As Saint Vincent College celebrated its twenty-first Winter Commencement, commencement speaker Michael Keslar, C’80, invited graduates and their families to think about the forces that guide a life and the decisions that shape a future. He began with a simple prompt:

“Let’s talk about the unexpected pivots, the impact of AI, and the power of the values that you and I learned on this campus.”

Keslar, who graduated from Saint Vincent with a degree in economics, returned to campus as a distinguished executive, currently serving as divisional chief information officer at BNY and president of BNY Pennsylvania. Before he addressed the graduates, College president Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B., presented him with the Presidential Medal of Honor.

He talked openly about his own student years, recalling long stretches in the library without the technologies that now define much of daily life. “What I had was help from humans. People helped me through school.” He told the story of meeting an upperclass student who became a lifelong mentor. “I’ve been very grateful that I met him here on campus.”

These experiences shaped the message he delivered to graduates on December 13: “Embrace your relationships and ask for help on your continued journey. Accept unexpected help whenever it presents itself.”

Keslar has spent decades working in a field transformed by rapid advances in technology, yet his message emphasized something lasting. Even at a company with $4 billion in annual technology spending, progress depends on people and on the values that hold steady even in a world shaped by innovation. As he put it, “AI is not going to replace integrity. The integrity you learned on this campus, how you treat people, and how you conduct yourself is your unautomated, irreplaceable superpower.”

“Please take Saint Vincent’s community with you. I have.”