This year’s Graduation Ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, at the Minneapolis Convention Center
Dunwoody College of Technology, a private, non-profit institution and leader in technical education, is honored to announce that Claire Ferrara, a 2011 graduate of Dunwoody’s Heating & Air Conditioning Systems Design program and the President and owner of Standard Heating & Air Conditioning, will deliver the keynote address during this year’s Commencement exercises.
The College will honor the 2025–2026 graduating class at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Click here for information about Dunwoody’s Commencement Ceremony.
ABOUT CLAIRE FERRARA
A Dunwoody alumna, Claire Ferrara grew up around her family’s business Standard Heating & Air Conditioning, a third-generation company started by her grandfather, Tony Ferrara, in 1930.
Tony Ferrara had nine children, and two of them — sons Ted and Todd — expressed interest in working for Standard Heating. Tony urged them both to go to Dunwoody.
That interest and love of the family business was passed along to Ferrara, who spent the summer between semesters at St. Catherine University working as an apprentice in the company’s installation department. Three years later, while finishing up her bachelor’s degree in sociology at St. Kate’s, she enrolled at Dunwoody, just as her father Ted and uncle Todd had.
“I had been exposed to the school from when I was young,” she said. “I knew it was the gold standard of technical training.”
After graduating in 2011 with a degree in Heating & Air Conditioning Systems Design, Ferrara went to work for several years for a couple of larger employers. In 2016, she returned to the family business as a sales representative before becoming Sales Manager. In 2019 Ferrara took over as company President and acquired majority ownership.
Ferrara donates her time to several nonprofit organizations and is a proud supporter of Dunwoody College of Technology. She served on the Alumni Association Board from 2013-2021, including as President from 2016-2018. During her tenure, she helped establish the Kate Dunwoody Luncheon as the College’s premier event celebrating women pursing technical careers. In 2021, Ferrara was elected to the Dunwoody Board of Trustees and serves on the Institutional Advancement Committee.
In addition to her service to the community, Ferrara is passionate about the heating and cooling industry. She is involved in several industry-affiliated organizations, chairs Nexstar Network, a leading best-practices organization serving the trades across the U.S., Canada, and Australia, and is an advocate of recruiting and developing for the many career opportunities within the skilled trades that she believes “make people’s lives better.” Outside of work, Claire loves reading and traveling to faraway places. She and her husband live in the Twin Cities with their 15-month-old daughter, who she says has given her the greatest role yet on her resume: mom.
ABOUT DUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Founded in 1914, Dunwoody College of Technology is the only private, not-for-profit technical college in the Upper Midwest. Having provided hands-on, applied technical education to more than 200,000 individuals, Dunwoody is the college for experimenters and makers, a place where the curious and the confident learn by doing.
Located in Minneapolis, Dunwoody offers a unique campus experience in dedicated labs, studios, and shops that treat students like future professionals from day one.
With certificates, associates, and bachelor’s degrees in more than 40 majors — including engineering, robotics, design and other STEM-related fields — Dunwoody challenges students to come determined and graduate destined.