SAN ANTONIO -- Valero Energy Corp. Chairman and CEO Bill Greehey and St. Mary's University officials have created the Bill Greehey School of Business, endowed with a $25 million cash donation, the largest single gift in St. Mary's history. It will enhance recruitment of top business students from around the nation and attract internationally known professors, they said.
As reported in CSP Daily News, Greehey announced in late October that he would resign as CEO at year's end, but continue as chairman. [Watch for the January issue of CSP magazine for [image-nocss] a close-up look at Greehey's influence at Valero and the company's future as he plans for retirement.]
This endowment will put St. Mary's business school on the path to becoming one of the top schools in the country, Greehey said. But more importantly, it will help us develop future business leaders who are committed to excellence, to doing what's right and to giving back to their communitiesall of the qualities that have created Valero's special corporate culture. Of all of the accomplishments in my career, the achievement that I am most proud of is this special culture which has made Valero the success it is today. So I hope that the business students who attend this school will be inspired to embrace this culture and really take it to heart as they pursue their own careers in the coming years.
The endowment will help the school attract and retain top faculty by creating research stipends for collaborations with companies on business projects, and by tripling annual professional development funding. It will help recruit the country's best business students by aggressively seeking them out locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Bill Greehey's leadership and vision will help the business school immediately achieve national premier status and inspire future generations of students to lead by example, said St. Mary's University President Charles L. Cotrell. Because this unprecedented gift was given in cash, rather than in the form of a pledge, it demonstrates Bill's commitment to quickly enhancing the school's quality and service to society, and will transform the lives and futures of our business school graduates.
Greehey has a long history of giving to St. Mary's, his alma mater, and his latest gift is expected to propel the School of Business forward so that it can become one of the country's best business schools.
We are honored and grateful to have Bill Greehey directly involved in our mission to educate tomorrow's business leaders, said Business School Dean Keith Russell. This represents a quantum leap forward in quality.
Opportunities for students and faculty to share their expertise with the community will be of special interest to the business school. Throughout his career, Greehey has made community service a top priority, making Valero a national leader in contributing to United Way, volunteering for worthy community projects and giving back to the communities in which it has operations. The Bill Greehey School of Business will reflect that by creating and enhancing programs in line with Greehey's personal philosophy of giving back and St. Mary's Marianist mission of service to others.
Enhancements to the school will begin taking place immediately, and many programs will be in place for incoming students this fall.
Greehey attended St. Mary's for two years. After serving in the Air Force and taking some courses at a community college, he enrolled at St. Mary's as an accounting student in 1959 and graduated with honors in 1960.
Greehey was instrumental in the funding of the Alumni Athletics & Convocation Center, which was subsequently named in his honor, as well as the Gateway to Historic St. Mary's University project and the modernization of St. Louis Hall. In honor of Greehey's 40th anniversary with Valero, the Bill Greehey Chair for Business Ethics & Corporate Responsibility was established at St. Mary's with contributions from Valero's employees, retirees, board members as well as from Greehey himself.
As a result of his commitment to the university, he has been honored as the business school's Distinguished Graduate and recipient of the George B. Kohnen Award, named for the Marianist brother who was Greehey's mentor. Greehey has received the university's Distinguished Alumnus Award and has twice served on St. Mary's Board of Trustees. The university awarded Greehey an honorary Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa degree in 1998, and his most recent gift to the university ensures that his legacy of giving back to the community will endure at St. Mary's.
I owe a lot to the Marianists, particularly to Brother Kohnen, who took me under his wing, Greehey said. He took me in when I didn't have anything. He arranged for my student loans and made sure I was always headed down the right path. If it weren't for him and others at St. Mary's, I never would have enjoyed the success I have. And one of the things I learned from him was that you're never a success until you share your success with others.
With his $25 million endowment of the Bill Greehey School of Business, Greehey has ensured that St. Mary's will be able to attract top business talent in an increasingly competitive environment. The gift will spur qualitative improvements that concentrate on three priorities: students, faculty and infrastructure. The school has set goals to significantly increase the average ACT and SAT test scores among undergraduates within five years, and will establish programs to partner students with San Antonio's growing business community to give them real-world experience. And the school will strive for national excellence by developing programs for faculty research and collaboration.
The endowment also provides for the addition of state-of-the-art technology to prepare students for the rigors and expectations of the business world.
St. Mary's University, founded in 1852 by Marianist (Society of Mary) brothers and priests, is the oldest university in San Antonio, and the oldest Catholic university in Texas and the Southwest. For many years, it has ranked in U.S. News & World Report's first tier among America's Best Colleges in the West for academic quality and value, ranking No. 3 in this year's annual survey for best value. A recent report by The Education Trust places St. Mary's in the top 10 for high graduation rates among public and private colleges in Texas.
Valero owns and operates 18 refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, as well as more than 5,000 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under flags including Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Ultramar, Shamrock and Beacon.
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