The CEO of the top 5 US corporations all went to public universities for undergrad

[*LC]

I read something here earlier than made wonder where today's CEO's received their undergraduate degrees. So, I looked it up, which is harder than it sounds or at least it was for me. 

 

Any guesses where the CEO's of the top 5 corporations in the Fortune 500 list earned their undergraduate degrees? One hint they are 5 different public universities in 5 different states.

 

I'll post the answers later.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll give you the top 5 corporations from http://fortune.com/fortune500/(I didn't bother to read their methodology, so I have no idea if this is a disputed list or not. It is just what came up when I searched it)

 

 

 

 

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1 WalMart

2 Exxon

3 Chevron

4 Bershire Hathaway

5 Apple

 

 

 

[Teachin'Mine]

Just realized you're not looking for the answers, but guesses.  Oops.

[Hoggirl]

Walmart - University of Arkansas (he also has an MBA from Tulsa)

 

ETA: not a guess :D I knew the answer.

[*LC]

Sorry. Board said it was down, so I tried again and again. Glad my post didn't get lost when the board was down. 

[*LC]

Hoggirl got #1. Congratulations.

 

Guessing and knowing is allowed on this completely unscientific poll.

 

(I didn't look into graduate degrees, as I was mainly interested in undergraduate degrees. Plus, I thought the info I found by quickly searching the internet might get into honorary degrees. 

 

 

Here are the undergrad schools for the CEO's of companies 1 through 5. They are all public universities, and all are considered national universities by US News ranking. They range in ranking from 38 to 139. 2 are in the top 50; 3 are not. (I know there is a ranking that only  ranks public universities, but I didn't look at that one.

 

1 U Arkansas public

2 U Texas public

3 U CA-Davis public

4 U of Nebraska public

5 Auburn public

 

as well as the companies again

 

1 WalMart

2 Exxon

3 Chevron

4 Bershire Hathaway

5 Apple

 

Here are the CEOs by name

 

1 Doug McMillon

2 Rex Tillerson

3 John Watson

4 Warren Buffet, according to what I read he did go to an Ivy, University of Penn, for two years, but left to go to Nebraska 

5 Tim Cook

 

 

This is the source I used for the company ranking and CEO names. http://fortune.com/fortune500/However, I first started this on my phone while waiting for something to start. Later I looked it up on the home computer, and there were some differences, in the rankings and the CEOs. I think the one on the home computer is the most up to date, 2014, and I apologize if I have any wrong info. Also, sometimes it was easy to find out where someone went to school and sometimes it was hard. So, there could easily be mistakes there. I'm not even sure 1 of the CEO's actually graduated, because the one article with a name said he attended. However, another article about him said "after graduating", but didn't mention a school. Can anyone guess (or know) what CEO this is?

 

Hoggirl, or anyone else, can you name (or guess) which 3 schools have 2 CEO's in the top 25 corporations? 

 

Anyone know which is the highest ranked corp. with an Ivy CEO? Four Ivy schools have CEO's in the top 25? Can you name or guess those 4 schools?

 

After you get out of the top 10, Ivy League schools have more CEO's than any other athletic conference. Can you name/guess which has the second most CEO's in the top 25? I was trying to put the info in perspective, and when I looked up the names of the Ivy League schools, Wikipedia reminded me Ivy League was an athletic league. So, I looked up athletic leagues for the other schools with CEO's in the top 25. One school represented on the list is not a member of a sports league at all (as best as I can tell). Any guesses of which school that is?

 

Here is the list of top 25 companies

1 WalMart - U Ark

2 Exxon - U Texas

3 Chevron - U CA-Davis

4 Bershire Hathaway - U Nebraska

5 Apple - Auburn 

6 Phillips 66

7 General Motors

8 Ford

9 General Electric

10 Valero

11 AT&T

12 CVS

13 Fannie Mae

14 United Health Care

15 McKesson

16 Verizon

17 Hewlett Packard

18 JP Morgan Chase

19 Costco

20 Express Scripts

21 Bank of America

22 Cardinal Health

23 IBM

24 Kroger

25 Marathon

 

I will post the names in the morning as well as my breakdown of all 25. All 25 went to undergrad in the US. (I had to look up some of the schools to see if they were public or pvt, and I did my best, but if you think there is an error, feel free to correct me.)

