Tony Award-winning Broadway Producer Randall Wreghitt’s claim to fame is bringing mass campaniling to Iowa State.

“I was the one who thought [mass campaniling] up and put the first one together,” he said. “It was my lasting contribution to Iowa State.”

Wreghitt is the keynote speaker of the opening ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of Veishea. The opening ceremonies, which begin at noon Friday south of the Campanile, will also include a free barbecue, the lighting of the Veishea torch and the awarding of scholarships to Veishea scholars and the ISU community involvement scholar. A historical sign honoring Veishea on campus will also be unveiled by President Gregory Geoffroy.

Wreghitt worked all four of his collegiate years on the Veishea and Homecoming committees, and is a 1978 journalism graduate of Iowa State.

“It is a wonderful idea to bring someone who was born and educated in the state of Iowa and moved toward producing award winning plays in to speak,” said Pat Miller, program coordinator for the committee on lectures. “It’s great to be able to have someone here who really knows the importance of Veishea as well.”

Fitting in with the themes of both the school year, “Challenging students to become their best,” and Veishea, “Celebrating Student Success,” Wreghitt will be speaking on how an Iowa boy made it to New York City, which wasn’t easy. His only goal after graduation was to “get a job.”

“Initially, there was a time when I wanted to do news commentary on radio or TV,” he said. “I had worked for the college radio station – KPEG – doing that, and really enjoyed it.”

He ended up writing and doing layout and photography for the Spencer newspaper, but decided it wasn’t something he wanted to do.

“I have always said that you really need to be honest with yourself and not stay with a job you do not like,” Wreghitt said.

From Spencer he relocated to Minneapolis and worked at two theater companies – Chanhassen and Chi Mera – for almost a decade.

“I always wanted to be in a bigger city,” Wreghitt said. “Everybody wanted to go to Minneapolis and Atlanta, since they were two of the fastest growing cities at the time and their average age was in the 20s.”

Wreghitt said he chose Minneapolis because of the environmental issues it was dealing with and because it was home to Prince, an emerging musician.

Soon, in the efforts of creating what is now Pleasure Island, Walt Disney executives visited Minneapolis and ended up recruiting Wreghitt to be their senior marketing representative in order to increase attendance through special events. He worked for Disney for four years, and then moved on again.

“I really didn’t like working for Disney,” Wreghitt said. “Part of it comes down to being totally honest with yourself, and if you are happy with what you do, you are being more of who you are.”

After quitting, he felt burned out, and planned on painting houses in Key West to try to recover. Instead Wreghitt was hired by Big Apple Circus, which brought him to New York City.

“I knew what I wanted, and nothing was going to get in the way,” he said. “It’s not that way for everybody.”

After moving to New York, Wreghitt mistakenly thought he would be in charge, which is what he wanted. After taking a few courses at a commercial theater institute, he worked on Edward Albee’s “Three Tall Women” performance. This offered him funds that enabled him to become a producer and own his own marketing firm.

So far, Wreghitt has produced 21 shows – seven of them on Broadway. He has also been awarded multiple Tony Awards and the 1996 Robert Whitehead Award for outstanding achievement in commercial theatrical producing.

He created and heads Pro-Marketing, a firm that specializes in entertainment, and Iowa Boy Productions, a New York theater production company.

“He really shows students here how success at Iowa State can carry on the rest of your life,” said Mark Ringkob, Veishea general co-chairman and senior in agronomy.

“He is so excited to come,” said Alyssa Armbrecht, special events co-chairwoman and senior in food science. “It is refreshing to have an alumni to come back who seems very lively and humorous.”