Dec. 2, 2010

Martin Agency President to Deliver VCU Commencement Address

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By Tom Gresham

Mike Hughes, president of the Martin Agency, will be the featured speaker at Virginia Commonwealth University’s 2010 fall commencement ceremony.

Hughes has been named one of the 50 most creative people in the United States by Creativity magazine, and he became the 47th inductee into The One Club Creative Hall of Fame earlier this year. The Martin Agency, which is based in Richmond, was Adweek’s most recent selection as U.S. Agency of the Year. The firm creates advertising for the American Cancer Society, GEICO, Morgan Stanley, Pizza Hut, Tylenol, Walmart and 25 other national and international brands.

A member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame, Hughes was instrumental in helping founder Diane Cook-Tench create and build the VCU Brandcenter, a graduate program in advertising and marketing communications now recognized as one of the best programs of its kind in the world. Hughes has served as chairman of the VCU Brandcenter board of directors since the program’s inception in 1995. In November, the Brandcenter formally dedicated its building as Mike Hughes Hall.

Commencement exercises will be held at 10 a.m. on Dec. 11 at the Stuart C. Siegel Center. Watch the ceremony online at www.vcu.edu, starting at 10 a.m. For more information about the ceremony, visit www.commencement.vcu.edu.