 

I looked up 26-30, but I didn't write them down or do further research on them. I'm pretty sure they had 2 Ivy, 1 regional state U, and 2 foreign universities.

[*LC]

 

 

Glitch

[Laura in CA]

Your thread topic reminded me of an oft-cited WSJ article that I read in that newspaper when it was first published (in 2006, so a bit dated, but I'm sure the basic idea is still true today): "Any College Will Do" (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115853818747665842)

 

 

Quote:

 

"Some 10% of CEOs currently heading the top 500 companies received undergraduate degrees from Ivy League colleges, according to a survey by executive recruiter Spencer Stuart. But more received their undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin than from Harvard, the most represented Ivy school."

[*LC]

Thanks for the info.

I gave up way before 500, but neither of those schools had CEO's in the 2014 top 25.

[Laura in CA]

Thanks for the info.

I gave up way before 500, but neither of those schools had CEO's in the 2014 top 25.

I was very impressed you were doing your own research! :) That reminded me of the article – which includes some interesting life stories (such as why Warren Buffett left Penn) and the perspectives of quite a few CEOs.

[creekland]

Your thread topic reminded me of an oft-cited WSJ article that I read in that newspaper when it was first published (in 2006, so a bit dated, but I'm sure the basic idea is still true today): "Any College Will Do" (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115853818747665842)

 

 

Quote:

 

"Some 10% of CEOs currently heading the top 500 companies received undergraduate degrees from Ivy League colleges, according to a survey by executive recruiter Spencer Stuart. But more received their undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin than from Harvard, the most represented Ivy school."

 

Yikes!  That reporter needs to consider a few more facts... like that U Wisconsin currently has more than 43,000 students and Harvard has roughly 6700.  Even assuming it hasn't been that great of a disparity over the years, I doubt they were roughly equal during the time period we're talking about.

 

Just had to point that glaring issue out even though I'll admit to not giving a hoot where any large business folks graduated from.  It's simply not a world any of my family is interested in and I already KNOW people who end up in high places can come from pretty much anywhere if they have the right drive, dedication, and some luck.

[Hoggirl]

Hoggirl got #1. Congratulations.

 

Guessing and knowing is allowed on this completely unscientific poll.

 

(I didn't look into graduate degrees, as I was mainly interested in undergraduate degrees. Plus, I thought the info I found by quickly searching the internet might get into honorary degrees.

 

Hoggirl, or anyone else, can you name (or guess) which 3 schools have 2 CEO's in the top 25 corporations?

 

Oh, I have no special knowledge in this area! Ha ha! I just know because we are from Arkansas and have lived in Northwest Arkansas (the Walmart Home Office is in Bentonville) for 20+ years.

 

At this point, I am happy to have anything positive to talk about in contrast to the Duggars. :/

[8filltheheart]

I searched for an article I had read last yr, but I couldn't find it. It was an article focusing on the educational backgrounds of the Fortune 500 CEOs, but also had an interesting section on the female CEOs and their paths. The one thing that stuck out in my mind was that there was no "path." There were 500 paths. Mostly your typical state universities were represented for undergrad. Obviously, Marilyn Hewson sticks out in my mind bc she is CEO of Lockheed Martin and her UG degree is from UA.

[Teachin'Mine]

Well here's what I had found and had initially posted, but deleted to give others who might actually know or guess a chance to do so.  I had no idea before Wikiing.

 

1.  U of Arkansas - MBA U of Tulsa

2.  UT Austin

3.  UC Davis - MBA U of Chicago

4.  U Penn Wharton School - U of Nebraska - MS Columbia - NY Institute of Finance

5.  Auburn U - MBA Duke

 

I found Warren Buffet's situation interesting.  He attended UPenn at his father's urging, but after two years he wanted out.  I think he was 17 when he began at UPenn and graduated with his BA when he was 19 - according to Wiki.  So it must not have taken him long to complete his BA at U Nebraska.  Maybe that's why he switched instead of having to endure another two years at Penn?   Would love to know more about his reason for the transfer.  But it was at Columbia where he learned investment theories from his professor and mentor Benjamin Graham.  He chose to go there to study with him after he was rejected by Harvard Business.

