MSOE’s Fall Commencement will be held Saturday, Nov. 23 at 10 a.m. in the Kern Center. The university will celebrate undergraduate and graduate students in engineering majors, the Rader School of Business and the School of Nursing as they receive their bachelor’s or master’s degrees.  

Ted Kellner will receive an Honorary Doctor of Business and Economics degree and deliver the keynote address. A chartered financial analyst with 47 years of investment experience, Kellner is a retired founder and portfolio manager with Fiduciary Management Inc., an investment management firm established in 1980. The firm currently manages approximately $25 billion in assets, in pension and profit sharing trusts, Taft-Hartley and public funds, endowments, and personal trusts throughout the United States. Kellner also founded and serves as Executive Chairman and Trustee of Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc., also in Milwaukee, which owns and manages over $750 million in multi-family residential units. 

Through Fiduciary Management Inc., Kellner has managed MSOE’s endowment for more than three decades—since the presidency of Dr. Bob Spitzer. Kellner also serves as a member of MSOE’s Investment Committee.  

Kellner and his wife, Mary, have three adult children and five grandchildren. Kellner earned his BBA in Finance, Investment and Banking from the University of Wisconsin School of Business in 1969 and participated in the Brittingham Scholar Program at Oslo University in 1969. He served as vice president and research analyst for Brittingham Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware (1969-1973); and as vice president of Milwaukee-based Nicholas Company Inc. (1973–1980). 

In the non-profit arena, Kellner has served on the board of several Milwaukee-area organizations, including the Children’s Hospital System, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee World Festival Inc., and the United Way of Greater Milwaukee.  

Kellner also has served as chairman of the board of the University of Wisconsin Foundation, president of the Wisconsin Alumni Association and president of the Wisconsin School of Business Board of Visitors. In 1994, he was awarded the Wisconsin Distinguished Business Alumnus Award from the business school and in 1998, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Wisconsin Alumni Association.