2014 Convocation Speaker Judge Simone Marstiller - 'Stetson will change you'

The 2014 Convocation keynote speaker was Stetson University double-degree alumna Judge Simone Marstiller. She welcomed incoming and returning students with a talk about Stetson University's positive influence on her life. Stetson, she said, is not just an academically outstanding institution of higher learning, it is a community and a family. "Stetson will nurture you, change you and prepare you for the path that is uniquely yours," she said.

Background on Judge Marstiller:

Born in Monrovia, Liberia, Judge Marstiller earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., and her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Stetson College of Law in Gulfport, Fla.

In 2010, then-Governor Charlie Crist appointed Judge Marstiller to the First District Court of Appeal. Her varied legal career, which began in 1996, has been exclusively in service to the State of Florida.

Judge Marstiller was serving as executive director for the Florida Elections Commission when she was appointed to the appellate court in 2010. She oversaw the investigation and prosecution of complaints filed with the commission and was the chief administrative officer for the agency.

Prior to that, then-Attorney General Bill McCollum appointed Judge Marstiller associate deputy attorney general for the State of Florida in 2007. She served on the executive management team for the Office of the Attorney General, while serving as the agency’s general counsel. She was responsible for overseeing four agency divisions, including the Civil Rights and Opinions Divisions.