Alumnus, business leader to kick off Purdue lecture series
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University alumnus who is co-president of a private equity firm that has raised $22 billion and invested in more than 100 businesses will visit campus Thursday (Feb. 2) to talk about leadership.
Scott Sperling, a 1979 Purdue graduate and former student government president, will be the inaugural speaker in the Keith Krach Leadership Lecture Series, which takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Stewart Center's Fowler Hall. His talk, which is primarily geared toward students, is free and open to the public.
The event will kick off with opening remarks from Keith Krach, Purdue alumnus and chair of the university's Board of Trustees, who will speak on his views of leadership. Sperling's keynote talk will be followed by an informal reception to provide an opportunity for people to meet and ask questions of Sperling and Krach.
"Every significant accomplishment and transformative change in our world is driven by people with the ability to lead," Krach said. "The goal of this series is to provide students access to people with unique insight into the qualities of leadership in its many forms. Scott Sperling, who has possessed and utilized those qualities from the time he was a student at Purdue, is a great person to launch this series."
Through a 2009 gift from the Krach Family Foundation, Krach created an endowment to fund student leadership scholarships and the speaker series. Over the past two academic years, a total of 12 students have been awarded the scholarship, which is aimed at developing recipients' leadership potential.
Harry Brown, assistant dean of students and lecture organizer, said the series plays a key role in university leadership initiatives coordinated by the vice president for student affairs and the dean of students.
"The lecture series is meant to be a special event that will have a real impact on students," Brown said. "Hearing from Keith Krach and Scott Sperling will show them what they can achieve in the real world if they develop their leadership potential."
Sperling is co-president of Thomas H. Lee Partners and trustee and general partner of various Thomas H. Lee Partners equity funds. Over the past 30 years, he has been a director of numerous companies, including Fisher Scientific, Experian, PriCellular, Houghton Mifflin, The Learning Company and ProSeiben Sat1. Sperling is currently a director of Clear Channel Communications, Thermo Fisher Corp., Warner Music Group and several private companies. He also was previously managing partner of the private capital affiliate of Harvard Management Co. and senior consultant and case leader with the Boston Consulting Group.
Sperling earned a bachelor's degree from the Krannert School of Management and his MBA from Harvard University. During his time at Purdue, he was involved in several student organizations, including Sigma Chi fraternity, Mortar Board, Gimlet and Iron Key, and was president and vice president of Purdue Student Government.
Krach was appointed to the Purdue Board of Trustees in 2007 and was elected chairman by his fellow trustees in 2009. He is chairman and CEO of DocuSign and chairman of the board of Angie's List.
He earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Purdue in 1979 and an MBA from Harvard in 1981. He then worked at GM's Cadillac Division, the New York Treasurer's Office and GM's technical center before being named as GM's youngest-ever vice president at 26.
After 10 years with GM, Krach joined the founding team of Rasna Corp. as chief operating officer and went on to become the first entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Capital. In 1996 he co-founded Ariba and served as CEO and chairman of the board for seven years.
The Keith Krach Endowed Leadership Scholarship supports Purdue's $304 million Access and Success campaign and is part of the Presidential and Trustees Scholarship Challenge aimed at attracting high-achieving high school students to Purdue.
Writer: Brian Zink, 765-494-2080, bzink@purdue.edu
Source: Harry Brown, 765-496-2450, hebrown@purdue.edu