UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State College of Arts and Architecture alumnus Mark Shulman, senior vice president of programming for Oak View Group, a global leader in the live event industry, will serve as the speaker for the college’s spring 2025 commencement exercises, to take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, in Eisenhower Auditorium.
On Friday, May 9, B. Stephen Carpenter II, Michael J. and Aimee Rusinko Kakos Dean in the College of Arts and Architecture, will host a public conversation with Shulman at 10 a.m. in the Stuckeman Family Building Jury Space. The event, co-hosted by the College of the Liberal Arts, is part of the college’s “Onward and Upward: Conversations with Commencement Speakers” series launched in 2022. The public conversation will be livestreamed at arts.psu.edu/mark.
Shulman, who earned a bachelor of arts degree in integrative arts in 1996, got his start in concert promotion while a Penn State student, working as a production manager at the newly opened Bryce Jordan Center. Over the years he has managed projects as varied as music festivals, major venue development and high-profile stadium concerts at venues ranging from the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, to Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia.
"Mark has built on his education and experiences in the College of Arts and Architecture to establish a successful career in concert promotion. He is a brilliant example for current and graduating students seeking to craft their own pathways and careers in the arts, regardless of the discipline," said Carpenter. "We are thrilled he will return to campus to share insights he has gained from an incredible 30-year career spanning all facets of the live event industry."
In Shulman’s current role at Oak View Group, he oversees the programming of concerts, family events, collegiate sports and private events at the new UBS Arena in New York, CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, XL Center in Hartford, and First Ontario Centre in Hamilton, as well as Citi Field in New York and Beaver Stadium at Penn State when renovations are complete. He has programmed hundreds of events with artists such as Harry Styles, Bruce Springsteen, Eagles, Billie Eilish and Drake. In 2024, Shulman was recognized as a member of the Billboard Magazine Touring Power Player list.
Shulman’s early career included working as an agent for APA Agency and talent buyer for Metropolitan Entertainment. He joined AEG’s newly established New York City team in 2003, where he developed and supervised the construction of the Nokia Theatre Times Square, which won Pollstar’s Best New Music Venue in 2005. As senior vice president of AEG’s East Coast headquarters, he supervised bookings of thousands of concerts at high-profile venues between Georgia and Maine, working with artists including Prince, Phish, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, The Cure and Paul McCartney.
In 2018, Shulman produced the Paul Simon Farewell Concert in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York. It drew 30,000 fans and was the first concert held in that park in more than 30 years.
Shulman has served as a producer and entertainment advisory board member of the annual Global Citizen Festival, where fans engage with causes to earn tickets. The festival — which draws 60,000 attendees each year to the Great Lawn in Central Park — is part of an initiative of the Global Poverty Project and is timed to coincide with the UN General Assembly to raise awareness and leverage government aid.
A 2023 recipient of the College of Arts and Architecture Alumni Award, Shulman is a member of the college’s Dean’s Circle and serves on the advisory board for the Penn State Alumni Association’s New York City chapter.