 

I agree with Creekland that the number of students should be taken into consideration, and I also know that CEOs, inventors, etc. can come from any educational background.  It has more to do with them and their drive and their intellect and a good bit of luck as well.   Three out of the five mentioned above did get their masters degree from top private universities and I'm sure it didn't hinder them just the same as their public university undergrad didn't hinder them in their goals.

 

[*LC]

Well here's what I had found and had initially posted, but deleted to give others who might actually know or guess a chance to do so.  I had no idea before Wikiing.

 

1.  U of Arkansas - MBA U of Tulsa

2.  UT Austin

3.  UC Davis - MBA U of Chicago

4.  U Penn Wharton School - U of Nebraska - MS Columbia - NY Institute of Finance

5.  Auburn U - MBA Duke

 

I found Warren Buffet's situation interesting.  He attended UPenn at his father's urging, but after two years he wanted out.  I think he was 17 when he began at UPenn and graduated with his BA when he was 19 - according to Wiki.  So it must not have taken him long to complete his BA at U Nebraska.  Maybe that's why he switched instead of having to endure another two years at Penn?   Would love to know more about his reason for the transfer.  But it was at Columbia where he learned investment theories from his professor and mentor Benjamin Graham.  He chose to go there to study with him after he was rejected by Harvard Business.

 

I agree with Creekland that the number of students should be taken into consideration, and I also know that CEOs, inventors, etc. can come from any educational background.  It has more to do with them and their drive and their intellect and a good bit of luck as well.   Three out of the five mentioned above did get their masters degree from top private universities and I'm sure it didn't hinder them just the same as their public university undergrad didn't hinder them in their goals.

 

I've seen it discussed on this board whether or not undergrad matters for getting into top grad schools, so it is interesting to see these men were successful in getting into top grad schools as well as in their business lives. Of course, Warren Buffet being rejected from Harvard shows the schools do mess up in their selection process sometimes. 

 

I read a few online bios to make sense of the timeline and to figure out if I could answer your questions about his undergrad years. I found this one that may answer your questions. 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/11/02/the-surprising-truth-about-warren-buffetts-educati.aspx

Somewhere else I read said he didn't want to go to college at all since he already had businesses and investments to manage in VA/Wash. DC, where he lived with his father a congressman from Nebraska at the time. Since his birthday is the end of August, I'm guessing he would have been 16 when he graduated high school. Another article mentioned him starting Penn at 16. 

 

...After graduating from high school in 1947, he moved even further from his home state of Nebraska, and attended his first two years of college at Ivy-League stalwart and highly acclaimed Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

But Wharton wasn't for him, and looking for change he transferred to the University of Nebraska where he would go on to graduate with a degree in economics in 1950. In a conversation with students at the University of Nebraska 20 years ago, Buffett said: 

"After two years at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, I transferred here and I must say that I thought that my year here was considerably superior to either of the years I'd had at Wharton. I got a lot of education."

So what was it about the University of Nebraska relative to Wharton that made Warren Buffett enjoyed his education so much? He would later add in a 2001 interview with the former dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska, Cynthia Milligan: 

 

"The teachers at the University [of Nebraska] turned me on. There wasn't a class that disappointed me. I was close to my professors, who actually taught the classes, at my previous undergraduate college, graduate students taught the classes."

Buffett would go on to add:

 

"I had a great experience at Nebraska. Probably the best teacher I had was Ray Dein in accounting. I think everybody in business school should really know accounting; it is the language of business. If you are not comfortable with the language, you can' t be comfortable in the country."

Upon graduating, Buffett's father urged him to apply to graduate school at Harvard. While he had great credentials, his interview with a Harvard alumnus in Chicago didn't go as planned. Buffett told Fortune magazine in 1988:

 

"What this representative of higher learning surveyed, Buffett says, was 'a scrawny 19-year-old who looked 16 and had the social poise of a 12-year-old.' After ten minutes the interview was over, and so were Buffett's prospects of going to Harvard."

