Business and entrepreneurship are at the heart of the Kogod School of Business—from a world-class curriculum that prepares students for impactful careers to a culture of innovation that inspires the next generation of entrepreneurs.
It is therefore fitting that the first-ever name enshrined in the school’s new Hall of Fame would embody both pillars: someone who spent decades developing one of the most successful businesses in the Washington, DC region, while never losing the sparks of innovation that makes a change-driven entrepreneur tick … a man whose place has long been cemented in the school’s history as its namesake.
On Saturday, January 20, distinguished alumni and guests joined Kogod Dean David Marchick, AU President Sylvia Burwell, and faculty leaders at a ceremony inducting Robert P. Kogod as the inaugural member of the Kogod School of Business Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame, which honors the entrepreneurial spirit and strategic innovation that the school has fostered for decades, was established by Kogod alumnus Gary Veloric and his family, whose recent gift renamed the Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship, an on-campus center fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at AU. TThe Hall of Fame will recognize alumni with profound ties to the university whose achievements in the fields of business and entrepreneurship stand as examples for future generations.
That Mr. Kogod so clearly fit the mold to be the first-ever inductee was, in a word, “overwhelming,” he said, speaking to the audience at the induction ceremony at AU’s Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center on campus.