{"id":1745,"date":"2020-07-30T16:55:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T20:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/?page_id=1745"},"modified":"2026-05-12T14:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:38:44","slug":"graduation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/current-students\/graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Distinguished Alumni Award-Winner Steve Akers (MET\u201994) to Deliver 2026 Commencement Address<\/h2>\n

Steve Akers (MET\u201994) will address graduates at MET\u2019s Convocation Ceremony. He will also receive the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to Alma Mater.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Akers (MET\u201994) earned his Master of Science in Computer Science degree from BU Metropolitan College and is a proud member of the Dean of Metropolitan College\u2019s advisory board. He was also appointed to the position of \u201cEntrepreneur in Residence\u201d at Metropolitan College where he has provided insights to faculty and students at MET, giving lectures and advice when they are requested.<\/p>\n

Since studying at BU MET college, Steve has co-founded or founded four different companies, leveraging the knowledge he gained at MET to augment his entrepreneurial talents. He attributes his time at MET as a positive building block that has helped him lead his teams and companies to build award-winning products of commercial value. Prior to his start-up career, Steve held engineering and senior executive positions at Hewlett-Packard Co., and various Boston-area computer companies. In these roles he contributed to several technology areas, including networking protocols, secure communications, and data encryption.<\/p>\n

His first startup, Spring Tide Networks, Inc., was acquired by Lucent Technologies (now Nokia) where Steve served as Chief Technology Officer for the Wireline division. One of his duties in that role was to chair the Architecture Council, a consortium of Bell Laboratories executives and senior research fellows. The purpose of the Architecture Council was to bring researchers together with engineering and business executives within Lucent. While leading the Architecture Council, Steve identified and led initiatives to bring cutting-edge research developed by Bell Labs. into products sold by the Lucent operating companies. <\/p>\n

Under Steve\u2019s direction, Spring Tide Networks built the world\u2019s first Internet switching and routing platform that allowed service providers to instantiate high-capacity data, voice and firewall security services, including Virtual Private Networks. The Spring Tide \u201cIP Services Switch\u201d was one of the first highly capable platforms augmented with data encryption services. One customer, (IBM) used the Spring Tide technology to build a secure private network linking many of its sites over fully encrypted high speed data lines.<\/p>\n

Another of Mr. Akers\u2019 companies worked closely with Bloomberg Inc. and provided data insight services for highly sensitive financial documents and messages. Bloomberg acquired that company and over five years Steve ran teams in Boston and New York to provide data analytics services to aid Bloomberg businesses serving some of the largest banks and investment firms in the world. <\/p>\n

Steve is now the President and CEO of MaxCogito, Inc., a company building products that leverage blockchain and other technologies utilizing cryptography to allow customers to securely exchange data between counterparties to financial transactions. <\/p>\n

\nBefore you receive your hard-earned degree, please review the following pages in detail. There are a few important preparations you will need to make, and important information you will need to know.<\/p>\n

Apply to Graduate<\/h2>\n

Graduation is not an automatic process<\/strong> \u2013 one must apply \u2013 if you have not already done so, be sure to follow the steps for your program outlined in this section so you can walk with your classmates and celebrate your accomplishments.<\/p>\n