On May 14, 2016, Marne Levine (Miami '92), chief operating officer of Instagram, visited Miami to address the graduating class of 2016 at the CAS Recognition Ceremony. In her speech she advised students to embrace and cultivate their rookie status throughout their careers.

Speech to the Class of 2016

Marne Levine - We Need Rookies Like You Video Transcript

Bio

Marne Levine is a 1992 Miami graduate with BA degrees in communications and political science. She also earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Early in her career, Marne worked in the United States Treasury Department during the early years of the Clinton administration. And then later she served as the Chief of Staff for Harvard University President Larry Summers and Director of Product Management for Revolution Money, where she helped launch an online peer-to-peer payment platform.

In 2010, Marne moved to the White House, serving as President Obama's Chief of Staff of the National Economic Council and Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

Marne then transitioned to the corporate world by joining Facebook, where she served as the company's first Vice President for Global Policy. In this role, she led Facebook's global public policy strategy, working with governments and non-governmental organizations to foster understanding and support for Facebook's innovative technology.

In 2014, Marne joined Instagram to become the popular app's first Chief Operating Officer. There she is responsible for helping to scale the company's global operations and oversees Instagram's business operations, including monetization, partnerships, marketing, business development, policy, community operations, communications, recruiting, and human resources.

Marne also serves on the Board of Directors of Chegg, along with several not-for-profit organizations including LeanIn.org, the Urban Institute, Women for Women International, LIFT, National Endowment for Democracy, and the American Council on Germany. She is also a member of the Trilateral Commission.

In an interview with British media earlier this year, Marne spoke of mentorship and the many opportunities she was fortunate to receive during her upward trajectory. She said, "I feel a sense of responsibility but also privilege to pay it forward to other people, to try and play the mentorship role as much as possible."

At Instagram, Marne is using her leadership and mentoring skills to help the social media platform to, in her words, "inspire people to use their visual voice."