Vivek Varma ’88, CEO and vice chair of the Schultz Family Foundation, returns to Swarthmore to deliver the 2026 McCabe Lecture, reflecting on the people and experiences that shaped his understanding of leadership, responsibility, and the role of the liberal arts.

Titled Humanity in Jeopardy? A Swattie’s Journey — and a Case for Leadership, Truth, Values, and the Liberal Arts, the 2026 McCabe Lecture will take place Saturday, Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to noon in the Lang Performing Arts Center during Garnet Weekend festivities.

In conversation with his friend and fellow Swarthmore alum Dawn Porter ’88, H’21, Varma will take the audience through his journey in a playful, Jeopardy!-inspired presentation featuring images and video. He will share stories from his upbringing, his time at Swarthmore, his public service, and his career in the technology industry, as well as his years working alongside Howard Schultz at Starbucks.

Varma will also discuss his continuing efforts to expand opportunity and economic mobility for young people through the Schultz Family Foundation. Throughout the conversation, he and Porter will consider questions of leadership, truth, values, and the role of the liberal arts, with an overarching message of hope and the responsibility to make a positive difference.

Prior to joining the Schultz Family Foundation, Varma spent more than 12 years on Starbucks’ executive leadership team, serving as strategic counsel to the CEO on communications, policy, social impact, investor relations, and brand direction. Before Starbucks, he spent more than a decade in public affairs and communications roles at Microsoft.

Varma began his career on Capitol Hill in 1988, serving Oklahoma constituents and working on legislative issues before leading the Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Rep. Mike Synar of Oklahoma. In 1995, he became executive director of the Campaign for America Project, a campaign finance reform initiative founded by Synar.

A political science major at Swarthmore, Varma earned his law degree from American University. He serves on the board of directors of the Robert M. Gates Global Policy Center, a nonpartisan organization focused on strengthening America’s nonmilitary instruments of power to advance national security and global leadership.

Varma was also a standout member of Swarthmore’s men’s tennis team. A two-time NCAA Division III All-American, he was a member of the 1985 national championship team and is an inductee of the College’s Garnet Athletics Hall of Fame. He has since won seven USTA men’s senior national doubles championships and represented the U.S. in world team competition.

Joining Varma for the conversation is Porter, an award-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Trilogy Films. After beginning her career in corporate law, she made her directorial debut with Gideon’s Army in 2013. Her subsequent work includes John Lewis: Good Trouble, which won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Historical/Biographical Documentary and an NAACP Image Award, as well as 37 Words, a four-part ESPN docuseries exploring the legacy of Title IX.

Porter graduated from Swarthmore with a degree in political science and earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Swarthmore awarded her an honorary Doctor of Arts degree in 2021.

The presentation will conclude with a focus on Porter and her forthcoming documentary about Winnie and Nelson Mandela, including a preview clip from the film.

The Thomas B. McCabe Lecture is an annual event that brings individuals with distinguished careers in varied fields to speak on campus during Garnet Weekend.