Speakers Announced for College’s 2025 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony

Alum Adam Wenchel (B.S. '99, computer science), co-founder and CEO of Arthur, will be the keynote speaker at the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences 2025 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony on May 22, 2025. The ceremony will honor the college's August 2024, December 2024 and May 2025 graduates receiving bachelor's degrees.

Adam Wenchel

Adam Wenchel (B.S. ’99, computer science) is the co-founder and CEO of Arthur, an artificial intelligence (AI) performance company that empowers organizations to monitor, measure, and improve machine learning and generative AI models at scale.

Before launching Arthur in 2019, Wenchel was vice president of AI and data innovation at Capital One, where he founded and led the company’s Center for Machine Learning. He joined Capital One in 2015 after the company acquired Anax Security, the startup Wenchel founded to leverage AI to detect and block cybersecurity attacks. Wenchel has also held positions at Endgame, Everfi, Positive Development, Govolution and HeyMax Interactive.

Wenchel’s experiences at Maryland prepared him well for his career by expanding his knowledge of entrepreneurship and computer science. He began working in the AI field at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency while he was still an undergraduate at UMD.

Since then, he has given back to the university and created opportunities for the Terps who follow in his footsteps. In addition to serving as chair of the UMD Computer Science Advisory Board, Wenchel and his family created the Rosemary Wenchel Endowed Memorial Scholarship in computer science to honor his mother and support students pursuing cybersecurity careers.

While at Capital One, he negotiated a partnership to create the Capital One Tech Incubator at UMD. Since 2018, the innovation lab in the university’s Discovery District has allowed students to help develop the latest in data science, technology and automation tools alongside leaders in machine learning and cybersecurity. Wenchel also helped secure a $3 million endowment from Capital One to attract the best research and educational leaders in machine learning to the university.

At Arthur, Wenchel’s goal is to make AI better for everyone: He wants to make AI work better for the people who deploy it and for the people it affects.

—Story by CMNS