 

Yet while "the rejection stung," the article goes on to say that " Buffett now considers it the luckiest thing ever to have happened to him, because upon returning to Omaha he chanced to learn that Ben Graham was teaching at Columbia's business school, and immediately -- and this time successfully -- applied."

 

And the reason for Buffett's interest in learning under Graham was simple. As he noted in this year's letter to Berkshire Hathaway  shareholders:

Upon learning Graham was at Columbia after thumbing through magazines following his rejection, Buffett immediately got in touch with the dean of the business school at Columbia and was ultimately accepted.In the Berkshire Hathaway owner's manual, Buffett notes:Buffett would go on to study and eventually work under Graham for two years. But when you consider the insights learned from The Intelligent Investor and the countless other things he learned in the three years they spent together, Buffett has done nothing but praise Graham for the impact he left on him.

 

"I learned most of the thoughts in this investment discussion from Ben's book The Intelligent Investor, which I bought in 1949. My financial life changed with that purchase... I can't remember what I paid for that first copy of The Intelligent Investor. Whatever the cost, it would underscore the truth of Ben's adage: Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Of all the investments I ever made, buying Ben's book was the best (except for my purchase of two marriage licenses)."

The key to remember

In today's world, we're often led to believe success can only come to those who attend the most highly acclaimed institutions with the biggest and most well-known companies on their resumes. But just like investing, when it comes to education, Buffett shows us you ultimately get out what you put in.

[wapiti]

It would also be interesting to see whether there are any significant school differences between a younger group (say, graduating less than 20 years ago) from an older group.  Hiring practices have changed over the past 50 yrs.

[*LC]

3 schools have 2 CEO's in the top 25 corporations?

 

Cornell, Brown & University Missoui-St. Louis are the three schools with 2 CEO's in the top 25.  Brown, a private school, is ranked #16 in USNWR.  Ranked #15, Cornell is a privately endowed research university and a partner of the Statue University of New York.  ( have no idea what that means, but that is what the Cornell website says.) Public school University of Missouri-St. Louis is a unranked national  university. 

 

The highest ranked corp. with an Ivy CEO

 #9, General Electric

 

Four Ivy schools have CEO's in the top 25.

 

Cornell 2

Brown 2

Dartmouth 

Princeton 

 

After the Ivy League with 6 from 4 schools, the athletic league with the most CEO's in the top 25 is the Southeastern Conference, with 4 from 4 schools.

The school that I do not think is represented in an athletic conference is General Motors Institute, which is now Kettering.

 

Here is my breakdown of the down 25 by university. Except for two regional schools and one unranked national school, all the schools repsented are national ranked research universities.

 

1 U Arkansas public

2 U Texas public

3 U CA-Davis public

4 U of Nebraska public

5 Auburn public

6 Texas A & M public

7 General Motors Institute private (now Kettering)

8 U Kansas public

9 Dartmouth private

10 University Missoui-St. Louis public (not ranked national)

11 U of Central Oklahoma public (regional)

12 U Pittsburgh public

13 Cornell private

14 Fordham private

15 U Minnesota public

16 Cornell private

17 Princeton private

18 Tufts private

19 San Diego State public 

20 University Missoui-St. Louis public (not ranked national)

21 Brown private

22 Brown private

23 Northwestern private

24 U Kentucky public

25 Tiffin private (regional)

 

Here is the list of corporations 

1 WalMart

2 Exxon

3 Chevron

4 Bershire Hathaway

5 Apple

6 Phillips 66

7 General Motors

8 Ford

9 General Electric

10 Valero

11 AT&T

12 CVS

13 Fannie Mae

14 United Health Care

15 McKesson

16 Verizon

17 Hewlett Packard

18 JP Morgan Chase

19 Costco

20 Express Scripts

21 Bank of America

22 Cardinal Health

23 IBM

24 Kroger

25 Marathon

 

So, of the 25 top corporations, 15 are led by a public-university CEO and 10 are led by private-university CEO's. 

