Kay Koplovitz

Spring 2008 Commencement Address

Thank you Chancellor Wiley for giving me the opportunity to come home to University of Wisconsin today — home to Madison and to Wisconsin.

This is a home, as you have noticed, that has changed a great deal over the last several years, with all the construction on campus, and I think it is very impressive and indicative of the progressive tradition of this great university.

When I left campus here with my bachelor’s degree in hand, I had some of the same excitement, anxiety, and optimism about beginning a new life that many of you have today.

I want to share with you a premise that I believe deeply in. It is the fabric of who we are. It is the power of our ideas. Our founding fathers memorialized in our Declaration of Independence our right to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The power of these ideas launched this great nation and continues to inspire millions around the world.

But today we are faced with the challenges to our beliefs, to our nation, to our environment, and to our scientific advances. The world in which we now live is a global village — connected to everything instantly, in any form, in any place that we want to receive it.

I can assure you this is not the world as it was when I left campus. But I was already blessed with the power of an idea that was beginning to transform my life. Let me explain how the precision of science and the art of communication took me on a lifelong journey.

It may be difficult for you to imagine a landscape of television in 1967. The industry offered just three broadcast networks, maybe an independent station, but that was about it and nothing else. Looking back from your perspective, you would consider, I’m sure, it a forbiddingly barren landscape.

But it’s not how it was viewed at the time. Most people thought three broadcast networks — who needs anything else?

That’s when I saw things differently. My idea came to me in what author Malcolm Gladwell described as a Blink, meaning without thinking, but connecting. My idea was a gift that came to me quite unexpectedly and from a totally unforeseen source. Let me tell you how it happened.

The year was 1966. The awesome power of that idea changed the focus of my life from science to communications. It was serendipitous that I happened to be in London in between my junior and senior year at Wisconsin and was out partying. We’re a good party school, right?

I was out partying, having a great time, but I also thought that it would be great to learn something along the way, so I stopped in one day at the London School of Economics to hear a very impressive person speak about the power of

There science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark”2001: A Space Odyssey” and many other great science fiction books — was talking about geosynchronous orbiting satellites. Well, that’s sexy, isn’t it?

I thought this was a powerful idea. They had the power to connect people instantly around the world. His idea was so compelling. As I listened to his passion for these satellites, it was a passion that grabbed me and never let me go.

I envisioned a world of instant communications beyond borders and beyond the iron curtain of repressive Communist regime. That’s when we had a Cold War.

I believe in the power of these ideas and I was thinking about democracy, about human rights, about education, about quality of life that we have and the freedom that we have as individuals. I was thinking about these things and about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that it belonged to all human beings.

That journey from idea to implementation wasn’t a short one. It took persistence. It took seven years for satellite and cable industries to realize the power of this idea, to create a market for its implementation. It all came together in what I like to call the night that changed the course of television history. And what would that be?

That night was September 30, 1975. The location — Vero Beach, Florida. The event — The Thriller in Manila. That was the night we demonstrated in front of members of Congress the validity of using geosynchronous orbiting satellites for commercial use.

It was what many believed to be the greatest boxing match of all time … it was the third match-up between Mohammad Ali and Joe Frasier. Maybe some of the parents here in the room remember the fight. It was what many thought was the greatest boxing match of all time. But what was the importance of that night?

It demonstrated the viability of geosynchronous orbiting satellites to connect to the commercial market and provide cable television viewing in the viewer’s home. It was that night, September 30, 1975, that my dream was born.

It took another two years to launch what became the amazingly successful USA Network. We launched in September, 1977, the first basic cable network. What was really important about that was not the boxing match that launched it, or even the programming that followed.

What became important was that I created a new business model using advertising and licensing fees to create a real business model, and many of you today will be faced with what you will do in the future in that regard.

It made it possible for cable networks to launch and flourish, and in ensuing years, came networks like CNN, MTV and ESPN and 500 or 5,000 more — the rest is history.

Now 30 years later, the television landscape, indeed the communications landscape, is vastly changed. Television is facing enormous challenges from new technologies including the Internet, broadband, mobile, social networks and bloggers. The list goes on.

