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Alumni in Action

Graduate School of Banking Makes $250,000 Gift to WSB

By Alumni Relations

March 31, 2016

Building on a 70 year partnership between the Graduate School of Banking (GSB) and the Wisconsin School of Business, GSB recently graced WSB with a $250,000 gift to create the Graduate School of Banking/Prochnow Professorship. The gift, which enhances the existing Prochnow Professorship, will support critical research and help educate future generations of leaders in the banking industry.

“This is a great collaboration that exemplifies the Wisconsin Idea, supporting education and leadership training that lead to positive outcomes in communities across our state of Wisconsin and throughout the country,” says François Ortalo-Magné, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “We are excited about our partnership with the Graduate School of Banking and the new possibilities that their important gift inspires, including support for essential research.”

Since the GSB-WSB partnership began in 1945, more than 20,000 bankers have completed the Graduate School of Banking program at the Wisconsin School of Business, which was originally launched by Herbert V. Prochnow, president of First National Bank of Chicago.

Kirby Davidson, president and CEO of the Graduate School of Banking, adds that the gift will build on the impact the GSB and WSB partnership has had over the years. “Bankers from across the country have benefited from the premier banking education and leadership programs we offer in cooperation with the Wisconsin School of Business,” says Davidson. “This gift to the Wisconsin School of Business will build on that valuable work by providing meaningful educational opportunities that allow bankers to develop their technical skills, grow their leadership capabilities, and take what they’ve learned back to their banks and communities where they make a positive impact every day.”

The Graduate School of Banking/Prochnow Professorship will be held by finance professor and director of the Puelicher Center for Banking Education at the Wisconsin School of Business, James Johannes. “GSB’s gift will enable us to enhance our banking program at the Wisconsin School of Business,” says Johannes. “It will support vital research that could help shape the future of the banking system, promote financial stability, and address key issues for our economy.”

 


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