2019 Commencement Speaker Announcement

What do Ocean’s Eleven, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and The Matrix have in common?

Choate. More specifically, Choate alumnus Lorenzo di Bonaventura ’76.

I am thrilled to announce that our Commencement speaker – and recipient of the 2019 Alumni Award – is Lorenzo di Bonaventura ’76. While you may or may not immediately recognize his name, I know you’ll recognize his work. One of the most prominent and successful movie producers of our time, Mr. di Bonaventura is best known for producing the Transformers series of films.

Upon graduating from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1976, Mr. di Bonaventura received his undergraduate degree in Intellectual History at Harvard College and his Master of Business Administration at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Then, Mr. di Bonaventura headed to Hollywood where, in 1989, he joined Warner Brothers as Vice President of Production. While at Warner Brothers, he was involved in over 130 productions and eventually became President of Worldwide Production. Amongst his biggest commercial and critical successes were: A Time to Kill (1996), The Matrix (1999), Analyze This (2000), The Perfect Storm (2000), Ocean's Eleven (2001), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and Training Day (2001).

In 2002, he left Warner Brothers and started di Bonaventura Pictures, based at Paramount Pictures. Since then he has produced over 30 movies including Shooter starring Mark Wahlberg (2007); the big screen adaption of the popular comic book, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and its sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013); Salt (2010); Red (2010); Red 2 (2013); Paramount Pictures’ revival of Tom Clancy’s famed franchise Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014); critically acclaimed thriller Side Effects (2013); Deepwater Horizon (2016); American Assassin (2017); The Meg (2018) and the Transformers spin-off Bumblebee (2018).

In 2011, the company branched into television production with the formation of di Bonaventura Pictures Television, which produced The Real O’Neals and Shooter. Upcoming television productions include Jupiters Legacy for Netflix.

In 2016, in recognition of his remarkable career, he was awarded the Golden Eye Career Achievement Award from the Zurich Film Festival. He is on the Board of Directors for the American Cinematheque, the board of advisors for Claremont Graduate Colleges, member of the Board of Trustees for Emerson College and on the honorary committee of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles. And he is elated to be returning to his alma mater to welcome you, the Class of 2019, into the family that is the Choate Rosemary Hall Alumni.