BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 13, 2012 – Dr. Hector Ruiz, Founder and Chairman of ANSI Inc., has been invited to speak at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College’s 2012 Winter Commencement at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15 on the Cardenas South Hall Lawn.

“As a young immigrant, I learned at an early age that education has the power to transform one’s life trajectory,” said Ruiz. “Through education, the university is transforming the lives of its students, who will soon become this country’s future teachers, engineers, creators and innovators. I am honored to have been asked to deliver the Commencement address to this year’s distinguished graduates on such a milestone occasion.”

Ruiz was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and received a bachelor’s degree in 1968 and a master’s degree in 1969, both in electrical engineering, from The University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of UT Austin’s Engineering Foundation Advisory Council and selected as a Distinguished Engineering Graduate in 2006. In 2012, he was also selected for UT Austin’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the Texas Exes’ highest honor.

Ruiz earned a doctoral degree in electrical engineering in 1973 from Rice University in Houston. He received the university’s Outstanding Engineering Alumnus Award in 2006.

He began his career at Texas Instruments’ research laboratories and manufacturing operations. He worked at Motorola from 1977 to 2000 when he was the company’s President of the Semiconductor Products Sector.

While at Motorola, Ruiz was named in 1999 the “Hispanic Engineer of the Year” by the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference. In 2000, the conference inducted him into its Hall of Fame. That same year, Ruiz was named to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by then Gov. George W. Bush.

Ruiz joined Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in 2000 and served in various leadership positions until he left in 2009.

Fortune magazine named Ruiz to its 2006 Power Portfolio – 30 People Who Shaped the Face of Business. Latino Leaders magazine named him in 2007 to its 101 Most Influential Latino Leaders list.

Ruiz is a past appointee to the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. He is also a past member of the Governor’s Task Force for Economic Growth and the Governor’s Business Council.

For more information on Commencement, visit utb.edu/commencement.