Entrepreneur and President of Sendero to Speak at Coker College Commencement
May 14, 2015
HARSTVILLE, SC – Michael G. May, chief entrepreneur and president of Sendero Group, will present the Coker College spring commencement address Saturday, May 16.
“We are honored that Mr. May has accepted our invitation to speak at this year’s commencement,” said Coker President Robert Wyatt. “His accomplishments both as an entrepreneur and as an athlete are truly impressive, and the way he has devoted his talents to improving access for the blind and visually impaired is a perfect example of the kind of social responsibility that we value as part of a liberal arts education.”
A skier and business executive who was blinded at the age of three by a chemical explosion, May founded the Sendero Group in 1999 to make location information accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired. Sendero invented the first accessible GPS for the blind, which it continues to improve and distribute worldwide.
May has been a pioneer in new product and business development since 1980. He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency as a Political Risk Analyst and for the Bank of California in automating wire transfers and cash machines, among other May’s entrepreneurial ventures have included developing the world’s first and only laser turntable (allowing vinyl records to be played without the damage caused by a needle), inventing a portable heating cushion for sports and medical applications as well as starting two companies in adaptive technology for the blind.
May holds a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has been a visiting scholar and spoken on electronic navigation for the blind at countless conferences. He has also served on numerous boards and is currently on the board of The Seeing Eye, the oldest existing guide dog school in the world. May was also a member of the White House delegation to the 2010 Paralympics and has been inducted into the US Association of the Blind Hall of Fame.
May competed in the alpine skiing event at the 1984 Winter Paralympics and won three bronze medals in the downhill, giant slalom, and combination events. He holds the downhill speed-skiing record for a totally blind person of 65 miles per hour, one arena where he says there is no room for navigation technology. A book based on May’s life, “Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure and the Man Who Dared to See” by best-selling author Robert Kurson, was released in May 2007.
Coker College’s 107th Spring Commencement will be Saturday, May 16, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. at The Courtyard at Davidson Hall. Tickets for family and friends are not required.
