Former first lady of the United States Laura Bush will visit Syracuse University on May 1 as part of the D’Aniello Family Speaker Series.

The talk will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management’s Lender Auditorium. Bush served as first lady from 2001 to 2009. After leaving the White House, she helped found the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.

Board of Trustees member Dan D’Aniello and his wife Gail founded the D’Aniello Family Speaker Series. The series brings prominent leaders and thinkers to campus to speak about topics like entrepreneurship, patriotism, veterans’ issues and leadership. D’Aniello is a co-founder of The Carlyle Group, an international investment firm based in Washington, D.C.

Mike Haynie, founder and executive director of SU’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, was recently involved with the George W. Bush Institute’s Stand-To Veteran Leadership Initiative. The program aims to help people who serve U.S. veterans expand their skills and increase their impact, according to the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s website.   

Amy Taft, curriculum and learning manager at the IVMF, was one of 33 people chosen in the Stand-To Veteran program’s inaugural class, according to a Wednesday SU News release. The D’Aniello family donated $20 million to the construction of the National Veterans Resource Center on SU’s campus.

The center — costing an estimated $62.5 million — will be a regional veterans community hub on the corner of Waverly and South Crouse avenues. It is expected to open in spring 2020.