I am sure that many gathered here today watch more video on the Web, on broadband or on their iPods than they do on real time when it’s broadcast on television. We Tivo it, we stream it, and we park it on our iPods and go on our way.

How will your generation take advantage of the marriage between your passions and technology? First, let’s take a look at how technology is already changing our lives.

Yours is the first generation that has grown up entirely on the Internet, a primary source of communication and education. Today there’s mobile, text messaging, consumer-generated videos, mobile gaming and much more.

Technology has transformed the manufacturing, sciences, medicine, education, transportation, the arts — just about everything that we touch. You have the world of technology at your fingertips and unlike my generation, you actually know how to use it.

When I served on the board of Oracle during the Internet 1.0 era, CEO Larry Ellison was obsessed with the Internet.

“The Internet is everything,” the Oracle ads cried out, but it was a bit early and it cost the company dearly because the technology wasn’t quite there.

But now we have Web 2.0, which is much more than a communications tool. It is a stream of collective intelligence that is open to all.

More importantly, the Internet today is a place to share collective knowledge. It is this collective knowledge, garnered from users and shared around the world, that prompted Thomas Friedman to write his book “The World is Flat.” In a flat world, all knowledge can be shared. How can you best take advantage of this?

Will you transform biodegradable products into our next great source of energy? Will crops fuel not only our human consumption, but our cars, our homes, our transportation systems and our businesses? Brazil showed us the way in the 70’s when we had the last great fuel crisis around the world. They didn’t wring their hands in despair. They took their most plentiful crop, sugar, and turned it into ethanol as a biodegradable fuel.

A country once dependent on foreign oil is nearly self-sufficient today. About 40 percent of the fuel Brazilians pump into their automobiles is ethanol, compared with three percent in the U.S.

The cost today? About $18.00 for them to fill up their tanks. Now we know that with food shortages and rising fuel costs there is an arbitrage brewing between crops for fuel and crops for food. But how about converting crop waste, wood product run-off or garbage to fuel our future? We certainly have a lot of that!

Are you the person who will do it? Why not? Are you the person who will wean America on foreign oil? Why not?

Education is undoubtedly on the brink of a massive breakthrough. Maria Alvarado is a visionary who runs an academy where children access the Web to learn foreign languages, including Chinese, advanced math, listen to speeches by leaders around the world to gain an understanding by observing them firsthand. What parent wouldn’t want their child to have that education? These lucky children attend elementary school in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Are you the next Maria Alvarado? Why not?

Whatever your passion is, follow it with persistence and focus, never straying from your compass true north. The headlines are filled today with actions that take leave of integrity: the greed that led to the sub prime crisis; the fraud in no-bid contracts in Iraq; a government that deceives its citizens — all deplorable behavior bankrupting the morals of this society.

Giant search engine Google implores people DO NO EVIL, but even that is not strong enough. It’s imperative that we restore integrity to our society and the task is in your hands.

An admired friend of mine, founder of the Vanguard Fund, author and the vigilant conscience of Wall Street Jack Bogle sums it up in the title of his book “Character Counts.” Make yours count for improving our society, as the creators of our Constitution would have you do.

Seek not only “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but also the protection of our imperfect union, integrity. The privilege is yours. Why not?

Scandinavian philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, offers wise advise to youth. He says, “If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth or power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for our eyes, which are ever young and ardent, see the possible.”

So today is your day to set out on your journey of passionate possibilities. What lessons have I learned that I might share with you? There are many, but here are just four:

  • Explore: Explore your interests with vigor and passion until your passion finds you.
  • Pursue. Pursue your passions with relentless energy.
  • Value. Value human capital. Find the mentors you admire and develop those important relationships that can help you grow. Above all value your friends and your family.
  • Collect. Collect memories and cherish them. I guarantee you they’ll be more valuable than any other possession you will ever own.

So may your journey be filled with passionate possibilities. Why not?

Kay Koplovitz, a pioneer in cable TV networks and new media ventures, founded the USA Network and was the first woman network president in television history. She currently serves as chair of the board of Liz Claiborne Inc. and is the CEO of Koplovitz & Company. She co-created Springboard Enterprises, a national organization that fosters venture capital investments in women-led high growth companies. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in radio, TV and film from the University of Wisconsin in 1967.