Utah Valley University announced Monday that Mary C. Daly, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco president and CEO, will be the university’s 2022 commencement speaker.

“I’m thrilled to address the Class of 2022 at Utah Valley University,” Daly said in a press release. “There is nothing more satisfying in my job than helping young people see their value and potential. I can’t wait to meet these young Wolverines and share in their futures.”

Daly will also be awarded an honorary degree in public service at the commencement ceremony.

Daly’s story is one of perseverance. Born in Ballwin, Missouri, she dropped out of high school at age 15 in order to work multiple part-time jobs to support herself, but eventually earned her GED diploma at age 17. Daly then went on to become a first-generation college graduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and philosophy from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1985.

Daly went on to receive a master’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in economics from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

Daly began her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in 1996 as a research economist and also served as the executive vice president and director of research before assuming the role of president and CEO in 2018.

Daly is the host of the “Zip Code Economies” podcast, which follows Daly’s experience as she travels to different locations within the Federal Reserve’s 12th District that the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco serves, interviewing locals about their stories, economies and communities. She featured Salt Lake City on season one of “Zip Code Economies” in 2019.

Daly’s research on wage growth and income inequality has been widely published, and she has authored books such as “The Declining Work and Welfare of People with Disabilities: What Went Wrong and a Strategy for Change,” which she co-authored with Richard Burkhauser in 2011, and “Lifecycle Events and Their Consequences: Job Loss, Family Change, and Declines in Health,” which she co-edited with Kenneth A. Couch and Julie Zissimopoulus in 2013.

“Mary Daly is one of the nation’s brightest economic minds,” Astrid S. Tuminez, UVU president, said in a press release. “She has overcome tremendous personal hardship through persistence, grit and tapping into the power of higher education. How she has lived her life exemplifies what it means to be a UVU Wolverine.”

UVU’s spring 2022 commencement will take place at 6 p.m. May 6 at the UCCU Center on UVU’s Orem campus.

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