Tucker's Vicki Escarra to Give Georgia State Commencement Address

Tucker native Vicki B. Escarra, president and chief executive officer of Feeding America, will deliver Georgia State University's commencement address in May, according to the college's student newspaper The Signal.

Escarra, 56, graduated from Georgia State in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology while working as a model and selling shoes. She went on to become executive vice-president and chief marketing officer for Delta Air Lines, having started there as a flight attendant.
       
After retiring from Delta in 2004, she spent a year working with Atlanta's then Mayor Shirley Franklin as chair of the Brand Atlanta Campaign. The Signal reports that Escarra moved to Chicago to lead a major re-organization of the hunger-relief organization America’s Second Harvest that included changing the non-profit's name to Feeding America.

Escarra's profile in Forbes says she was also a director of A.G. Edwards from 2002 to 2007 and a Chair of the Board of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. Her total compensation in 2009 at Feeding America was $220,063.00, the most recent figures available, according to Forbes.

“Her story is very impressive, about her entire career and how she got to be president and CEO of Feeding America," said Georgia State University President Mark Becker. "She’s sure to be inspirational for our students.”       

The commencement ceremony takes place May 6 at the Georgia Dome.