Stern School Receives $6.5 Million to Support Emerging Entrepreneurs and Development Research
Coinciding with the introduction of a new leadership team at its Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Stern School of Business recently received gifts from donors totaling $6.5 million. This increased funding comes at a time when interest in business ownership among Stern students and alumni is at an all-time high. A sign of the surge is the record-setting 155 student and alumni teams that entered the Berkley Center’s business plan competition this year.
Stern Board of Overseer Ira Leon Rennert, chairman and CEO of the private investment firm The Renco Group and a longstanding supporter of entrepreneurship at the school, recently committed $3.5 million. His gift will enhance the seed funding currently awarded to traditional track winners in Stern’s nationally recognized Business Plan Competition, and will create a new faculty chair in entrepreneurship to support a top research scholar in the field.
Beny Alagem, founder of Packard Bell Electronics and owner of the world famous Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and the Alagem Family gave a gift of $3 million to support the entrepreneurship programming and resources available to Stern’s students, alumni, and faculty.
“As a macroeconomist, I value entrepreneurship as an engine of growth for the economy that generates new ideas, creates new jobs, and fosters progress,” said Thomas F. Cooley, dean of the Stern School. “This generous funding brings new energy to the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, enabling us to support the next generation of scholars and entrepreneurs.”