Notre Dame alumnus Kenneth Meyer makes $10 million gift for MBA fellowships

Kenneth R. Meyer, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Lincoln Capital Management Co. and a 1966 alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, has made a $10 million gift to his alma mater to fund fellowships for the Notre Dame MBA program. Meyer’s gift is to be matched with University funding for a total of $20 million.

The Kenneth R. Meyer Fellowships will be the critical component of the newly established Meyer Family Center for MBA Studies at the Mendoza College of Business. The center also will sponsor an annual distinguished guest lecture focusing on ethical business leadership, and will participate in the ethics orientation sessions offered to all incoming MBA students at Notre Dame.

“In partnering with Notre Dame, the goal of the Kenneth R. Meyer Fellowships is to elevate an already strong business program into a world-class one that emphasizes the values of leadership and character, which are so important to the Meyer family,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the University’s president. “We are very grateful to Ken and his wife, Susan, for their extraordinarily generous gift.”

Meyer’s gift and the University matching funds will support 16 fellowships annually – eight fellowships for admitted applicants in each two-year MBA class. The initial fellowships will be awarded to first-year students for the 2011-12 academic year.

“Ken has been a great friend to the Mendoza College for many years, and his personal example of ethical leadership is inspiring,” said Carolyn Y. Woo, Martin J. Gillen Dean of the Mendoza College of Business. “The fellowships offered in his name will allow our MBA program to develop like-minded, values-driven leadership from some of the top candidates worldwide. We accept Ken’s and Susan’s gift as an awesome responsibility and exciting opportunity.”

Meyer was chairman and managing director of Lincoln Capital Management, where he founded the fixed income business in 1981. He became president in the early 1990s and chairman in 2001. In 2003, he negotiated the sale of the company and served as chairman through June 30, 2004. Previously, Meyer worked for the Harris Bank from 1968 to 1981. He managed the institutional fixed income business and was serving as senior vice president responsible for all institutional asset management by the time of his departure.

His current affiliations include serving as the director of LINK Unlimited, a minority education program in Chicago; a director of the Homestead Mutual Fund Family; and a trustee for the National YMCA Endowment Fund. Meyer is a member of the CFA Society of Chicago and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He was awarded the Hortense Freidman Award for lifetime achievement in the industry in 2006.

Meyer, who graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame in 1966 and received his MBA from the Wharton School of Finance in 1968, has served as a key member of the Business Advisory Council for the Mendoza College and also endowed the Kenneth R. Meyer Professor of Global Investment Management.

In making the gift, Meyer, who was born and raised in Fort Thomas, Ky., offered recognition to his parents, Robert and Ardelle Meyer, for their emphasis on service to others, Catholic education and particularly Notre Dame. Ken and Susan have two sons, John (wife Stephanie) who graduated from Miami of Ohio and Chris (wife Meredith) who graduated from Notre Dame, and six grandchildren.

Candidates for the Meyer Fellowships will be recruited from the top 3 percent of all MBA applicants worldwide each year, based on statistics made available by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), the association of leading graduate business schools. Criteria include GMAT scores, undergraduate grade point averages and work experience, with special consideration being given to character and qualities of leadership. Each Meyer fellow will receive full tuition plus a stipend.

“The Notre Dame MBA has a long history of enrolling high-achievers and then pushing them to go beyond their best performance,” said Edward J. Conlon, associate dean for Graduate Studies at the Mendoza College. “The Meyer Fellowships will allow us not only to attract the top candidates with proven records of academic achievement, work experience and leadership; they will expand our ability to financially support a larger pool of students in general. Ken’s gift will benefit our entire program.”

The Notre Dame MBA at the Mendoza College of Business enrolls approximately 340 students annually in its one-year and two-year programs. The program is designed to sharpen students’ analytical and problem-solving skills, enhance their leadership ability and increase emphasis on ethical decision making. Students have the opportunity to study the complexities of global business through international immersions in Asia, Latin America and other locations.

During the weeklong Interterm Intensives, the MBA students analyze, investigate and offer solutions for real-life problems presented by executives from large global organizations. The Notre Dame MBA is ranked 24th among U.S. business schools by BusinessWeek, and No. 5 in the Aspen Institute’s 2009-10 Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and alternate ranking that indicates the school’s success in integrating social, environmental and ethical issues into its program.

Meyer’s gift is a component of the University’s $1.5 billion “Spirit of Notre Dame” campaign. Announced in 2007 and continuing to 2011, “Spirit” is the most comprehensive campaign ever undertaken by the University and the largest fund-raising effort in the history of Catholic higher education. The campaign goal was surpassed in June 2009.

For more information about the Notre Dame MBA program, call 574-631-8488, e-mail mba.business@nd.edu.

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