The gift will create the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator to identify new technologies and prepare them for commercial development and licensing, as well as the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Program at HBS. This program will provide MBA students with life science entrepreneur experience through exposure to the work done through the Accelerator.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation is headed by Harvard Business School alum Len Blavatnik (MBA ’89). “By partnering with Harvard’s world-class biomedical research division, I am delighted to help accelerate the development of new therapies,” says Blavatnik. “Moreover, by increasing the collaborative efforts between Harvard Business School and Harvard’s scientific community, we will empower the next generation of life science entrepreneurs and provide a further catalyst for innovation and research development.”

The dean of HBS, Nitin Nohria adds, “By bringing together expertise and experience from across Harvard, the Accelerator and the HBS Fellows program will further enhance Harvard’s commitment to innovative research and entrepreneurship. With student interest in entrepreneurship at an all-time high and with the resources of the University’s Innovation Lab and HBS’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at the ready, we are well positioned to make the most of this generous gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation.”

See the Harvard Gazette article for more info.







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Columbia Business School

In recognition of Mr. Perelman’s generosity, the business school will name one of its two buildings on the new campus the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Business Innovation.

Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger said this gift would benefit future generations of Columbia Business School students as well as the wider university community.

“Our world has been changed by the global marketplace, so business schools and universities must respond with new thinking and new structures for learning about our economy and society,” Bollinger said.  “The Perelman Center will be part of an interdisciplinary and environmentally sustainable urban campus that will help define Columbia’s next century.”

Perelman has been a longtime member of the Columbia Business School community, serving on its Board of Overseers since 1994.  He is an active philanthropist who believes powerful results can be achieved when financial resources are leveraged with human resolve.

“Throughout the past four decades Ronald has proven himself to be one of the most accomplished investors and philanthropists of his time. He displays the type of instinct and insight that are hallmarks of a true leader — the very same traits that we seek to instill in our students here at Columbia Business School,” said Glenn Hubbard, Dean of Columbia Business School.

Hubbard noted that the new Perelman Center would allow Columbia to pioneer breakthroughs in management education and help create the classrooms of tomorrow.

The two new Business School buildings on the Manhattanville campus will be designed by renowned New York architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro and will reflect the fast-paced, high-tech, and highly social character of business in the 21st century.  The Ronald O. Perelman Center for Business Innovation will be situated opposite The Henry R. Kravis Building, which is named in recognition of a 2010 gift made by alumnus Henry R. Kravis ’69.

When announcing his generous gift, Perelman said, “The business landscape is changing rapidly and dramatically, and as such the principles that define strong business leadership — such as an entrepreneurial mindset and solving complex challenges — are more important now than ever before.”

“It is our responsibility to ensure that we are building a generation of great business leaders who drive success in an ever-changing, competitive global economy,” Perelman added, “and I believe Columbia Business School has its finger on the pulse of the changing nature of business education. I am extraordinarily pleased to pledge this gift to help them prepare the next generation of business leaders for 21st century challenges.”

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The gift from Robert B. Rowling and his wife Terry Hennersdorf Rowling marks the launch of an effort that seeks to raise $58.25 million in donations, which in conjunction with other institutional funds are necessary to complete the new graduate building. The gift also signifies the beginning of a three-phase process to replace and renovate facilities to accommodate growth in the undergraduate Texas BBA and Business Foundations programs.

Red McCombs, the namesake of the business school, told The Statesman it took some serious convincing to get Rowling to agree to have his name put on the new building. “Bob wasn’t looking for any visibility for himself,” McCombs says, but it’s important for students to see the name of a successful entrepreneur.

Ennead Architects has been hired to design the building, whose key design priorities include increasing the effectiveness of interactions between faculty members and students, promoting flexibility in the use of classroom spaces, integrating new learning technologies and increasing team preparation rooms and study areas. The 458,000-square-foot Robert B. Rowling Hall is planned to open in the summer of 2017.

Rowling is the owner and chairman of TRT Holdings Inc., which owns the Omni Hotels & Resorts chain, Gold’s Gym International, Tana Exploration Company and various other investment assets. Rowling has previously served on the University of Texas System Board of Regents and was also chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Company. In 2005 he was inducted into the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame. Robert and Terry Rowling, as well as their son Blake, earned undergraduate degrees from the school of business.

