Browner White speaks at YSU’s Fall Commencement, receives honorary degree

Pamela Browner White, a highly accomplished, award-winning senior executive with nearly three decades of progressive leadership in corporate public affairs and communications, receives an honorary degree and will be the featured speaker at YSU’s Fall commencement 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, in Beeghly Center on campus.

The student speaker will be Molly B. Lukehart, who will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater. Lukehart is an active member of Alpha Psi Omega, and a student employee in the theater scene shop. At YSU, she has acted in several student-directed ten-minute plays, and also was in the cast of “Out of this Furnace” (Spring 2015), “Dead Man's Apartment” (Spring 2016), and “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” (Fall 2017). After discovering a passion for puppetry, she decided to apply to the puppetry graduate program at the University of Connecticut.

White, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication from YSU in 1987, is senior vice president of Communications with the American Board of Internal Medicine. She previously was senior vice president of Public Affairs for Cancer Treatment Centers of America and held senior leadership roles with high-profile organizations such as Citizens Bank and the Philadelphia Eagles.

White founded a workforce movement called WorkReady Philadelphia, designed to encourage business leaders across the Philadelphia region to invest in the city’s public schools students.

She also has served on a number of corporate and civic boards, including Healthcare Improvement Foundation, African American Museum of Philadelphia, Widener University, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.

Her career accomplishments have earned her a number of prestigious awards, including: Pennsylvania Top 50 Women in Business; Philadelphia Business Journal Woman of Distinction; Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence; The Salvation Army Eliza Shirley Women in Leadership Award; the Girls Inc. of Greater Philadelphia Strong, Smart and Bold Award; and the NAACP’s President’s Award-Beverly Hills.