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| Brown, Kinsey, and Weaver |
FAMU will welcome three distinguished leaders in business, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship as keynote speakers for its 2025 Spring Commencement ceremonies, set for May 2–3 at the Al Lawson Multipurpose Center. More than 1,100 graduates from the university’s 14 schools and colleges will cross the stage during the events, which will feature addresses by corporate trailblazers Adrienne Brown, Bernard W. Kinsey, and Fawn Weaver.
A trio of visionaries to inspire graduates
Friday, May 2, 6 p.m. ET: Adrienne Brown, group vice president and head of corporate business development at Eli Lilly and Company, will kick off the ceremonies.
Saturday, May 3, 9 a.m. ET: Bernard W. Kinsey, co-founder of the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection and a pioneering business leader, will address graduates.
Saturday, May 3, 2 p.m. ET: Fawn Weaver, founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest, Inc., the fastest-growing American whiskey brand in history, will close the celebrations.
“These three dynamic leaders exemplify the tenacity, vision, and excellence we instill in our students,” said FAMU Interim President Timothy L. Beard. “Their journeys—from groundbreaking entrepreneurship to transformative philanthropy—will inspire our graduates to uplift their communities as they ascend to new heights.”
Spotlight on the speakers
Fawn Weaver: A serial entrepreneur and one of only five Black women to helm a $1B+ company, Weaver turned Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey into a global phenomenon. The brand, named after the first known African American master distiller, has earned over 1,400 awards. Weaver, a TED Talk speaker and bestselling author, also oversees the seventh most visited distillery worldwide. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama, she holds an honorary doctorate from Bluefield State University and serves on the board of Endeavor Group Holdings.
Adrienne Brown: The FAMU MBA alumna spearheads corporate strategy at Eli Lilly, where she drove the diabetes and obesity division to double-digit growth, reaching 10 million patients. Brown, a Clearwater, Florida native, began her career at Lilly and has held leadership roles across sales, marketing, and innovation. She emphasized, “My time at FAMU laid the foundation for a career centered on improving lives—a mission our graduates will carry forward.”
Bernard W. Kinsey: A 1967 FAMU graduate, Kinsey broke barriers as the first Black sales representative at Humble Oil and rose to vice president at Xerox, where he co-founded initiatives to diversify its workforce. Along with his wife, Shirley Pooler Kinsey, he built the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection, a globally exhibited archive of Black achievement spanning four centuries. The couple has donated over $1 million to FAMU and championed educational causes nationwide. “Education and history are the bedrock of progress,” Kinsey said.
As graduates prepare to turn their tassels, the selected speakers underscore FAMU’s commitment to showcasing diverse paths to success—from corporate boardrooms to cultural preservation. Their messages of perseverance and social impact are poised to resonate with a class stepping into a world eager for their contributions.