Big Island Video tapes Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang delivering the keynote address at UH Hilo’s spring commencement on Saturday. Click on photo above or link here to Part One of keynote. Link here to Part Two.

Reported by Tim O Bryan:

The University of Hawaii at Hilo featured one of the biggest names of the Internet era when Yahoo! Inc. co-founder and part-time Hawaii resident Jerry Yang delivered the keynote address at university’s spring commencement on Saturday.

The 40-year-old Yang was born in Taipei, Taiwan and moved to San Jose, California at the age of eight with his mother and brother. Yang earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He has maintained ties to his alma mater, and is presently on leave from the University’s electrical engineering Ph.D. program.

Yang emerged as one of the stars of the dot-com explosion while still in college, when he teamed with David Filo to create an Internet website consisting of a directory of other websites in 1994. “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” was later renamed Yahoo!, leading to Yang and Filo co-founding Yahoo! Inc. the following year.

What began as a web portal with an extensive directory of products and services for online activities has since grown to become a leading global Internet brand and one of the most heavily trafficked networks.

The company provides services in more than 30 languages and in more than 30 countries, regions and territories, including localized versions of Yahoo! As a key member of the executive management team, Yang’s focus at Yahoo! throughout the years has included corporate strategy, technology vision, strategic business partnerships and international joint ventures and talent recruitment.

Yang is also a member of the company’s board of directors, in addition to sitting on the boards of Yahoo! Japan, Cisco Systems, Alibaba, the Asian Pacific Fund and Stanford University Board of Trustees.

In addition to his high tech achievements, Yang has earned a reputation as a philanthropist through his generous support for higher education. In 2007, Yang and his wife, Akiko Yamazaki, donated $75 million to Stanford University, with $50 million designated to support environmental research. His previous gifts to Stanford have funded scholarships, undergraduate education, and other campus programs at the School of Engineering, the Asia Pacific Research Center, the Stanford Japan Center, and the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.

Yang was honored during the UH Hilo Commencement with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree for his achievements as a global visionary and for his charitable contributions.

A total of 487 students representing the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management, College of Business and Economics, and Ka Haka `Ula O`Ke`elikolani College of Hawaiian Language got their degrees at the ceremony held at Hilo’s Edith Kanaka`ole Stadium.

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