Annual Fund and Alumni Engagement Report

2022–23
In 2023, we kicked off global celebrations for Chicago Booth’s 125th anniversary. We took this milestone moment to reflect and ultimately recognize the enduring impact of Chicago Booth. For many of us, the continued impact lies in the faculty, students, and alumni who encourage us to never stop learning. Below, a few alumni share how Booth continues to be a hub to deepen their thinking.
 
I hope you see yourself in this report, too—as an attendee at the 125th celebration at Wrigley Field, participant in Global Booth Day, a reunion volunteer, an alumni club leader, or a donor who helped give a record-breaking $13.6M total for the Annual Fund!
 
Thank you to the many alumni who engaged with Chicago Booth this year, and for continuing to celebrate 125 years with us.
 

Caroline Karr, ’88
Chief Advancement and Strategy Officer

“The Booth program itself is the perfect embodiment of what lifelong learning is about. It naturally attracts students who are passionate about learning, who are committed to being the best version of themselves. I chose the Booth program simply because it’s the most difficult program in the market.”

Yun Ni (Jocelyn) Jen, ’22

“One of my favorite avenues for lifelong learning has been the Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership, where I’ve enrolled in several of its mini courses. I believe that Professor Davis and Professor Hogarth’s foundational paper ‘Rethinking Management Education: A View from Chicago’ continues to resonate. Their insight into what is best learned over time rather than crowding out what is best learned in the classroom continues to inform.”

Paul Wolfe, ’97

“Having graduated last December, I intend to take advantage of Booth’s free courses in the near future. There are many classes on my wish list that I couldn’t take previously. In addition, I would like to stay connected with the alumni community through local events, conferences and publications.”

Qianli (James) Men, ’22

 

Feeling inspired? Visit the new Lifelong Learning Hub and view a list of book recommendations from Chicago Booth faculty.

Your Gifts to the Annual Fund
Made the Following Possible

Group of diverse students smiling in a classroom

Curricular Innovation
As we celebrate the 125th anniversary of Booth’s founding, The Chicago Approach continues to serve as the model for excellence in business education. Our faculty are scholars on the forefront of their fields, which allows for our curriculum to constantly evolve. Popular new courses among students this year included Entrepreneurship in Healthcare and Life Sciences (taught by Brian Coe, LAB ’87, MBA ’99); Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, and Web 3 (taught by Anthony Zhang, AB ’13, and Anup Malani, AM ’96, JD ’00, PhD ’03); and Decoding FinTech (taught by Dacheng Xiu).

 

Group of diverse students smiling in a classroom

Global Initiatives
In October 2022, Raghuram G. Rajan was named the inaugural Rothman Faculty in Residence in London for the 2023 Spring Quarter. The program’s primary goal is to strengthen and broaden Booth’s visibility in London and across the EMEA region, while enhancing opportunities for the school to expand its impact. The program was named in recognition of a generous gift from Robert Rothman, ’77, which also supports the school’s London campus more broadly. In April 2023, to celebrate Booth’s 125th anniversary, Professor Rajan hosted “Beyond the Annual Report” in London—you can view the recording here.



Three smiling students walking down stairs

Faculty Research
This has been a particularly exciting year for our faculty, with Professor Douglas W. Diamond’s win of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. One of the world’s leading authorities on bank runs and liquidity crises, Professor Diamond was honored for pioneering research that laid the groundwork for how central bankers, regulators, policymakers, and academics approach modern finance. Ten Chicago Booth faculty members have won the award, beginning in 1982 with George Stigler, PhD ’38. Four Nobel laureates currently teach on our faculty—more than at any other business school.

Three smiling students walking down stairs

Scholarships
Through the continued generous support of alumni and friends at Booth, we are able to help our students unlock their true potential through programs like the 1898 Scholarship. Recent graduate Olamide Babatunde, ’23, an 1898 Scholarship recipient and one of this year’s UChicago Obama Scholars, shared, “I am so grateful to have received the 1898 Scholarship during my time at Chicago Booth. Philanthropy is a tool of empowerment in my eyes and a way for donors to embrace Booth’s key value of ‘paying it forward.’ I’m looking forward to doing the same once I join the alumni community at Booth.”

