2008 Honorary Degree Recipients/Commencement Speakers

Mr. Ken Hackett
President, Catholic Relief Services
Honorary Degree recipient, Doctor of Humane Letters
Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony — College of Arts and Sciences 

Ken Hackett is president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), one of the world’s most effective and efficient relief and development agencies. After graduating from Boston College in 1968, he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to serve in Ghana. He joined CRS in 1972 and started his career in Sierra Leone. Hackett served CRS in posts throughout Africa and Asia, as well as in a variety of positions at CRS headquarters. He was the Regional Director for Africa, guiding CRS' response to the Ethiopian famine of 1984-1985 and supervised operations in East Africa during the crisis in Somalia in the early 1990s. Hackett has led CRS since 1993.

Under Hackett's leadership, CRS went through a significant institutional transformation. In 1993, he launched a strategic planning exercise to help clarify the mission and identity of CRS. Shortly thereafter came the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The killing of more than 800,000 people over a three-month span led CRS officials to reevaluate how they implemented their relief and development programs, particularly in places with heightened ethnic conflict and socioeconomic inequities that often lead to violence. After an extended period of institutional reflection and prayer, CRS incorporated a justice-centered focus in all its programming, using Catholic social teaching as a guide.

Hackett has received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Boston College, Siena College and New York Medical College. In 2004, Hackett was named a Knight Commander of the Papal Order of Saint Gregory the Great, one of the highest Papal honors.

Since 2004, Hackett has served on the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a federal effort to increase aid to countries that demonstrate a commitment to ruling justly, investing in people and encouraging economic freedom.

Matthew H. Paull, M.A.
Chief Financial Officer (retired), McDonald’s Corporation 
Commencement Speaker
Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony — School of Business Administration and Engineering Programs

Matthew H. Paull served as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the McDonald’s Corporation from mid-2001 until his retirement in January 2008. Responsible for all financial matters of the company, Paull oversaw reporting for accounting, facilities and systems, information services, investor relations, tax and treasury. McDonald’s Ventures, which included Chipolte Mexican Grill, Boston Market, Pret-a-Manger and Redbox DVD, reported to Paull from 2004 to 2007.  

Prior to joining McDonald’s in 1993, which included positions on their National and Japan Board of Directors, Paull was a partner at Ernst & Young, one of the world’s leading professional services organization. Paull also served as a board member for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and was named 2006 Chicago Executive of the Year. Named to the Best Buy Co., Inc. Board of Directors in September 2003, Paull continues to serve as Director today. 

Paull earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and his master’s degree in accounting at the University of Illinois and joined the USD Business School as a part-time instructor this year.  

Maureen M. Pennington
Commander, United States Navy
Commencement Speaker, Graduate Commencement

Commander Maureen Pennington is the Senior Nurse Executive at the Navy Medical Center in San Diego.  Commander Pennington earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1986 from Saint Joseph’s College, the same year she began active Naval service as a staff nurse at Naval Hospital, Newport, Rhode Island. 

Following her Newport duty Commander Pennington was accepted into the Navy’s Perioperative Training Course and after completing her training, reported to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA, as the Neurosurgery charge nurse. During this assignment she deployed for eight months in support of Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield and became the first nurse to lead a surgical company during combat operations. Over the next seven years she completed annual volunteer missions with Operation Smile providing health care to children in third world countries. While assigned in Virginia she completed her Masters of Nursing Administration at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. 

Commander Pennington’s military decorations include a Bronze Star, three Navy Commendation Medals, two Navy Achievement Medals, the Combat Action Medal and various other ribbons and campaign medals. She also achieved designation as a Fleet Marine Force Qualified Officer and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society. 

Her civilian awards include the 2007 Minerva Award presented by California First Lady Maria Shriver for service during Operation Iraqi Freedom and seven worldwide humanitarian medical missions. She is also the 2008 Recipient of the Spirit of the Immortal Chaplains Award in honor and recognition of exceptional compassion for others of different faiths and ethnicity.

Thomas P. O’Brien 
United States Attorney, Central District of California 
Commencement Speaker, Law School Commencement

Thomas P. O’Brien was nominated  to be the United States Attorney for the Central District of California by President George W. Bush on July 12, 2007.  He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on October 4, 2007, and was sworn in as United States Attorney the next day.  As the senior federal law enforcement official in the Central District of California, Mr. O’Brien is responsible for all federal criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as all civil matters involving the United States, in the largest federal district in the country.

Prior to being selected as the United States Attorney, Mr. O’Brien served for more than two years as the Chief of the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney’s Office.  Before that, he was Chief of the office’s Civil Rights Section, where he investigated and prosecuted federal hate crimes, racially motivated murders, human trafficking violations, and police misconduct cases.  Mr. O’Brien has received numerous awards from the law enforcement agencies he has worked with, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of State, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and the Los Angeles Police Department.  He received the 2007 Anti-Defamation League Pacific Southwest Region’s Helene and Joseph Sherwood Prize for combating hate.  In October 2007, he received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service – the highest award given by the Attorney General – for his role in investigating and prosecuting street gang members who committed hate-crime murders of African-Americans in Northeast Los Angeles.    

Mr. O’Brien is a former Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, where he was assigned to the Hardcore Gang Division for more than five years. He was named Prosecutor of the Month in July 2000 by the Los Angeles County Association of Deputy District Attorneys. 

Mr. O’Brien graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1981, and from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1993, where he was an Associate Editor of the San Diego Law Review and received his degree with honors.  He has accumulated 2,000 flight hours as a Radar Intercept Officer in the F-14 “Tomcat” fighter aircraft, and is a graduate of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons (“Top Gun”) School.