July 26, 2005
Contact: Rita Mitchell, University Editor
Ted Welch to deliver summer commencement address
Martin, Tennessee - Ted Welch, owner of Ted Welch Investments, Nashville, and a University of Tennessee at Martin alumnus, will deliver the summer commencement address at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
Commencement will be at 2 p.m., Aug. 14, in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center on the UT Martin campus.
Dr. John D. Petersen, president of the University of Tennessee, will attend the ceremony to congratulate the 185 summer graduates.
Chancellor Dunagan will preside over the exercises and confer degrees. Dr. Paul Sharma, University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Alumni Distinguished Service Professor, will be the mace bearer. Processional marshals will be Dr. Robert LeMaster, faculty senate president; Dr. John Schommer, faculty senate vice president; Al Hooten, vice chancellor for finance and administration, and Len Solomons, vice chancellor for university advancement.
Immediately following commencement ceremonies, a reception will be hosted in the Duncan Ballroom in the Ed and Carolyn Boling University Center.
Welch, who graduated in 1955 from UT Martin with a bachelor of science degree, was captain of the football team and a member of the boxing, track and tennis teams. He also attended Indiana University Graduate School of Management.
Welch served as Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Administration and Chief Operating Officer from 1971-74. He subsequently served as finance chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party and the Republican National Committee, and established the Eagles Program, which today raises approximately $10.5 million for the RNC. For the 1980 presidential election, Welch was asked by candidates, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, John Connally, Bob Dole and Howard Baker, to be their national finance chairman. Welch and Baker co-founded the Republican Majority Fund that primarily supports U.S. Senate and House candidates, and grew into the second largest Political Action Committee in the country.
He was chosen Tennessee Republican Statesman of the Year in 1987, and was presented the award by Henry Kissinger and Baker. Welch was regional finance chairman for the Bush/Quayle campaign, national finance chairman for the primary and national chairman for Victory '92 for the general election.
Welch was described in a 1995 issue of the New York Times Magazine as "perhaps the best political fundraiser ever." In 1997, Welch was general chairman of the RNC's annual fund raising gala that raised more than $11.3 million - a record amount. He was finance chairman of Lamar Alexander's 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns, as well as for Alexander's victorious senatorial campaign in 2002. Currently, he is finance chairman of Alexander for Senate Committee 2008 and chairman of TENNPAC, which was founded by Alexander and Welch.
He became chairman and CEO of Eagle Communications, Inc., in 1993, and served in that capacity until he sold the company in July 2001.
In 1989, Welch received the UT Martin Outstanding Alumni Award, and in 1998, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree from Freed-Hardeman University..
###
