Business Schools Benefit from Grateful Alums

NEW YORK — Two heavy-hitters from Wall Street have opened up their purse strings and made hefty donations to the colleges where they attended.

 

Henry Kravis, co-founder of the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, has announced a donation of $100 million to Columbia Business School, his alma mater.

 

The announcement donation comes just days before Mike Farrell, CEO and president of Annaly Capital Management, a residential mortgage real estate investment trust, pledged $10 million to develop a new building for the Schools of Business at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest University.

 

Kravis’ donation to Columbia is the largest in the school’s history and will be used to finance two new facilities at Columbia’s future Manhattanville campus, a $6.3 billion, 6.8 million square-foot space that will be built in phases on property that was formerly used for manufacturing. Project completion in its entirety is slated for the year 2030.

 

University officials expect the two new buildings to be completed over six years. The buildings will add 450,000 square feet of space to Columbia Business School’s existing two facilities. One of the buildings will be named after Kravis. Columbia officials have stated that the new campus will support community engagement programs, like the Columbia Community Business Program, an initiative aimed at growing for-profit businesses in Upper Manhattan.

 

Farrell’s $10 million donation to Wake-Forest is the largest ever in the history of the business school. The new building, which construction is expected to start on next spring and wrap up in 2013, will be named in honor of Farrell.

 

 

 

 

Edited 10-11-10