 

To further break it down 

 

11 Public National Research Universities

10 Private National Research Universities

2 Public NOT Ranked National Research University, 2 CEO's from same school

1 Public Regional University

1 Private Regional University

 

Here is the list of schools by athletic conference.

1 U Arkansas Southeastern Conference

2 U Texas Big 12 Conference

3 U CA-Davis Big West Conference

4 U of Nebraska Big Ten

5 Auburn Southeastern Conference

6 Texas A & M Southeastern Conference

7 General Motors Institute none

8 U Kansas Big 12 Conference

9 Dartmouth Ivy

10 University Missoui-St. Louis Great Lakes Valley Conference

11 U of Central Oklahoma Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association

12 U Pittsburgh Atlantic Coast Conference

13 Cornell Ivy

14 Fordham Atlantic 10

15 U Minnesota Big Ten

16 Cornell Ivy

17 Princeton Ivy

18 Tufts New England Small College Athletic Conference

19 San Diego State Mountain West

20 University Missoui-St. Louis Great Lakes Valley Conference

21 Brown Ivy

22 Brown Ivy

23 Northwestern Big Ten

24 U Kentucky Southeastern Conference

25 Tiffin Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

 

Here is the breakdown by conference

 

6 Ivy (four schools total, 2 have 2 CEOs)

4 Southeastern Conference

3 Big Ten

2 Big 12

2 Great Lakes Valley Conference (1 school, it has 2 CEOs)

1 Big West

1 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association

1 Atlantic Coast Conference

1 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

1 Atlantic 10

1 New England Small College Athletic Conference

1 Mountain West

1 no sport conference

 

And, just for good measure, here are list of CEO's by ranking. 

1 Doug McMillon

2 Rex Tillerson

3 John Watson

4 Warren Buffet

5 Tim Cook

6 Greg Garland

7 Marry Barra

8 Alan Mulally

9 Jeffrey Immelt

10 Joseph Gorder

11 Randall Stephenson

12 Larry Merlo

13Timothy J. Mayopoulos

14 Stephen Hemsley

15 John Hammergren

16 Lowell McAdam

17 Margaret Whitman

18 James Dimon

19 Craig Jelenik, he is the one I could not be sure he graduated from San Diego State

20 George Paz

21 Brian Moynihan

22 George Barrett

23 Virginia Rometty

24 Rodney McMullen

25Gary Heminger

 

Hoggirl got #1. Congratulations.

 

Guessing and knowing is allowed on this completely unscientific poll.

 

(I didn't look into graduate degrees, as I was mainly interested in undergraduate degrees. Plus, I thought the info I found by quickly searching the internet might get into honorary degrees. 

 

 

Here are the undergrad schools for the CEO's of companies 1 through 5. They are all public universities, and all are considered national universities by US News ranking. They range in ranking from 38 to 139. 2 are in the top 50; 3 are not. (I know there is a ranking that only  ranks public universities, but I didn't look at that one.

 

1 U Arkansas public

2 U Texas public

3 U CA-Davis public

4 U of Nebraska public

5 Auburn public

 

as well as the companies again

 

1 WalMart

2 Exxon

3 Chevron

4 Bershire Hathaway

5 Apple

 

Here are the CEOs by name

 

1 Doug McMillon

2 Rex Tillerson

3 John Watson

4 Warren Buffet, according to what I read he did go to an Ivy, University of Penn, for two years, but left to go to Nebraska 

5 Tim Cook

 

 

This is the source I used for the company ranking and CEO names. http://fortune.com/fortune500/However, I first started this on my phone while waiting for something to start. Later I looked it up on the home computer, and there were some differences, in the rankings and the CEOs. I think the one on the home computer is the most up to date, 2014, and I apologize if I have any wrong info. Also, sometimes it was easy to find out where someone went to school and sometimes it was hard. So, there could easily be mistakes there. I'm not even sure 1 of the CEO's actually graduated, because the one article with a name said he attended. However, another article about him said "after graduating", but didn't mention a school. Can anyone guess (or know) what CEO this is?

 

Hoggirl, or anyone else, can you name (or guess) which 3 schools have 2 CEO's in the top 25 corporations? 

 

Anyone know which is the highest ranked corp. with an Ivy CEO? Four Ivy schools have CEO's in the top 25? Can you name or guess those 4 schools?