“Bob Rowling already has served his alma mater at the highest level of volunteer leadership, and with this gift, he and Terry enter the pantheon of the university’s most historically significant supporters,” says University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers. “This building itself will embody many traits that are key to business success — flexibility, common areas for interaction, and the ability to take advantage of evolving technology. And we are proud to have Bob Rowling’s name on it.”

Read more about this significant gift to the UT McCombs School of Business here.

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Given by John Edwardson, retired chairman and chief executive of CDW, chairman of the Council on Chicago Booth and a member of the university’s board of trustees, the funds will help support the core activities of the Initiative.

In addition to helping students launch and grow businesses in the social sector, the gift will also fund faculty research and data collection—a major activity of the Initiative. The Chicago Booth business plan competition for social ventures has now been renamed the John Edwardson Social New Venture Challenge.

“John Edwardson’s philanthropic leadership will help us integrate academic research on issues that are important to the social sector with educational activities. In turn, we can effectively study and help develop more effective organizations,” says Sunil Kumar, dean of Chicago Booth.

“The social sector can benefit from proven market-oriented ideas and best practices from the for-profit sector.” 

Edwardson says the Social Enterprise Initiative is a natural outgrowth of the interests and approaches Chicago Booth students and alumni take to their work.

“I am delighted to support Booth’s Social Enterprise Initiative,” Edwardson continues. “Booth students, faculty and alumni are engaging in a variety of ways in the social sector, from starting their own social ventures, to choosing a career in the impact economy, making a meaningful commitment to philanthropic and volunteer activities, and doing academic research.”

Current and recent research on the social sector by Booth faculty includes field experiments on financial literacy and financial decision-making by the poor, studies on the impact of health and education reforms on development, and social psychology foundations of altruism and volunteerism. The Social Enterprise Initiative will host a conference on impact investing for academics and practitioners later this year.

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As a result of its expanded mission and the university’s commitment to developing entrepreneurial and innovative leaders, the Center will now be called the Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The funds will create new multidisciplinary programs; provide resources and space for cross-campus interdisciplinary teams to collaborate on new venture development; and support the university’s growing innovation initiatives.

“This gift will enable the Polsky Center to expand its mission of encouraging entrepreneurship, which drives our economy and is the core of the American spirit,” said Polsky, a 1987 graduate of Booth’s MBA program. Polsky is the founder and chief executive of Chicago-based Invenergy, a leading global clean energy company that is North America’s largest independent privately owned wind power generation company.

“Entrepreneurs lead the way in innovation and job creation, which in turn benefits our entire society,” Polsky said. “I am proud that we are investing further in our efforts to foster and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit among the entire University of Chicago community.”

“This gift will allow us to have more direct impact on the commercialization of the University’s intellectual property,” said Sunil Kumar, dean of Chicago Booth. “It will provide more opportunities for our business school students to interact with others across the University, and more opportunities for them to create new ventures.”

Entrepreneurship has grown so much in popularity among Booth MBA students that a majority of students who enrolled in the school this year listed it as their top intended concentration, Kumar said.

The expanded mission of the Polsky Center comes after more than 10 years of development and success. With Polsky’s endowment in 2002, the Center created substantial programs and activities in six key areas: new venture creation, experiential learning and entrepreneurial education, faculty research, community outreach, innovation workshops and early stage investment.

Michael Polsky grew up in Ukraine under Soviet rule and immigrated to the United States in 1976. Several years later, in 1982, he enrolled in Booth’s Evening MBA program. Midway through his studies, Polsky took his first entrepreneurial step when he co-founded Indeck Energy Services, a developer and builder of power plants. Polsky has often credited his Booth education for his success, saying the school “has given me a complete package as an entrepreneur.”

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This is one of the largest gifts ever made to Columbia Business School, which plans to allocate $23.25 million to support the construction of the school’s new campus, with the remaining $1.75 million slated to bolster Columbia’s Social Enterprise Program.

The School’s Manhattanville Campus will reflect the fast-paced, high-tech, and highly social character of business in the 21st century. The facilities will create multifunctional spaces that foster a sense of community – spaces where students, faculty members, alumni, and external constituents can gather to exchange ideas.

This gift is the third major donation in support of the future Columbia Business School campus, which will be part of Columbia University’s expansion just north of its Morningside Campus.

The donor joins Henry R. Kravis ’69, co-founder, co-chairman, and co-CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and co-chair of the School’s Board of Overseers, who pledged $100 million for the project in October 2010, and Leon Cooperman ’67, chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors and also a member of the board, who donated $25 million to the new campus in April.

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If you are looking for guidance on your MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.