Retired State Farm Executive to address Southeastern Commencements
Thursday, December 5, 2019 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
HAMMOND – Retired State Farm Executive Wallace Lewis, Sr. will address Southeastern
Louisiana University graduating students at the commencement ceremonies Saturday,
Dec. 14.
Wallace will speak at the events scheduled for 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the University
Center. A ceremony for graduates of degree programs housed in the College of Education,
College of Business and College of Science and Technology will begin at 10 a.m., while
a ceremony for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the College of Arts,
Humanities and Social Sciences will begin at 5 p.m. The university will confer more
than 1,000 degrees on students who are graduating with bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral
degrees.
Lewis is a retired multi-faceted executive with broad-based experience in business
start-ups. A 1976 graduate of Southeastern with a bachelor’s degree in business education,
he is currently a board member of the Southeastern Foundation, is a current elder
member mentor for Southeastern Sons of Promise/Daughters of Destiny, and has served
on the Southeastern Alumni Association Board.
A resident of Hammond, Lewis has over 40 years of experience in insurance, financial
services, banking, management, field leadership, regional territory marketing and
sales, market expansion, market research, team development, public speaking, and talent
development.
Lewis has experienced many firsts over the years. While he was the first African
American hired for First Guaranty Bank’s Management Training Program, most of his
firsts came from his 32-year tenure with State Farm. There he was the first African
American agent in Tangipahoa Parish, the first appointed as an agency manager in the
three-state region of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, the first to appear in a
nationwide television commercial for State Farm, and the first African American to
be featured by State Farm in “Black Enterprise Magazine.”
Lewis is also a published author of a book titled “125 Proverbs for Fruitful
Living-Wisdom from My Dad.”
More information about Southeastern’s commencement ceremonies can be found at
southeastern.edu/commencement.