 

After you get out of the top 10, Ivy League schools have more CEO's than any other athletic conference. Can you name/guess which has the second most CEO's in the top 25? I was trying to put the info in perspective, and when I looked up the names of the Ivy League schools, Wikipedia reminded me Ivy League was an athletic league. So, I looked up athletic leagues for the other schools with CEO's in the top 25. One school represented on the list is not a member of a sports league at all (as best as I can tell). Any guesses of which school that is?

 

Here is the list of top 25 companies

1 WalMart - U Ark

2 Exxon - U Texas

3 Chevron - U CA-Davis

4 Bershire Hathaway - U Nebraska

5 Apple - Auburn 

6 Phillips 66

7 General Motors

8 Ford

9 General Electric

10 Valero

11 AT&T

12 CVS

13 Fannie Mae

14 United Health Care

15 McKesson

16 Verizon

17 Hewlett Packard

18 JP Morgan Chase

19 Costco

20 Express Scripts

21 Bank of America

22 Cardinal Health

23 IBM

24 Kroger

25 Marathon

 

I will post the names in the morning as well as my breakdown of all 25. All 25 went to undergrad in the US. (I had to look up some of the schools to see if they were public or pvt, and I did my best, but if you think there is an error, feel free to correct me.)

 

I looked up 26-30, but I didn't write them down or do further research on them. I'm pretty sure they had 2 Ivy, 1 regional state U, and 2 foreign universities.

 

[*LC]

It would also be interesting to see whether there are any significant school differences between a younger group (say, graduating less than 20 years ago) from an older group.  Hiring practices have changed over the past 50 yrs.

 

(I know quite a few very financially successful people, including a few CEOs, though not typically of the types of businesses in that list.  The most financially successful one of all attended U Roch for both undergrad and business school, with no help from parents but lots of grants and loans.  He has been know to buy shirts on ebay even now.  Or at least when he's in the U.S....)

Well, in searching for their colleges, I saw the age of many of the CEO's, and I don't remember any that were less than 40. To have graduated 20 years ago, the CEO would be around 40. 

 

The first five all public range in age from 48 to 83, with the others at 54, 58 and 63

WalMart's CEO, 1, who graduated from Arkansas, is 48. Doug McMillon

Exxon's CEO, 2, who graduated from Texas, is 63. Rex Tillerson

Chevron's CEO, 3 , who graduated from Califronia, Davis, is 58. John Watson

Berkshire Hathaway's CEO, who graduated from Nebraska, is 84. Warren Buffet

Apple's CEO, 5, who graduate from Auburn, is 54. Tim Cook

 

Six through 10 include three public and two private, including one Ivy. They range from 53 to 69, with 57, 57, and 59 in between. 

Phillips 66, CEO, 6, who graduated from  Texas A&M, is 57. Greg Garland

General Motors CEO, 7, who graduated from General Motors Institute is 53. This is a private school now known at Kettering. Mary Barra

Ford's CEO, 8, who graduated from Kansas is 69 . Alan Mulally. 

General Electric's CEO, 9, who graduated from Dartmouth, is 59. Jeffrey Immelt

Valeros' CEO, 10, who graduated from University of Missouri-St. Louis is 57. Joseph Gorder

 

The ages of the top 10 range from 48 to 83. All but two went to public schools

48, 53 private, 54, 57, 57, 58, 59 Ivy, 63, 69, 84

 

The farther I went down the list the harder it was to find ages as the people didn't necessarily have easily found public bios, so I quit after the top 10. I did look up the other 5 Ivy grads out of the top 25, they are 55, 55, 58, 59, and 61. So, basically the same as most of the public school grads in the top 10. If anything the Ivy grads seem to be on the older end, but I don't think there is enough data to actually say that. 

 

Here are the ages of the CEO's from the 15 companies I researched.

