Business Leaders from CCC Alliance, Radio One and Thrillist.com to Meet One-on-One with Wharton and Penn Students
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced that two family business leaders will help launch a new Family Business Fellow series modeled after the School’s popular Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Program. The EIR program, developed and managed by Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs (WEP) brings highly accomplished entrepreneurs to campus every week to meet with students in one-on-one meetings.
The Family Business Fellow (FBF) program is managed by the Wharton Global Family Alliance. The FBF series provides an opportunity for students to meet one-on-one with a successful family business member to discuss family business governance, wealth management, and philanthropy.
The first of two Family Business Fellows is Laird Pendleton, co-founder and Managing Partner of CCC Alliance, the world’s leading private consortium of single family offices and wealthy families. In 1986 Laird also co-founded Cairnwood Cooperative Corporation, the family office that manages the affairs of a branch of the Pitcairn family (founders of Pittsburgh Plate Glass). Mr. Pendleton is also Chairman of the Wharton Global Family Alliance Advisory Board.
“This is an exciting fall semester for both Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs and the Wharton Global Family Alliance,” says Prof. Raphael (Raffi) Amit, the Robert B. Goergen Professor of Entrepreneurship and co-founder of the Wharton Global Family Alliance. “By bringing to campus such accomplished entrepreneurs and family business leaders our students are receiving an ideal complement to their classroom experience: this underscores our commitment to blending theory with practice at the Wharton School.”
The EIR program has grown through the years thanks in great part to Wharton and Penn alumni such as 1974 Wharton undergraduate alumnus Robert Haft who establish the Robert Haft Entrepreneur-in-Residence Endowment Fund with a generous gift in 2007.
Visiting Wharton as part of the Robert Haft Entrepreneur-in-Residence Fall Series this semester are:
- Alfred Liggins (WG’95) – President & CEO, Radio One
- David Adelman – President & CEO, Campus Apartments
- Rick Rasansky (W’83) – Founder & CEO, Yorn
- Ben Lerer (C’03) – Co-Founder & CEO, Thrillist.com
- Jay Tapper – Founder, J-Tap
- Max Gowen (WG’02) – President & CEO, Trevena
- Kevin Reeth (W’92) – CEO & Co-Founder, Outright.com
The Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program, founded in the fall of 2001, is one of many successful co-curricular initiatives that reflect WEP’s commitment to support entrepreneurship campus-wide. Over 150 entrepreneurs have taken part in the program to the benefit of over 1,500 students from across the Penn campus.
Many entrepreneurs who have served as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence are alumni. They and their fellow alumni are building businesses worldwide and solving societal problems as they add value to local economies. Some of these alumni and their businesses include:
Anne-Marie Corner WG’89 ProTem Pharma; Biosyn Inc.
Joe Segel W’51 QVC; National Software Testing Laboratories; Franklin Mint Corporation
Connie Duckworth WG’79 ARZU STUDIO HOPE Inc.
Scott Hilton WG’07 Diapers.com
David Birnbaum WG’05 TAKKLE
Nathaniel Turner W’08 Invite Media Inc
Lucinda Holt C’85 WG’91 ClickEquations; TurnTide
Jon Huntsman W’59 HON’96 Huntsman Corporation
Brett Hurt WG’99 Bazaarvoice; CoreMetrics Inc.
Vernon Hill W’67 Metro Bank (UK); Commerce Bancorp
Robert Goergen WG’62 Blyth Inc.
Seth Berger C’89 WG’93 AND1
Tom Austin W’93 GED’08 AND1
Josh Kopelman W’93 First Round Capital; TurnTide; Half.com; Infonautics
Peter Nicholas WG’68 Boston Scientific Corporation
Brian Roberts W’81 Comcast Corporation
Ralph Roberts W’41 HON’05 Comcast Corporation
Julian Brodsky W’56 Comcast Corporation; Comcast Interactive Capital
WG=MBA alumnus; W=undergraduate alumnus
A directory of Wharton entrepreneurs is available on the WEP Web site here: http://wep.wharton.upenn.edu/alumni/listAlumni.aspx
About Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs
In 1973, the Wharton School became the first school to develop a fully integrated curriculum of entrepreneurial studies. Today Wharton, through Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, supports and seeds innovation and entrepreneurship globally through teaching, research, and outreach to a range of organizations through its many programs, initiatives, and research centers. At the same time, Wharton students and alumni are helping to build entrepreneurial enterprises around the world and impacting virtually every industry. For more information: www.wep.wharton.upenn.edu
About Wharton Global Family Alliance
Since its formation in January 2004, through an agreement between the Wharton School and CCC Alliance, the Wharton Global Family Alliance (Wharton GFA) has become the knowledge leader in family business research focused on family businesses, primarily in the areas of governance, philanthropy, and wealth management. Wharton GFA focuses on rigorous scholarly research in combination with the practical experience of successful global families to highlight the social impact of families worldwide. Wharton GFA has a robust research agenda and a wide variety of outreach focused on a global audience. For more information: http://wgfa.wharton.upenn.edu
About the Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The School has more than 4,900 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of 86,000 graduates.