Commencement Speaker & Honorary Degree Recipient
Doctor of Letters

Nyack College/Alliance Theological Seminary

Michael (Myeong Kyu) Ahn is this year’s speaker for the Nyack College/Alliance Theological Seminary commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 8, 2010. He will also receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.
From January 2004 through March 2010, Mr. Ahn was president and chief executive officer of LG Electronics North America, the regional headquarters of LG Electronics, Inc., a global force in consumer electronics, mobile communications, and home appliances. After retiring from a 34-year career, he is now senior advisor to LG. He provides strategic counsel to LG Electronics and advises small- and medium-size businesses, as well as not-for-profit organizations.

In this role, Mr. Ahn successfully realigned LG’s multi-faceted North American operations into a single, consolidated business structure, while building the LG brand into a top-tier player in the company’s core business areas. As CEO, he provided strategic direction for LG Electronics activities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, encompassing LG Home Entertainment, Home Appliances, Mobile Phones, Business Solutions, and Air Conditioning products, as well as related service and support activities.

Mr. Ahn’s role as senior advisor capitalizes on his broad U.S. management experience and his extensive background in corporate management, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and technology. His experience also included key management roles as executive vice president for the LG Digital Appliance Company, president of LG Electronics’ German subsidiary, senior vice president of engineering, manufacturing, quality, and service for LG’s Zenith subsidiary, and head of LG’s U.S. OEM operations.

His straightforward management style and an intense focus on customer relations, Mr. Ahn was responsible for leading the corporate strategies driving LG Electronics’ integration, development, and growth in North America for six years. Under his leadership, LG Electronics’ revenues in North America grew 20 percent annually from $5.6 billion to more than $13 billion.
 

Doctor of Laws
Nyack College

Martin Palouš has been permanent representative and United Nations ambassador to the Czech Republic since July 1, 2006.

Mr. Palouš received a RNDr. degree (Doctor of Natural Sciences in chemistry) from Charles University, Prague, in 1973, and went on to study philosophy and social sciences, graduating in 1977.
In 2001, he received a higher doctorate degree in political science and became associate professor (docent) at Charles University in Prague. He studied law, and after the successful defense of his doctoral thesis, “Freedom of Expression at the beginning of the 21st Century,” he received a Ph.D. in public international law from Masaryk University, Brno in 2008.

One of the first signatories of Charter 77, Mr. Palouš served as spokesman for this dissident human rights group in 1986. A founding member of the Civic Forum, created in November 1989, he was elected to the Federal Assembly and became a member of its Foreign Affairs Committee. A member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia, he also served as deputy minister of foreign affairs and was assigned to our nation’s capitol as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to the United States.

At Charles University, Mr. Palouš has held a number of teaching positions including posts on the Faculty of Social Sciences (the Institute of Foreign Relations) as well as the faculty’s vice‑dean. He joined the Center for Theoretical Studies, a research center run jointly by Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University and Washington University, as well as a scholar-in-residence at the University of Michigan. He was also active in various non‑governmental organizations, including chairman of the Czech Helsinki Committee and co‑chairman of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly.

Among his numerous publications are "What Kind of God Does Human Rights Require?" in Does Human Rights Need God? (2005), and "Common Sense and the Rule of Law" in Philosophy, Literature, and Politics (2005).
 

Nyack College

Paul Glenn is an attorney for the Investment Adviser Association (IAA) in Washington, DC. Paul joined the IAA in 2006 and works on legal issues important to investment advisers and the mission of IAA.

The Cleveland, OH native has spent his professional career in the Washington, DC area. He worked for 12 years at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a trial attorney and special counsel in the Division of Enforcement and the Office of General Counsel, respectively. Those SEC years include a year that he worked for JP Morgan Chase Manhattan (Chemical Bank) in New York City as part of the President’s Executive Exchange Commission under the auspices of the White House.

Paul has also worked at the Office of Thrift Supervision, US Treasury, as deputy chief counsel and special counsel. He served as vice president and director of compliance for PNC Bank N.A. in Washington DC (formerly Riggs) and Millennium Bank N.A. in Reston VA.

His masters of law degree (LLM) was earned at Georgetown University Law Center (Washington DC) and his Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio). Paul is a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Supreme Court of the United States, and other federal courts.

A frequent speaker at professional conferences on legal topics relating to investment advisors, securities laws, banking laws, anti-money laundering, electronic-banking, privacy, and data security, he is active in his local church and community where he has served variously as chairman of the church elder board, junior-high youth leader, leader of weekly prayer meeting, and AWANA youth clubs. He served for 12 years on the board of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Washington DC.

Paul believes one of his most rewarding accomplishments has been to serve since December 1976 as a trustee, and for most years, as secretary of the board of trustees of Nyack College in Nyack, NY.