Jamie Dimon, chair and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., will give the 2010 commencement address to Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry graduates, SU announced Thursday.

“Our graduates will truly benefit from hearing Mr. Dimon’s perspectives as they leave us to go out and make an impact locally and globally,” said Chancellor Nancy Cantor in an SU news release.

SU and ESF’s joint commencement will be held on May 16. Dimon was named to “The 2009 TIME 100” list and has been CEO of JPMorgan Chase since 2005. He is also on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. Dimon helped guide JPMorgan Chase through the financial crisis and continue to be one of the most respected financial leaders today, said Senior Vice President for Public Affairs Kevin Quinn, in an e-mail.

A student committee reviews potential candidates and submits a list of suggestions for commencement speaker to the chancellor, who selects the final speaker, Quinn said. The student committee is made up of student representatives to SU’s board of trustees, senior class marshals, and marshals for each school and college.

The process of selecting a speaker begins a year in advance, and the student committee submitted its list to Cantor on April 27, 2009, he said. The search begins so early because it takes a long time to book the speaker, Quinn said.

“Dimon was among the very top of the student selection committee’s final list,” he said.

Dimon graduated from Tufts University and from Harvard Business School with a master’s in business administration. Last year, he delivered the commencement address for Harvard Business School.

Previous commencement speakers at SU include most notably Vice President Joe Biden in 2009, ABC News journalist Bob Woodruff in 2008, author and Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt, and musician Billy Joel in 2006.

JPMorgan Chase operates in more than 60 countries and has assets of $2 trillion. SU maintains a close working relationship with JPMorgan Chase, most recently working together on the Global Enterprise Technology academic program.

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