Larry Gies welcomes Illinois business majors during a signing day ceremony at Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. (Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Larry Gies, namesake of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Gies College of Business, has pledged another $100 million in matching gifts to the business school, a number that makes him the largest benefactor in the university’s history.
It also puts him among the largest benefactors of any university.
The new pledge brings Gies’ business college gifts and commitments to $250 million, following his $150 million naming gift in 2017. Including a separate $100 million pledge to Illinois athletics in 2025, his university-wide giving now totals $350 million.
In today’s announcement (October 20), the college said it believes the new commitment is the largest matching gift ever to a business school and one of the largest to any academic institution.
“I’ve always believed the greatest impact happens when people come together around a shared purpose,” Gies said in the announcement. “Education is the equalizer and not only positively impacts the student’s life but changes the trajectory of their family forever. I’ve seen this in my life and the lives of our Gies Business students, graduates, and their families.
“This pledge is about creating impact with my fellow alumni that will long outlast us!”
$100 MILLION CHALLENGES
Gies, a 1988 accountancy graduate of the college, is the founder and CEO of Madison Industries, one of the largest privately held companies in the world.
W. Brooke Elliott, Gies College of Business dean
He has pledged to match the next $100 million in qualifying donations to the college in his latest commitment. If fully matched, it would generate $200 million for scholarships, student experiences, and faculty support.
“Larry has already transformed this College in ways that will be felt for generations, and with this commitment, he’s asking all of us to imagine what we can do together next,” said Gies Dean W. Brooke Elliott in the release.
“What moves me most about this gift is the ripple effect it can create. One act of generosity can inspire another, and suddenly a scholarship reaches a student who never imagined Gies Business was within reach, a faculty member has the resources to pursue an ambitious idea, or a learner has an experience that changes the course of their life.”
The latest gift’s emphasis on access also fits the college’s approach to graduate business education. Poets&Quants named Gies’ iMBA our 2022 MBA Program of the Year, recognizing its affordability, flexibility, and pioneering approach to stackable credentials.
ONE GIFT INSPIRES ANOTHER
The college already has a tangible example of the effect Gies hopes to produce.
In October 2025, it dedicated Steven S. Wymer Hall, a 100,000-square-foot building anchored by a $25 million naming gift from the Fidelity Investments portfolio manager and 1985 Illinois accounting graduate. More than 150 donors contributed over $50 million toward the project, with the university adding another $40 million.
Wymer told Poets&Quants at the time that Gies’ 2017 naming gift had inspired his own giving. He initially made a couple of anonymous $1 million donations supporting faculty research during the pandemic before committing to the building.
He was reluctant to put his name on it. Gies — who had also initially resisted public recognition for his own gift — helped convince him that doing so could encourage others.
“He wanted to know why I put my name on the school,” Gies told P&Q at the dedication. “I told him his name would bring others along. And the college got a lot more cash coming through the doors after he did it.”
Wymer Hall was the college’s first new building since 2008. It added six flexible classrooms, a 200-seat auditorium, two sound stages and five studios for online learning, 18 meeting rooms, and 84 faculty and staff offices. Elliott described the building as a way to expand undergraduate access. The college was serving about 3,200 undergraduates, and she hoped to grow that number to 4,000.
THE $100+ MILLION B-SCHOOL CLUB
Gies’ announcement follows another nine-figure business school gift just last month.
In September, Indiana University announced a $100 million gift from Jeffrey H. and Benita L. Thomasson supporting Kelley’s graduate business education. Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business also landed a $100 million gift from Dee and Jimmy Haslam in June.
David Booth’s $300 million gift to the University of Chicago in 2008 remains the largest single gift in P&Q’s compilation of the biggest B-School gifts. Other leading entries represent donations accumulated over several years, including Stephen Ross’ $250 million to University of Michigan and Jay H. Shidler’s $228 million to the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa.
With his new pledge, Gies’ combined business school commitments reach $250 million, matching the Ross total.