Annual Fund Progress

Bar graph showing a total of 12.53 million dollars raised by 7,657 donors in the 2021 to 2022 year
A bar graph showing total funds raised and donor amounts for various years. Totals are: 2020 to 2021: 12.94 million dollars, 7,935 donors. 2019 to 2020: 11.07 million dollars, 7,673 donors. 2018 to 2019: 10.74 million dollars, 8,167 donors. 2017 to 2018: 11.1 million dollars, 8,101 donors.

Events and Highlights

Alumni Communities

With more than 56,000 alumni living and leading in 120 countries, our alumni community extends around the globe and into every industry and function. This year, 7,701 unique attendees engaged in 449 Booth events—110 of which were organized by alumni communities and organizations. To more than 450 alumni volunteer leaders, we express our thanks for their efforts which are critical to keeping Booth’s worldwide network connected.

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Chicago Booth Women’s Network Leadership Summit at the new Rothman, ’77 London Campus

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Chicago Booth Alumni Club of South Florida members at an in-person event

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Chicago Booth Black Alumni Association Brunch during Reconnect 2023

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Starr Marcello, Deputy Dean for MBA Programs, joined a luncheon in Hong Kong with participants of the Rustandy Center’s Global Launchpad. The 12 participants, from eight NGOs, shared how they implement what they learned in the three-month training program.

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Julie Morton, Associate Dean of the Executive MBA Program, attended an alumnae breakfast held this June in Hong Kong. Jocelyn Hao, ’22 (AXP-21), Director, Regional Operations at Starbucks Asia Pacific, arranged an additional coffee experience session for alumnae participants.

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

The Booth Family Dinner series returned in person for the first time since 2019. This event series took place in five cities around the world—Chicago, Shanghai, London, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Twenty-three dinners successfully engaged 30 alumni hosts and 190 students.

Reconnect 2023

Alumni, friends, and community members gathered in Chicago for a weekend of reminiscing with classmates, learning from top business leaders and scholars, and celebrating Chicago Booth. Here are some key numbers from a fun-filled weekend together.

 

  • Nearly 3,100 reunion attendees exceeded participation of all previous Reconnect weekend celebrations.
  • 1,000+ attendees gathered to hear Management Conference’s keynote conversation with Satya Nadella, ’97, chairman and CEO of Microsoft.
  • 2,000+ Booth alumni, friends, and family members gathered to celebrate Booth’s 125th anniversary at Wrigley Field.
  • More than 1,900 reunion alumni participated in their class reunion campaigns, collectively raising nearly $10.5 million.
  • The class of 2008 set a new record for donor participation for a 15th reunion; the class of 1983 set a new record for donor participation for a 40th reunion.
Group of people smiling at an indoor event

Chicago Booth Black Alumni Association (CBAA) Brunch

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Chicago Booth Women’s (CBWN) Breakfast

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Leadership Reception at Wrigley Field

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Reconnect Happy Hour

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Reunion Class Dinner at Mindworks

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Class of 2022 Reception

Screenshot of attendees at a Zoom event

Class of 2003 photo at Wrigley Field

Stevens Doctoral Program’s 100th Anniversary Celebration

On May 12–13, we celebrated the Stevens Doctoral Program’s centennial milestone and reflected on the tremendous impact PhD faculty, students, and alumni have made on research and business education throughout the decades. In this spirit, we were excited to announce that notable entrepreneur and philanthropist Ross Stevens, PhD ’96, made a gift of $100 million to our program. Stevens spoke with conference attendees in a conversation moderated by Dean Madhav Rajan during the celebration’s gala dinner.

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

More than 50 faculty and alumni speakers gathered on May 12 for the two-day centennial celebration!

