P. Kelly Tompkins ’81 will deliver the commencement address at Cleveland State University College of Law’s graduation ceremony for the Class of 2025. The ceremony will take place Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. at the Connor Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square.
“As a distinguished alumnus and a member of our CSU|LAW Hall of Fame, Kelly Tompkins’ outstanding career achievements, expertise in law, business and leadership, and his longtime dedication to our law school make him an exemplary choice to deliver our commencement address,” said CSU|LAW Dean Lee Fisher.
Tompkins has more than 30 years of public company experience as a C-suite executive, investor relations and corporate communications strategist, legal advisor, and collaborative leader in global industrial companies. He has played a significant role in turnaround, rebuilding and restructuring public companies, board leadership and management teams.
Tompkins currently serves in numerous capacities, including as Chairman of the Board of First American Funds, a money market fund complex affiliated with U.S. Bank Asset Management. He joined Dix & Eaton in 2018 and as a Senior Advisor, provides guidance to board chairs, CEOs, CFOs and other corporate officers on matters relating to governance, investor relations, transactions, enterprise risk management, sustainability, capital markets, finance, government and public affairs, and corporate communications. He is also serving as Senior Advisor to President-Designate Lee Fisher at Baldwin Wallace University and is an advisor and investor in a medical equipment start-up business.
Prior to joining Dix & Eaton, Tompkins’ impressive legal and executive career has included serving as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Cleveland Cliffs, and Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, RPM International. During his career at both Cleveland Cliffs and RPM, he served as Chief Legal Officer.
Tompkins is a familiar face on the CSU campus, serving as a CSU|LAW Leader-In-Residence for the past seven years. His former roles include Trustee, Cleveland State University Board of Trustees, CSU Interim Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chair, CSU Special Advisor to the President for Business Affairs, and Chair, CSU|LAW Board of Visitors.
Recognizing the training gap in leadership in legal education, Tompkins worked with Dean Fisher to create the P. Kelly Tompkins Leadership and Law Program in 2018. As part of his work with the program, Tompkins co-instructs with Dean Fisher a leadership course for upper-level students, “Leadership and the Law: Leadership Lessons of Highly Effective Lawyer-Leaders.”
Tompkins looks forward to speaking to the Class of 2025 and his commencement speech will include messages on leadership, the graduates' role in upholding the tenets of our profession, and protecting the fundamental role of the rule of law.
“If I could implore one thing to graduates, it would be to maintain your professional reputation and your moral compass pointing true north, and to never lose your ethical moorings,” said Tompkins.