Apple’s Cynthia Hogan ’84 to Speak to Grads

Cynthia C. Hogan, vice president for public policy for the Americas at Apple Inc., will deliver the 2018 University of Virginia School of Law commencement speech at the Law School’s graduation ceremony May 20. She is a 1984 alumna of the Law School.

Hogan, named to her position at Apple last year, oversees policy matters for the company in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

“We are so honored to welcome Cynthia Hogan back to UVA Law to speak at this year's commencement ceremony,” said Steven Glendon, president of the Student Bar Association, which invited her. “Hogan is an incredibly accomplished alumna, and I know she will be an inspiration to all of the graduating students that will have the opportunity to hear her speak.”

Hogan previously served as the National Football League’s executive vice president of public policy, where she developed and implemented the league's public policy and legislative initiatives and worked with NFL teams on local and state issues.

From 2009 to 2013, Hogan was deputy assistant to President Barack Obama and counsel to Vice President Joe Biden. She advised the administration on a broad range of domestic and foreign policy issues. She also managed all compliance, oversight, investigative matters, and litigation for the Office of the Vice President. She managed special projects for the administration, including the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, legislative efforts related to gun violence and strategies to combat family violence and teen dating violence.

“We are simply thrilled that Cynthia Hogan will serve as our commencement speaker this spring,” Dean Risa Goluboff said. “As our students begin their own careers, they could not ask for a better guide. Cynthia is in the midst of an extraordinary career, from the White House to the NFL and now to Apple. She has so much to teach them, and indeed all of us.”

Hogan is currently a board member of the Washington-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

While a student at UVA Law, Hogan was notes editor of the Virginia Law Review and, after graduation, clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Edward Norman Cahn in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

She has a bachelor’s in art history from Oberlin College.