Business and civic leader Carl Sewell, a member of the SMU Board of Trustees, will speak at the University’s graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, in Moody Coliseum.

A 1966 graduate of SMU, Mr. Sewell earned Bachelor’s degrees in banking and finance, as well as economics. He is the chairman of Sewell Automotive Companies, a national leader in the automotive industry and an innovator in establishing customer service standards. He shared his service philosophy and practices in the best-selling book Customers for Life, which has sold more than 1 million copies in 17 languages.

Mr. Sewell joined the SMU Board of Trustees in 1996 and served as board chair from 2006-2010 and as vice chair from 2004-2006.  He has served on numerous University boards and committees, and currently is serving on Trustee standing committees for Academic Policy, Planning and Management; Athletics; Compensation; Development and External Affairs; Executive; and Trusteeship; as well as the Real Estate Ad Hoc Committee and the Presidential Library Special Advisory Committee. Mr. Sewell is a former executive board member for the Hegi Family Career Development Center, the John G. Tower Center for Political Studies, the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series and all of the SMU schools.

Through his leadership and philanthropy, Mr. Sewell has been an advocate for increased funding of merit scholarships and programs to serve the needs of high-achieving students. As a result, SMU has raised increased funds for scholarships, SAT scores of entering students have risen dramatically, the number of students applying to SMU has nearly tripled, and SMU’s academic ranking has risen to the top quarter of national universities.

Mr. Sewell serves as one of five co-chairs leading The Second Century Campaign, the University’s largest and most successful fundraising effort. To date it has raised more than $560 million toward its $750 million goal. He also is co-chair of The Second Century Celebration Organizing Committee, 2011-15. His support of the President’s Scholars program, the University’s highest merit award, has resulted in record numbers of students receiving the scholarships. He also supports SMU athletics and student career services, among other areas.

Mr. Sewell has been recognized with SMU’s Distinguished Alumni Award and the Cox School of Business Distinguished Alumni Award, as well as awards from Dallas civic organizations.

In addition to national councils in the automotive industry, Mr. Sewell has served on numerous local boards, including the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, United National Bank and the Neiman Marcus Group. He is a past president of the Board of Trustees at St. Mark’s School of Texas and serves on the boards of the State Fair of Texas and the Southwestern Medical Foundation.

Mr. Sewell and his wife, Peggy ’72, reside in Dallas. They have two grown children, Jacquelin Sewell Taylor ’07 and J. Carl Sewell III ’07, who earned Master’s degrees in management from the Cox School of Business. Mr. Sewell’s son-in-law, Phillip M. Taylor ’11, earned an MBA from the Cox School.