Tag: Koch Development Co.

Pictured above: Roger, Fran, Elke, and Paul Koch, attending the 2018 Family Business Symposium where their $12 million gift to the university was announced.

Four members of St. Louis’s Koch family have contributed $12 million to endow and establish the Koch Center for Family Business and two professorships—one at Olin Business School and the other at the Washington University School of Law.

The family provided the gift to raise awareness about the complexities of family businesses and engage students in understanding the career opportunities available in such enterprises.

Paul, Elke, Roger, and Fran Koch at the third annual
Family Business Symposium on Feb. 20, 2018
(in front row with Dean Mark Taylor
and Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton).

Roger and Fran Koch and Paul and Elke Koch “have been passionate about seeing a greater focus on family businesses here at Olin for many years,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, as he announced the gift.

“There’s a lack of perception about how many family businesses there are and what role they play,” Paul Koch said, following the announcement. “There’s also a lack of perception about the complexities of family businesses.”

The announcement kicked off the third annual Family Business Symposium at Olin—part of a family business initiative the Kochs established several years ago. The brothers noted how frequently family businesses fail to survive past the third generation of family ownership—a phenomenon Paul Koch said was “a waste of resources.”

Paul A. Koch (BSBA ’61, JD ’64, MBA ’68) and Roger L. Koch (BSBA ’64, MBA ’66) are co-chairmen of the board, and the third generation in leadership at Koch Development Co., a St. Louis-based developer and manager of commercial real estate and owner/operator of select entertainment attractions.

“It was clear from the moment I arrived in St. Louis that family business is integral to the community,” Dean Mark Taylor said during the announcement. “Some of the very first people I met—even before I became dean—were Roger, Fran, Paul, and Elke Koch. They have been extremely instrumental in thinking about how we can move forward scholarship in family business.”

Taylor noted that family businesses are a substantial driver of the global economy, responsible for 80 percent of new job creation. Family businesses contribute more than $68 trillion to global GDP and drive 64 percent of the US economy.

With the announcement, Olin will launch a search for the Koch Distinguished Professorship in Family Business, who will lead the new family business center, contributing to a curriculum for students and research in the field.

The center “will have a strong practical application and will also have a very, very strong research side,” Taylor said. “The Kochs were keen in their discussions that we should have a strong research leader.”

The Kochs’ $12 million gift also creates a distinguished professorship at the Washington University School of Law. Wrighton noted that the Kochs will “be providing additional expendable gifts, which will help with the ongoing growth and development of the Family Business Center and the endowed chair holder who will lead that center.”

It’s a cornerstone of the American dream: starting a business, growing it, then passing it down to new generations.  Now, Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will have a new tool to help family business leaders learn how best to build and preserve their legacies into the future.

Mahendra R. Gupta, dean and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management at Olin, announced a four-year, $1.09-million gift from Roger and Fran Koch and Paul and Elke Koch that will launch the Olin Family Business Program. The program will position Olin as a leader in the field as it helps prepare its students to enter and lead their family businesses. Gupta’s announcement came during a half-day Family Business Symposium held April 22 at Olin.

“Olin Business School has long been a leader in preparing our students to enter and lead their businesses,” Gupta said. “This generous gift from the Koch Family will allow us to build on the resources and courses Olin already has in place to further strengthen the skill set of these students, and also address specific needs of family businesses. We are indebted to the Kochs — Roger and Fran, and Paul and Elke — for funding this very important initiative.”

In addition to attracting the next generation of family business leaders and connecting them to programs and resources needed to succeed, the Olin Family Business Program will also include an internship program for students seeking careers with family businesses, and Family Business Practicums, in collaboration with Olin’s Center for Experiential Learning.

These projects will pair faculty-led student teams with family businesses who seek effective solutions for the unique challenges they face. At the end of the practicum, the teams will deliver a report to the client company outlining their recommendations.

With their gift, the Kochs are also establishing the Koch Family Business Scholarship Fund, which will offer financial support to attract candidates with connections to family business to Olin’s full-time MBA program.

About the Kochs

Paul A. Koch (BSBA ’61, JD ’64 and MBA ’68) and Roger L. Koch (BSBA ’64 and MBA ’66) are co-chairman of the board at Koch Development Co. They are third generation family business owners in the real estate investment and development business. Both Roger and Paul have been recognized as Distinguished Alumni of the Olin Business School, and have been advisers to, and generous benefactors of, the university for many years.

The program will launch in Fall 2016.

Image: (From left:) Mahendra Gupta; Christopher Hoffmann, MBA ’16, vice president of Olin Family Business Club; Roger Koch; Elke Koch; Paul Koch; Emmy Caton, MBA ’17, incoming club president; and Ryan Plotkin, MBA ’16, president. Not pictured: Fran Koch. (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)

News release originally published on WashU’s The Source, by Erika Ebsworth-Goold