, and CEO of Merrick & Company, a 450-person, employee-owned firm based in Aurora, Colorado, and founded in 1955. Mr. Christie was elected president and CEO in January 1997 and chairman of the Board of Directors in June 1997. Merrick provides multi-disciplinary engineering, architecture, geo-spatial information and construction management services nationwide, as well as servicing some niche international markets.
Mr. Christie has 33 years of technical and management experience in the engineering and construction industry. He is a registered professional engineer in Colorado and Pennsylvania with a B.S. in civil engineering summa cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1973 and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1979. Mr. Christie received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2002 from the University of Cincinnati.
Mr. Christie served as chair of the board for the Aurora Economic Development Council in 2002, is a founding board member of the Colorado Space Business Roundtable; and has been an active advisory board member for the University of Cincinnati College of Civil/Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado (at Denver) Engineering Council, and the University of Denver Engineering Advisory Council. He now serves as the co-chairman of the Space Committee for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and as an active board member for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and the Aurora Economic Development Council.
The Chamber of Commerce of Aurora, Colorado, named Mr. Christie "Man of the Year for 2002" for his business and community leadership. He also earned additional recognition as one of Colorado's top CEOs as noted in the ColoradoBiz magazine in October 2001.
For more information about the 2005 spring commencement, view the College of Engineering commencement instructions.