Amid Public Pressure, Nestlé Exec Renegs On Framingham State Speech

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A month before he was to deliver the keynote address at Framingham State’s graduation, a senior executive of international food conglomerate Nestlé has backed out.

Public pushback appears to be part of the reason for the no-show of Nelson Peña.

“He did see some of the feedback that was out there, felt he could end up being a distraction from the celebration of the graduates,” Framingham State University spokesperson Daniel Magazu told Patch on Tuesday.

Attempts to reach Peña and Nestlé for comment were not immediately successful.

The school had arranged for Peña to deliver the May 23 commencement address, and it seemed fitting. Nestlé owns the beloved Toll House Cookie brand, invented in Whitman by an FSU grad, Ruth Graves Wakefield. Peña works in Virginia as president of the Nestlé USA Global Culinary Kitchen.

But not everyone has been pleased with his choice as keynote speaker.

The selection of a Nestlé exec “raises serious ethical concerns that deserve public scrutiny,” wrote seven people in a letter this month to the MetroWest Daily News.

Nestlé, headquartered in Switzerland, is the world's largest publicly held food company, with 2025 revenue of over $113 billion. Founded in the 1860s, Nestlé employed more than 270,000 people last year, in 185 countries.

Over recent years, the conglomerate of candy, milk, water and other food producers has drawn criticism about its wages, labor practices and treatment of child workers.

Magazu said the cancellation of Peña’s address was entirely his decision, and that FSU won’t lose any money because of it.

Now Sheena Collier, founder and CEO of Boston While Black, is scheduled to keynote the commencement, the university said in a statement last week.

Collier is a cultural strategist, entrepreneur and "community architect,"whose organization has worked to promote stronger connections among Boston businesses and the local Black community.

Framingham State University, founded in 1839, has an enrollment of more than 3,500. Nearly 500 students are expected to graduate at the school's May 23 commencement, scheduled for 10 a.m. in Worcester's DCU Center.

The 2025 commencement speaker at the university was Latoyia Edwards, a well-known journalist.