48, 53, 54, 55 Ivy, 55 Ivy,  57, 57, 58, 58 Ivy, 59 Ivy, 59 Ivy, 61 Ivy, 63, 69, 84

 

Edited to add, I was curious, so I looked up the rest

 

1 Doug McMillon 48 public

2 Rex Tillerson 63 public

3 John Watson 58 public

4 Warren Buffet 84 public

5 Tim Cook 54 public

6 Greg Garland 57 public

7 Marry Barra 53 private

8 Alan Mulally 69 public

9 Jeffrey Immelt 59 Ivy

10 Joseph Gorder 57 public

11 Randall Stephenson 55 public

12 Larry Merlo 58 public

13Timothy J. Mayopoulos 55 Ivy

14 Stephen Hemsley 61 pvt

15 John Hammergren 56 public

16 Lowell McAdam 61 Ivy

17 Margaret Whitman, 58 Ivy

18 James Dimon 59 pvt

19 Craig Jelenik 62 public, may not have graduated

20 George Paz 58 public

21 Brian Moynihan, 55 Ivy

22 George Barrett 59 Ivy

23 Virginia Rometty 57 private

24 Rodney McMullen 53 public

25Gary Heminger 61 private

 

By age order, instead of company order

 

48 public

53 public

53 private

54 public

55 Ivy

55 Ivy

55 public

56 public

57 private

57 public

57 public

58 public

58 public

58 public

58 Ivy

59 Ivy

59 Ivy

59 private

61 private

61 private

61 Ivy

62 public, may not have graduated

63 public

69 public

84 public

 

Four of the CEO's are 58, so that is the mode. 3 CEO's are 61, 59, 57, and 55. The only other age with multiple CEO's is 53. 

A range of 48 to 84. 

There are 13 ages represented, with a median age of 58

 

Four of the 6 Ivy CEO's are at the mode age or above. (Since I calculated mode based on 13 ages rather than by 25 CEO's. I have 10 CEO's above the 4 at the Mode age and 11 below the mode age of 58. ) The two Ivy CEO's below the mode age of 58, would actually represent the mode age of the younger group of CEO's, as both are 55. With an age range of 9 years, the younger CEO's are 48, 53, 53, 54, 55, 55, 55, 56, 57, 57, 57. 

 

I guess a better way to judge a trend in background of CEO's today vs X years ago would be to look at when the CEO's was named CEO. I don't have the patience to find that info. Sorry. 

[creekland]

In today's world, we're often led to believe success can only come to those who attend the most highly acclaimed institutions with the biggest and most well-known companies on their resumes. But just like investing, when it comes to education, Buffett shows us you ultimately get out what you put in.

 

I may live in the wrong world (truly, being rural and not into the tippy top life, I might), but I've only seen this mentioned with jobs like law and investment banking and then only if one wants big name firms in big cities or if one wants to join the Supreme Court someday.

 

For anything else I hear the same things I say/write - look to see where grads of School X are going.  If you like those paths, it's a decent choice to consider.

[plansrme]

I knew Tim Cook went to Auburn because he spoke at graduation there a while back.  And, also, of course AU would be represented in the top five.  

 

Interesting topic. 

[Teachin'Mine]

I've seen it discussed on this board whether or not undergrad matters for getting into top grad schools, so it is interesting to see these men were successful in getting into top grad schools as well as in their business lives. Of course, Warren Buffet being rejected from Harvard shows the schools do mess up in their selection process sometimes. 

 

I read a few online bios to make sense of the timeline and to figure out if I could answer your questions about his undergrad years. I found this one that may answer your questions. 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/11/02/the-surprising-truth-about-warren-buffetts-educati.aspx

Somewhere else I read said he didn't want to go to college at all since he already had businesses and investments to manage in VA/Wash. DC, where he lived with his father a congressman from Nebraska at the time. Since his birthday is the end of August, I'm guessing he would have been 16 when he graduated high school. Another article mentioned him starting Penn at 16. 

 

...After graduating from high school in 1947, he moved even further from his home state of Nebraska, and attended his first two years of college at Ivy-League stalwart and highly acclaimed Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

But Wharton wasn't for him, and looking for change he transferred to the University of Nebraska where he would go on to graduate with a degree in economics in 1950. In a conversation with students at the University of Nebraska 20 years ago, Buffett said: 

"After two years at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, I transferred here and I must say that I thought that my year here was considerably superior to either of the years I'd had at Wharton. I got a lot of education."

