Alum, Trustee, CEO Leon Garoufalis to deliver Commencement address

Heidelberg University will hold its 172nd Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 11, in Hoernemann Stadium. President Rob Huntington, with support from the Board of Trustees, has announced that this year’s keynote speaker will be alumnus and executive Leon Garoufalis.

Leon, who graduated from Heidelberg in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, also has an MBA from Loyola University. He currently serves as the president and CEO of Composites One, an industry leader that provides the widest range of reinforcements, resins, gelcoats, catalysts, core materials, shop supplies, and process equipment. Headquartered in Illinois, Composites One has 40 distribution centers nationwide and serves 9,000 customers in a variety of markets, including marine, aerospace, wind energy, solid surface, construction, and advance composites.

Leon joined GLS Composites Distribution Corp, which would later become Composites One, in 1988 as a Resin Products Manager. Over the past 37 years, he has held a variety of sales, marketing, and operations positions after starting his career in sales with a specialty chemical manufacturer and then a thermostat resin producer.

At Composites One, Leon was named Chief Operating Officer in 1999, promoted to President in 2002, and finally, appointed CEO in 2022. His excellent leadership has been recognized by the composites industry. In 2012, he received the Chairman’s Award from the Composites Manufacturers Association. He also has served the association in several capacities since 2006, including membership on the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and as Secretary and Vice President.

Leon joined Heidelberg’s Board of Trustees in February 2024. As a student at Heidelberg, he was a member of the Excelsior Men’s Society, the wrestling team, and the College Council.

Baccalaureate Speaker

Heidelberg will kick off Commencement Weekend with the non-denominational Baccalaureate Service on Saturday, May 10. Delivering the sermon will be the Rev. Dr. Deborah Krause, President and Professor of New Testament at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, Missouri.

Rev. Dr. Krause’s teaching and scholarship focus on methods of biblical interpretation and their roots in critical theory, theology, and politics. She teaches courses in the gospels, early Jewish exegesis, the Deutero-Pauline and pastoral epistles, and feminist-womanist, post-colonial, and postmodern biblical interpretation.

After serving as Academic Dean from 2005-2018, she became Eden’s President in July 2020. An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Rev. Dr. Krause serves the church through social justice advocacy work, teaching, preaching, and scholarship.