Global Booth Day

Alumni and students gathered across the globe on September 22, 2022, to celebrate their Booth pride and make Global Booth Day a great success! More than 1,100 Boothies joined together from over 40 countries for a day of networking and reconnecting with the Booth community.

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

Hong Kong

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

San Francisco

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

London

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

Chicago

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

Dallas–Fort Worth

Donor Day

In the season of thanks, on November 17, 2022, we took the day to specially recognize the more than 35,000 alumni donors who have given back to the school. As a part of this celebration, we asked some of our most dedicated alumni donors to share what they are thankful for.

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

“I feel very fortunate to have learned so much at Booth and I’m thankful for the community and friendships that I developed at Booth.”

Jerome Simmons, ’18

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

“I’m thankful for the incredible education and formation I experienced at Chicago Booth. My time there transformed me and the trajectory of my life. Chicago Booth taught me how to question, reason, investigate, assert, and challenge assumptions. More fundamentally, my time at Chicago Booth has meant I can—working with others—help change the world. I am incredibly grateful for all of it.”

Deborah J. Mitchell, MBA’85, PhD’91

Group of people smiling at an indoor event

“Booth is a great school in every aspect, great faculty and wonderful alumni. I am thankful to Booth for a great network of colleagues who are always helpful!”

Sukhvinder Singh, ’18 (XP-87)

Giving Day 2023

We set a very ambitious goal to reach 1,250 gifts in honor of Chicago Booth’s 125th Anniversary, and incredibly, alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends gave back and surpassed that goal on Giving Day!

total donors raised $862,055—Booth’s highest Giving Day participation to date!

donors live outside of the US—more than double compared to last Giving Day!

of this year's Giving Day donors also gave during the last Giving Day.

current Booth students and 113 staff and faculty participated in Giving Day.

Twitter post asking for donations for Giving Day

More than 180 students attended socials—hosted by the Annual Fund team—where they learned the importance of giving back to the school and promised their support on Giving Day.

People smiling in captains hats while saluting

Between classes at Harper Center and Gleacher Center, students chatted with staff and members of the Giving Day Student Committee to learn about the Chicago Booth Annual Fund and make their gifts.

Booth staff at a table at an event giving students information

Challenges helped maintain excitement and momentum from the moment Giving Day kicked off.

125th Anniversary Challenge

More than 25 leaders have each given $125,000 in celebration of Chicago Booth’s milestone. Their commitments match all 2023 gifts of $2,500 and more—and inspired participation from more than 1,250 donors on Giving Day 2023. 

This challenge will remain open throughout the anniversary year and close December 31, 2023. Track progress, view sponsors, and join the challenge at chicagobooth.edu/125-challenge.

 

Thank you for your continued support

Annual Fund Ways to Give

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Phone
You can make a gift over the phone at 1.800.955.0065

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Mail
The University of Chicago
Gift Administration and Business Data
5235 S. Harper Court
4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60615

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Securities & Wire Transfers
securitiesgifts@uchicago.edu

Contact

We strive to make sure all donors to Chicago Booth are appreciated and recognized correctly. For any update requests, please contact us directly at 773.702.7747 or theannualfund@chicagobooth.edu.

Advancement and Alumni Relations Leadership Team

First HIDDEN
Patricia Hill

Senior Director, US and Global Individual Giving
212.218.4283
patricia.hill@chicagobooth.edu

Lisa Miller

Senior Director, Operations, Communications, and Events
773.702.8525
lisa.miller@chicagobooth.edu

Adam Niermann

Senior Director, Leadership and Annual Giving
773.702.7571
adam.niermann@chicagobooth.edu

Alyson Schumacher

Senior Director, Advancement Services
773.702.7548
alyson.schumacher@chicagobooth.edu

Katie Tkach

Senior Director, US and Global Individual Giving
773.702.7259
katie.tkach@chicagobooth.edu

Annie White

Senior Director, Alumni Relations
773.702.9342
annie.white@chicagobooth.edu

If you have questions, call our team at 773.702.7747 or send an email to theannualfund@chicagobooth.edu.

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