Entrepreneur, business strategist, and humanitarian Anisya Fritz, Ph.D., ’85, named Loyola University Maryland’s 2022 Commencement speaker

An innovative entrepreneur and founder of the Fritz Institute, Anisya Thomas Fritz, Ph.D., ’85, will deliver the address at Loyola University Maryland’s 169th Commencement Exercises. The ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at 11 a.m. at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Fritz, who came to Loyola from India at the age of 17, is the proprietor and experience manager for Lynmar Estates in California’s Sonoma County, which she owns with her husband, Lynn. At Lynmar, which embraces sustainability and stewardship as its core values, Fritz develops and leads the customer-facing team, expanding and evolving the food and wine experiences.

Fritz and her husband, Lynn, founded the Fritz Institute, a not-for-profit charity that works with community groups, humanitarian aid agencies and governments around the world to improve the flow of aid and goods to disaster zones.

Fritz consults with global humanitarian relief organizations and lectures worldwide on humanitarian logistics. She also teaches entrepreneurship in the wine industry at Sonoma State University and has also presented to students in Loyola’s Sellinger School of Business and Management.

Fritz will receive a doctor of humane letters, honoris causa, from Loyola during the ceremony.

“We are honored to welcome Dr. Fritz as our 2022 Commencement speaker, and we are thrilled to have such an accomplished graduate of Loyola address our students,” said Terrence M. Sawyer, J.D., president of Loyola. “Every year we try to select a speaker with a compelling message for our graduating class. With her innovative leadership style, expertise, and insights into global issues, Dr. Fritz will inspire the Class of 2022 as we celebrate their accomplishments and all the ways they are prepared to impact the world.”

After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Loyola in 1985, Fritz earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in strategic management from Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business, where she focused on business strategy. She was a business school professor by the time she was 25 and continues to lecture worldwide on the system of humanitarian relief.

During the 2021-2022 academic year, Loyola is honoring 50 years of Women, marking the 1971 merger of Loyola with Mount Saint Agnes College, a women’s Catholic institution run by the Sisters of Mercy.