Benedictine College will celebrate the start of another record-setting academic year with a formal All School Mass at 9:30 a.m. in St. Benedict’s Abbey Church, followed by the traditional Opening Convocation in the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 2. The Most Reverend Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and a legacy from Benedictine’s Class of ’91, will deliver the homily at the Mass. The annual Convocation signals the end of “Beanie Week” at the college and features faculty recognitions as well as a keynote speaker.  This year, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni will address the gathering.

Lencioni is the author of ten best-selling business books with four million copies sold. After twelve years in print, his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team continues to be a fixture on national best-seller lists and recently celebrated its 11th year running on the Wall Street Journal list. His much-anticipated book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, was released in 2012 and became an instant best-seller.

Recognized in Fortune as one of the ‘ten new gurus you should know,’ Lencioni is founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to providing organizations with ideas, products and services that improve teamwork, clarity and employee engagement.

The wide-spread appeal of Lencioni’s leadership models have yielded a diverse base of speaking and consulting clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, schools, churches and Catholic organizations. He has addressed millions of people at conferences and events around the world over the past 15 years and has either written for or been featured in numerous publications including Harvard Business Review, Inc., Fortune, Fast Company, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal andBusinessWeek.

Prior to founding his firm, Lencioni worked as a corporate executive for Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and four sons where he regularly volunteers in his own parish.

Following the keynote address, the freshman class will be welcomed into the community of Ravens and will remove their beanies.  The practice of freshmen wearing beanies dates back generations and Benedictine College may be the only college in America that still observes the tradition.