Largest Philanthropic Gifts To Business Schools |
|||
SCHOOL |
AMOUNT |
DONOR |
YEAR |
| Chicago’s Booth School of Business | $300 million | David Booth | 2008 |
| University of Illinois’s Gies College of Business | $250 million | Larry Gies | 2017, 2026 |
| Michigan’s Ross School of Business | $250 million | Stephen Ross |
2004, 2013, 2017
|
| University of Hawai’i-Mānoa Shidler College of Business | $228 million | Jay H. Shidler | 2014, 2017 |
| Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business | $150 million | H. Fisk Johnson | 2017 |
| Stanford Graduate School of Business | $150 million | Robert & Dorothy King | 2011 |
| UCLA Anderson School of Management | $142 million | John & Marion Anderson |
1987, 2011, 2015
|
| Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School | $125 million | W. P. Carey Foundation |
2006, 2020, 2026
|
| Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business | $122 million | David Tepper | 2004, 2013 |
| Stanford Graduate School of Business | $105 million | Philip Knight | 2006 |
| Tennessee Haslam College of Business | $100 million | Dee & Jimmy Haslam | 2026 |
| Yale School of Management | $100 million | Eli & Edythe Broad | 2019 |
| UC-San Diego Rady School of Management | $100 million | Ernest Rady | 2015 |
| Florida State College of Business | $100 million | Jim Moran | 2015 |
| Columbia Business School | $100 million | Ronald Perelman | 2013 |
| Columbia Business School | $100 million | Henry Kravis | 2010 |
| Indiana Kelley School of Business | $100 million | Jeffrey H. and Benita L. Thomasson | 2026 |
| Emory University’s Goizueta Business School | $95 million | The Goizueta Foundation | 1997-2019 |
| New York University Stern School of Business | $86 million | Leonard Stern |
1988, 2015, 2021
|
| Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School | $80 million | David Atkinson | 2010 |
| Arizona State’s Carey School of Business | $75 million | William Carey | 2003, 2019 |
| Chicago Booth | $75 million | Amy & Richard Wallman | 2017 |
| Florida’s Warrington College of Business | $75 million | Al & Judy Warrington | 2014 |
| Delaware’s Lerner College of Business | $71.5 million | Robert & Kathleen Siegfried | 2025 |
| Virginia’s Darden School of Business | $68 million | Frank & Marjorie Sands | 2019 |
| Virginia’s Darden School of Business | $62 million | Frank Batten | 1999 |
| Northeastern’s D’Amore-McKim School | $60 million | Richard D’Amore & Alan McKim | 2012 |
| Thunderbird School of Management | $60 million | Sam & Rita Garvin | 2004 |
| Babson College | $50 million | Arthur Blank | 2019 |
| Purdue’s Daniels School of Business | $50 million | Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation | 2023 |
| Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business | $50 million | David & Carolyn Miller | 2019 |
| University of San Diego Knauss School of Business | $50 million | Ellie & Don Knauss | 2021 |
| Tel Aviv Coller School of Management | $50 million | Jeremy Coller | 2016 |
| Boston University’s Questrom School | $50 million | Allen & Kelli Questrom | 2015 |
| New York University Stern School of Business | $50 million | William & Marjorie Berkley | 2021 |
| University of Pennsylvania Wharton School | $50 million | Marc & Carolyn Rowan | 2018 |
| Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business | $50 million | Jim Haslam & family | 2014 |
| Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business | $50 million | Ernest Scheller | 2012 |
| Harvard Business School | $50 million | Tata Group | 2010 |
| Yale School of Management | $50 million | Ned Evans | 2010 |
| Texas’ McCombs School of Business | $50 million | Red McCombs | 2000 |
| Arkansas’ Walton College of Business | $50 million | The Walton Family | 1998 |
| Iowa State University Debbie and Jerry Ivy College of Business | $50 million | Debbie & Jerry Ivy | 2017 |
DON’T MISS: INDIANA’S KELLEY SCHOOL LANDS $100 MILLION GIFT, LAUNCHING THOMASSON GRADUATE SCHOOL AND HOW A PROF’S JOKE & A DEAN’S SCHOLARSHIP LED TO A $25 MILLION NAMING GIFT
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