CSUSB Palm Desert to Hold Graduation Tonight

Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus will celebrate the class of 2012 with ceremonies tonight in Rancho Mirage.

Adding to 3,200 alumni, this year’s graduating class consists of more than 160 undergraduates in 10 majors and 15 graduate students in accountancy, education and public administration. 

Lisa Houston, chief executive officer and president of FIND Food Bank Inc., as will be this year’s commencement speaker. 

Houston will speak at the campus’s commencement ceremony at 6:00 p.m., at The Show at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa.

Houston moved to the Coachella Valley in 2001 from her native Canada. Since relocating to the desert, she has been active in the real estate land development business for many years. In 2009, Houston turned her attention and business acumen to the important issue of feeding the food-challenged residents of Eastern Riverside County, which led her to becoming the chief executive officer and president of FIND (Food In Need of Distribution) Food Bank, located in Indio. 

Prior to taking over the CEO position at the food bank, Houston owned a successful financial planning company in Canada, where she was a licensed certified financial planner and stock broker. For 11 years, she held several positions with many key local charities, including serving on the executive board of the College of the Desert Foundation and treasurer and president of the Riverside/San Bernardino Community Foundation. 

Houston’s motto for success is "Dare to Dream." Each day, she says she aspires to create opportunities for food-challenged individuals and young people in the Coachella Valley to realize that anything is truly possible. Through the strategic plans of FIND, they work to ensure sufficient food is brought into the Coachella Valley to meet the needs of families, seniors and the homeless.