Chuck Davis, a philanthropist and investment executive who spent two years at Middlebury before transferring to the University of Vermont, will deliver the 2025 commencement address.
A native of Burlington, Vermont, Davis worked for Goldman Sachs for 23 years before founding his own investment firm, Stone Point Capital, where he currently leads the group as chairman and co-executive chief officer, overseeing over $45 billion of assets. He and his wife Marna Olsen Davis serve as co-chairs of the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation, which they founded together with their son Tucker, who passed away from fibrolamellar cancer at the age of 28 in 2010. The foundation’s mission is to support research to improve outcomes for patients of the rare, understudied disease.
Before starting his own firm, Davis worked as an investment banker in New York, going on to serve as the worldwide head of investment banking, head of various Financial Services divisions and a general partner for Goldman Sachs. Stone Point is well known for its “Elephant Process,” a method in which the firm’s investment teams conduct broad searches for the best partners in the financial services sector, leveraging industry expertise and relationships to receive $35 billion in capital commitments since its founding in 1998.
Outside of his investment work, Davis has also served on the board of directors for companies such as the AXIS Capital Holdings Limited and the Progressive Corporation, an insurance company. He also worked as the former chairman of the Hershey Company Board of Directors, a role for which he was named one of 2018’s “Outstanding Directors” by the Financial Times. He remains connected to Vermont businesses as the chair and director of the board of Beta Technologies, one of the first electric plane manufacturers, based in South Burlington, Vt.
In addition to his corporate leadership, Davis has served as a trustee for academic institutions, including the University of Vermont (UVM), St. Michael’s College and St. John’s University.
Marna Davis actively volunteers in her New York community as a docent at the Museum of the City of New York, an English-language teacher and as a member of the board of directors for the Shelburne Museum. She and her husband will both receive honorary degrees from Middlebury next month.
As dedicated philanthropists, Davis and Marna run the Chuck & Marna Davis foundation, where they donate to several community based organizations. They have donated to the Shelburne Museum, UVM’s Dudley Davis Center, Shelburne Farms, Spectrum Youth and Family Services, Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps and Hack Club, a network of high school computer science clubs.
Their foundation began with the assistance of Goldman Sachs in 1987 under the name Chuck and Marna Davis as Trustees, then changing its name in 2022. After observing a disparity in Vermonters’ willingness to volunteer and ability to give financially, they chose to focus their philanthropy in their home state in 2020, with the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation as one exception. Their son, Tyler Davis, joined the foundation as a trustee in 2024.
The family also gave a four-million-dollar gift to support the construction of UVM’s Multi-Purpose Center project, which is a campus hub for recreation, wellness and fitness for its students. The center is named for Chuck Davis’ mother, Phyllis “Phiddy” Davis, who graduated from Vermont’s flagship state university in 1945.
After attending Middlebury College, Davis transferred to UVM, where he majored in physical education and was a player on the tennis and soccer teams. The two-sport athlete found success in Burlington and beyond, winning the Yankee Conference singles tournament in 1972 for tennis. Davis also shared the Hal Greig Award, which is given to the athlete who best improved the school’s soccer program “through his desire, hustle and love of the game,” according to a UVM press release. He was inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
Following UVM, Davis went on to receive a Master’s in Business Administration from the Columbia Business School in 1975, where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, the international business honor society.
Commencement will be held on May 25, 2025 on McCullough Lawn. Heather McGhee, author of the New York Times bestseller “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone” and chair of the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Dario Robleto, an American artist, researcher and filmmaker who works on transdisciplinary projects will receive the same honorary doctorate. Robleto visited campus on Oct. 15, 2024, when his film, “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice,” was on display at the Middlebury College Museum of Art in the exhibit, “An Invitation to Awe.”
Maggie Bryan '25 (she/her) is the Senior News Editor.
Maggie is a senior at Middlebury, majoring in Environmental Policy and French. She previously held roles as Senior Arts and Culture Editor, Arts and Culture Editor, and Staff. During her free time, she loves running, listening to live music, drinking coffee, and teaching spin classes. She is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Ryan McElroy '25 (he/him) is the Editor in Chief.
Ryan has previously served as a Managing Editor, News Editor and Staff Writer. He is majoring in history with a minor in art history. Outside of The Campus, he is co-captain of Middlebury Mock Trial and previously worked as Head Advising Fellow for Matriculate and a research assistant in the History department. Last summer Ryan interned as a global risk analyst at a bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Madeleine Kaptein '25.5 (she/her) is the Editor in Chief.
Madeleine previously served as a managing editor, local editor, staff writer and copy editor. She is a Comparative Literature major with a focus on German and English literatures and was a culture journalism intern at Seven Days for the summer of 2025.
