Commencement Speakers and Honorees

Keynote Address - Chris Gheysens

Chris Gheysens is chairman and chief executive officer of Wawa, a chain of more than 1,100 convenience stores in nine states across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions of the U.S. and Washington, D.C. Wawa is a family- and associate-owned, privately held company with more than 45,000 associates serving almost two million customers every day.

The company began in New Jersey in the early 1800’s as an iron foundry and a cotton and textile mill and moved to Pennsylvania with the opening of a dairy plant in 1902. The original dairy was built in a rural section of Pennsylvania called “Wawa,” which was named by Native Americans to honor a favored game – the Canada goose. As home delivery of dairy declined and supermarkets became more abundant in the early 1960s, the concept to open Wawa convenience stores became a reality with the first in Folsom, Pa., in 1964.

Gheysens, who’s been with Wawa for more than 27 years, was previously chief financial and administrative officer with responsibility for all financial, legal and human resource functions. Prior to joining Wawa, Gheysens was in the audit practice at Deloitte and Touche, LLP in Philadelphia.

A graduate of Saint Augustine Preparatory School in Richland, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Villanova University School of Business and his Master of Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University. Gheysens is a certified public accountant who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Leadership degree and the Beta Gamma Sigma Business Achievement Award from Saint Joseph’s University.

Gheysens has served on the WSFS Bank Board of Directors since 2017. He joined the Board of Trustees for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 2017 and in 2020 was appointed chairman. He joined the Villanova University Board of Trustees in 2021 where he serves as chair of the Stewardship Committee.

Chris graduated from the Villanova University School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy in 1993. He obtained his Master of Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University and was a Certified Public Accountant in New Jersey. In 2019, Chris was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Leadership and the Beta Gamma Sigma Business Achievement Award in 2022, both from Saint Joseph’s University.

Chris serves on the WSFS Bank Board of Directors since 2017. Also, in 2017, he joined The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Board of Trustees and in 2020 was appointed as the Chairman of the Board. He joined the Villanova University Board of Trustees in 2021, and serves as the Chair at the Stewardship Committee, previously chairing the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Villanova School of Business.

Honorary Degree Recipient - Nicholas A. Peppas

Nicholas A. Peppas is the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in                                                        Engineering No. 6 at the University of Texas at Austin, with appointments in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, the College of Pharmacy and the Dell Medical School.

He is a biomedical and chemical engineer, materials scientist and nanotechnologist whose research contributions, innovations and inventions have led to 20 chemical, medical and pharmaceutical products. He is a world leader in biomaterials, controlled drug delivery and bionanotechnology.

His group has set the fundamentals of flow and transport phenomena in numerous medical problems, based on the principles of engineering science and biology. He has published or edited 37 books and 2,150 publications. His pioneering contributions have been cited in more than 230,000 references, making him one of the world’s most cited chemical or biological scientists.

Peppas has served as a visiting professor in the universities of Geneva, Paris-Sud, Santiago de Compostela, Madrid, Lisbon, Parma, Pavia, Napoli, Hacettepe (Ankara), Athens and Berlin, as well as Hebrew University (Jerusalem), Hoshi University (Tokyo), Nanyang University (Singapore), Sichuan University (Chengdu) and Peking Medical College (Beijing).

He has received more than 200 awards including the National Academy of Engineering’s Founders Award, the National Academy of Medicine’s Adam Yarmolinsky Medal, and the Biomaterials Global Impact Award. His awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers include the Founders Award and William H. Walker Award.

He studied chemical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece (Dipl. Eng., 1971) and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sc.D., 1973). He is the recipient of 15 honorary doctorates and professorships. He is the co-editor-in-chief of Regenerative Biomaterials (Oxford) and past president of the Controlled Relief Society, the Society for Biomaterials, the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, and the scientific research honor society, Sigma Xi.

His research has been funded since 1980 by the National Institutes of Health and since 1978 by the National Science Foundation.

A teacher and mentor, Peppas has supervised the work of more than 300 graduate students and visiting scientists, including 112 Ph.D.s. More than 500 undergraduates have worked in his laboratory.

In recognition of his profound impact on the field of biomedical engineering through developing knowledge and applications to provide novel therapies and devices to treat chronic diseases, as well as advancing the work of others in pharmaceutical and biomedical engineering technology, Peppas will receive an Honorary Doctor of Entrepreneurship degree from Rowan University.

Distinguished Alumnus - Christopher “Chris” DeMayo

Chris DeMayo is partner, chief operating officer and elected member of the Board of Directors at Withum, one of the country’s top 25 advisory, accounting and tax firms.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Accounting through Rowan’s Rohrer College of Business (RCB) in 2002, DeMayo returned and earned his MBA in 2004. While at Rowan, DeMayo was a graduate assistant in Residential Learning and University Housing and created the University’s Head of Greek Life position, which he served in for two years.

He believes so deeply in his alma mater that in 2022 he established the Christoper M. DeMayo Endowed Scholarship in Accounting within the RCB.

A certified public accountant, he was promoted to partner at Withum in 2013 – just nine years after graduating. There he’s led the Technology and Emerging Growth practice from a small, regional presence to a nationally recognized, top 10 entity. Known within the tech community for his knowledge and expertise, DeMayo works with some of the best-known startup and emerging growth companies in America.

DeMayo led Withum’s expansion to the West Coast and oversees the firm’s mergers and acquisitions strategy alongside leadership. In addition, he has headed various initiatives at Withum including a restructuring of the firm’s operations, a redesign of team member benefit plans, and helped establish Withum’s Innovation Department.

DeMayo was recognized as a 40 Under 40 winner by the website CPA Practice Advisor; received the 2018 Apex Award of Excellence for Electronic Media-Education and Training; and was named to New Jersey Business Magazine’s 2024 INNOVATE100 list. In 2023, he was recognized as an honorary member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honors Society for contributions to business and the Rowan community.

Within Withum, he was awarded the Strength Award in Client Service, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Firm Impact – citations that recognize the highest achievers in the firm and which exemplify DeMayo’s approach to entrepreneurship and business.

His passion for creating opportunities for others extends to his role as a board member for One Simple Wish, a nonprofit that grants wishes to children in the foster care system.