So what was it about the University of Nebraska relative to Wharton that made Warren Buffett enjoyed his education so much? He would later add in a 2001 interview with the former dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska, Cynthia Milligan: 

 

"The teachers at the University [of Nebraska] turned me on. There wasn't a class that disappointed me. I was close to my professors, who actually taught the classes, at my previous undergraduate college, graduate students taught the classes."

Buffett would go on to add:

 

"I had a great experience at Nebraska. Probably the best teacher I had was Ray Dein in accounting. I think everybody in business school should really know accounting; it is the language of business. If you are not comfortable with the language, you can' t be comfortable in the country."

Upon graduating, Buffett's father urged him to apply to graduate school at Harvard. While he had great credentials, his interview with a Harvard alumnus in Chicago didn't go as planned. Buffett told Fortune magazine in 1988:

 

"What this representative of higher learning surveyed, Buffett says, was 'a scrawny 19-year-old who looked 16 and had the social poise of a 12-year-old.' After ten minutes the interview was over, and so were Buffett's prospects of going to Harvard."

 

Yet while "the rejection stung," the article goes on to say that " Buffett now considers it the luckiest thing ever to have happened to him, because upon returning to Omaha he chanced to learn that Ben Graham was teaching at Columbia's business school, and immediately -- and this time successfully -- applied."

 

And the reason for Buffett's interest in learning under Graham was simple. As he noted in this year's letter to Berkshire Hathaway  shareholders:

Upon learning Graham was at Columbia after thumbing through magazines following his rejection, Buffett immediately got in touch with the dean of the business school at Columbia and was ultimately accepted.In the Berkshire Hathaway owner's manual, Buffett notes:Buffett would go on to study and eventually work under Graham for two years. But when you consider the insights learned from The Intelligent Investor and the countless other things he learned in the three years they spent together, Buffett has done nothing but praise Graham for the impact he left on him.

 

"I learned most of the thoughts in this investment discussion from Ben's book The Intelligent Investor, which I bought in 1949. My financial life changed with that purchase... I can't remember what I paid for that first copy of The Intelligent Investor. Whatever the cost, it would underscore the truth of Ben's adage: Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Of all the investments I ever made, buying Ben's book was the best (except for my purchase of two marriage licenses)."

The key to remember

In today's world, we're often led to believe success can only come to those who attend the most highly acclaimed institutions with the biggest and most well-known companies on their resumes. But just like investing, when it comes to education, Buffett shows us you ultimately get out what you put in.

 

LC thanks for all the info on Buffet.  Very interesting!   While not all professors are equal nor all grad students are equal, overall I'm more in favor of attending classes taught by the professors themselves.  I have no idea how much of the teaching at the Ivy colleges is done by grad students vs professors currently.

 

 

[creekland]

LC thanks for all the info on Buffet.  Very interesting!   While not all professors are equal nor all grad students are equal, overall I'm more in favor of attending classes taught by the professors themselves.  I have no idea how much of the teaching at the Ivy colleges is done by grad students vs professors currently.

 

 

 

I have no idea at Ivies.  I know at middle son's school all classes except the required freshman writing one are taught by profs (aside from an occasional one or two class periods where they might have a TA or a guest lecturer teach).  TAs (undergrads) handle the recitations (small group sessions designed for extra help with questions or for upcoming tests).  Students sign up for a recitation, but can attend others if they wish.  My guy has taught three of these now (Chem, Orgo, and a Brain class).  He gets great reviews, so often has students other than his own show up.

 

The freshman writing classes are taught by grad students.

[Laura Corin]

This survey approaches the issue from another angle: which universities have educated the most Global 500 company CEOs.  On this list, Harvard tops the US stakes, followed by Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, MIT and Cornell.  Of course, not all those who attended those universities will be American, nor will they necessarily be running American companies.

 

https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/alma-mater-index-global-executives-2013/2007032.article

[MrSmith]

Is this statistic similar to the one that says 90% of accidents happen within 20 miles of your house? Simply because you drive around there so often, and not because your neighborhood has the world's worst drivers?