By Joe Garvey

Two Old Dominion alums will be the featured speakers at the University's 135th Commencement Exercises, which are scheduled for Dec. 18 in Chartway Arena at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

Lt. Gen. Donna W. Martin '88, the 67th Inspector General of the U.S. Army, will speak at the 9 a.m. ceremony for the Darden College of Education and Professional Studies, Batten College of Engineering and Technology, College of Sciences and School of Cybersecurity.

Scott Cooke '93, '96, group vice president and chief financial officer for Toyota Financial Services, will speak at the 2 p.m. ceremony for the College of Arts and Letters, Strome College of Business and College of Health Sciences.

Nearly 2,000 students will receive degrees. Face coverings will be required inside Chartway Arena. For more information about the ceremonies, go to this link.

Martin, a native of Yorktown, assumed her current role in September. She earned a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from ODU and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Military Police Corps in 1988. Martin also earned a master's degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Martin was previously the Provost Marshal General of the U.S. Army, serving as the principal military advisor to the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army on policing matters. Concurrently, she served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.

From August 2018 to July 2020, she commanded the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

In 2006, she commanded the 385th Military Police Battalion at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The battalion headquarters deployed to Afghanistan from 2006 to 2008, providing command and control to seven military police units and a National Guard field artillery battery. After battalion command, she remained at Fort Stewart as the inspector general of the 3rd Infantry Division and deployed to Iraq in October 2009.

Her military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal; Legion of Merit with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster; Bronze Star Medal with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster; Defense Meritorious Service Medal; Meritorious Service Medal with four Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters; Army Commendation Medal with four Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters; and an Army Achievement Medal.

Cooke oversees a full range of financial planning and reporting activities for Toyota.

Prior to his current position, Cooke was group vice president of Treasury, Business Intelligence, Analytics and Finance. He has also served as group vice president of Risk, Dealer Credit and Information Security, and as chief risk officer, Americas Region, for Toyota Financial Services Corporation affiliates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

Cooke joined Toyota Financial Services in 2003, as director of Market Risk, Economic Capital and International Treasury. He became head of Strategic Planning and Competitive Intelligence and was later promoted to corporate manager for Business Intelligence.

Cooke earned his Bachelor of Science degree in finance and MBA from Old Dominion University and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.

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