The Enduring Power of the Wisconsin Naming Partnership

In October 2007, a group of 13 Wisconsin School of Business supporters announced an unprecedented gift. Joining together to form the Wisconsin Naming Partnership, they gave $85 million to preserve the name of the Wisconsin School of Business for 20 years—bucking the trend where a single donor gives a hefty sum in exchange for naming a school in perpetuity. 

The announcement of the Wisconsin Naming Gift quickly generated media buzz. Covered by media outlets like The New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek, some attributed the no-name gift to “Midwest nice.” Maybe that was part of it, yet it was also incredibly strategic. 

Betting on a better way 

When Michael Knetter came on board as dean in 2002, the school needed the resources that typically come with naming a school for a single major donor. Knetter thought there had to be a better way. 

“We were teaching about the value of keeping your options open, brand equity, and the power of strong teams over individuals. A conventional naming gift violated all three of those principles,” Knetter says. “The Wisconsin Naming Partnership secured the resources needed and recognized people who really cared about the school in an elegant way. It created more esprit de corps among our donors than anything else we could have done.” 

It was partly that spirit that led John Oros (BBA ’71), operating partner at J.C. Flowers & Co., to sign on as a naming partner, despite thinking that raising more than $50 million in $5 million increments was highly implausible. 

“At the time, pledging $5 million was a reach for me. I made that reach because I wanted to be part of a group that was doing something unique,” Oros says. 

It was—and is—something unique: A gift to preserve the namelessness of a business school has yet to be repeated. 

Like Oros, Signe Ostby (BBA ’75, MBA ’77), a high-tech marketing leader and co-founder of Valhalla Foundation, thought a naming partnership faced tough odds. She also thought it was a great idea. 

“There are very few people whose names go down in history. Once you get one generation past a person’s success, it’s largely forgotten. Many of the naming partners felt that we wanted to strengthen the affinity WSB alumni had for the school, not for an individual’s name,” she says. 

Taking WSB to new heights

Since the Wisconsin Naming Gift was bestowed, three additional supporters joined the partnership, growing the gift principal to $105 million. Today, with interest, the total value of the gift is more than $130 million. 

Even more impressive than the gift’s growth, however, is the value it has brought to WSB. The gift has helped enrich the student experience, accelerate program growth and innovation, and retain and recruit world-class faculty. 

“Faculty excellence is the bedrock of institutional excellence,” says Vallabh “Samba” Sambamurthy, WSB’s Albert O. Nicholas Dean. “Our faculty have not only continued to build the research reputation of WSB, but have also helped launch new, innovative programs that transformed the school into a comprehensive business school.” 

Today, there are 102 WSB faculty, which reflects targeted growth across the breadth of the school. In the last five years, WSB has added 43 faculty. 

Those faculty have positioned themselves—and the school—as thought leaders, appearing over 1,000 times in publications like The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Forbes in the last year alone. 

WSB has also created new programs in response to student and market needs. The professional MBA; specialized master’s degrees in business analytics, real estate, and supply chain management; and an undergraduate consulting certificate are all examples of how the school is preparing the next generation of business leaders. 

Notably, WSB graduate school enrollment has increased more than 60%, and undergraduate enrollment has more than doubled. 

During the 2007 Homecoming Bash, a crowd of over 1,000 alumni, friends, and members of the Business Badger community gather to hear WSB Dean Mike Knetter (above) announce the Wisconsin Naming Gift, alongside fellow naming partners and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (right).

An admired approach

Thinking back to the buzz when the gift was announced, Oros says he remembers a call from a friend working in fundraising at Stanford University at the time. 

“He said, ‘John, we read about your gift and want to thank you. This is a spiritually uplifting gift.’ It would be nice to see it done again,” Oros says. 

As for Ostby, she hopes the lasting impact of the gift inspires a whole new generation of naming partners to step up. 

“Part of the beauty of the partnership is that you can have a major impact on the future of the school at a fraction of the cost it would be to name the school after yourself,” Ostby says. 

“I can’t thank the Wisconsin Naming Partners enough,” Knetter says. “Their gift changed the school in a big way.”