James Wiebe, an entrepreneur from Wichita, will address the 125-member graduating class during Tabor College?s 99th commencement, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday in the campus gymnasium.
Ninety-four bachelor?s degrees and two associate degrees will be conferred on students from the Hillsboro campus. Thirty BS and BSN degrees will be awarded to students from the School of Adult and Graduate Studies in Wichita.
A bachelor?s degree also will be awarded posthumously to the late Marcus Manny of Dallas, Texas, a popular student-athlete who died in an automobile accident Feb. 22, during the final semester of his senior year.
Wiebe, a Hillsboro High School alum and a 1979 graduate of Tabor College, is the son of professor emeritus Katie Funk Wiebe, a Mennonite Brethren author who taught English at Tabor for 24 years.
James, along with wife Kathy, formed WiebeTech in 2000, which became a major supplier of digital forensic equipment to the law enforcement market, with customers such as the Secret Service and the FBI. The company was sold to CRU-DataPort in Vancouver, Wash., in 2008.
James Wiebe continues as a consultant to WiebeTech and is starting another endeavor in the field of aerospace composites and aircraft.
He is treasurer of the Kansas Aviation Museum. He is an avid pilot.
Senior class speaker Joe Wuest, an organizational communication student from Ridgecrest, Calif., will deliver the graduate address on behalf of Hillsboro campus students.
Speaking on behalf of students from the School of Adult and Graduate Studies campus will be Marissa Boese, a student in the BSN program from Hutchinson.
