Influential technology executive to give Spring Commencement address at Ball State

Topics: Administrative, Alumni, Speakers

April 11, 2016

Scott McCorkle, CEO of Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud, will deliver the Spring Commencement address May 7 at Ball State University. Salesforce is the world’s No. 1 CRM company and fastest growing top 10 software company.

The son and brother of Ball State alumni, he is a 1989 graduate of Ball State with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He also earned a master of business administration from Indiana University.

“We have closely followed the career of Scott McCorkle as he rose through the ranks to become one of the most influential executives in Indiana’s fast-growing technology sector,” said Terry King, Ball State’s acting president. “His passion for innovative products and technology, combined with his dedication to customer success, has been instrumental in building one of the world’s most powerful one-to-one digital marketing platforms.”

McCorkle was appointed to his current role in 2014 after Salesforce acquired Indianapolis-based ExactTarget the previous year. He led ExactTarget in technology and strategy in various executive positions since joining the firm in 2005. Founded in 2000, the company and its technology grew to power the digital customer experience for many of the world’s leading brands across email, mobile, social media, advertising and the web.

He also co-founded Mezzia Inc., served as vice president of IBM’s customer relationship management (CRM) product group and was vice president and general manager for Software Artistry. McCorkle began his career at BorgWarner Automotive’s Technology Research Center, developing computer vision-guided robotic systems, and then spent several years at Eli Lilly and Company’s Lilly Research Laboratories.

Spring Commencement, which begins at 10 a.m. on the Fine Arts Terrace, is among the university’s greatest traditions when more than 2,500 degrees are conferred. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be at Worthen Arena.

Past Ball State commencements have been graced by the presence of Tony Award-winning actress Sutton Foster; then-U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar; Steve Kroft, senior correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes”; Angela Ahrendts, now senior vice president at Apple; Richard Linnehan, four times an astronaut on NASA space shuttles; Steve Inskeep, co-host of National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition”; and Jeffrey D. Feltman, undersecretary general for political affairs at the United Nations, among others.

The speaker at last May’s commencement was John Schnatter, the founder and CEO of Papa John’s Pizza, who graduated from Ball State in 1983.