*LC Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 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) .......................... ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, , ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 1 WalMart 2 Exxon 3 Chevron 4 Bershire Hathaway 5 Apple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Just realized you're not looking for the answers, but guesses. Oops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Walmart - University of Arkansas (he also has an MBA from Tulsa) ETA: not a guess :D I knew the answer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*LC Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 Sorry. Board said it was down, so I tried again and again. Glad my post didn't get lost when the board was down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*LC Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*LC Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 Glitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 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." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*LC Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 Thanks for the info. I gave up way before 500, but neither of those schools had CEO's in the 2014 top 25. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 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. :/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*LC Posted May 29, 2015 Author Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*LC Posted May 29, 2015 Author Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. 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*LC Posted May 29, 2015 Author Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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