Wisconsin wins more national attention for producing CEOs

Wisconsin continues to gain national attention as a training ground for top CEOs. The latest round of media coverage comes courtesy of BusinessWeek magazine.

An article in the Feb. 27,2006 issue, complete with a large photo of Bucky Badger, says UW–Madison tied for first place with Harvard in terms of producing CEOs who head Standard & Poors 500 Index companies.

The BusinessWeek article was based on the results of a 2005 survey by executive recruiter Spencer Stuart.

As the BusinessWeek article puts it: “Today’s CEOs are less likely than predecessors to be company loyalists or military veterans, says the latest census by recruitment outfit Spencer Stuart. They’re also more apt to know the words to If You Want to Be a Badger.”

Spencer Stuart’s “Route to the Top” survey, found that Wisconsin and Harvard each produced 14 CEOs at S&P 500 companies from their undergraduate alumni. The Spencer Stuart finding was in line with research published in the September 2004 issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine.

More than 1,050 UW–Madison alumni serve as a CEO of companies and other organizations of all sizes, and nearly 16,000 hold an executive management position.

Why do Wisconsin alumni seem apt to rise to the role of leader? “Lots of schools talk about leadership,” says Michael M. Knetter, dean of the UW–Madison School of Business, “Wisconsin graduates are doing it.”

According to Knetter, “One important reason is that the university has great inputs. Although it draws students from all over the world, many of our students come from in state and Wisconsin’s K-12 education system is consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation.

“Students who end up at the University of Wisconsin are extremely qualified,” Knetter says, “and once they arrive on campus, they are exposed to an atmosphere that stimulates and challenges them. Our socioeconomic diversity exposes students to a broad spectrum of people, which builds good leadership skills. In addition, our strong research tradition creates a culture that encourages exploration and effective problem-solving skills. These are the sorts of experiences that help generate leaders.”