Bayside-Born CEO To Headline Queens College Commencement

QUEENS, NY — A Bayside native is headlining Queens College's graduation ceremony on Thursday.

Queens College alum Matt Higgins, the cofounder and CEO of private investment firm RSE Ventures, will headline the school's 95th commencement the morning of May 30. Higgins received his bachelor's in political science in 1998, according to a college spokeswoman.

The Bayside-born businessman is also vice chairman of the Miami Dolphins football team and appeared on the ABC reality show "Shark Tank" as a guest shark.

Higgins supports parents studying at Queens College with the Linda Higgins Empowerment Scholarship, named for his late mother, also an alum.

"The foundation of my entire career was poured at Queens College, so it is incredibly meaningful for me to come full circle and celebrate the 2019 graduating class as commencement speaker," Higgins said in a statement.

"At a time in my life that was marked by abject poverty, my earliest memories are of this wonderful campus, which served as a beacon of hope for my family," he added.

Higgins dropped out of high school at the age of 16, got his GED and enrolled in Queens College. He earned a law degree from Fordham Law School in 2002.

Higgins' investment firm, which he cofounded with Stephen Ross, helps build companies in sports, entertainment, media, marketing, food, lifestyle and technology.

Queens College's 95th commencement ceremony is Thursday, May 30 at 9 a.m. in the Campus Quadrangle at 65-30 Kissena Blvd.