The boldest transformation of a business school in the US, if not the world, started over a couple salads at a Champaign restaurant. When Dean Jeff Brown and alumnus Larry Gies first met five years ago, the two quickly found they shared audacious dreams about the future of the College.

“I explained the impact a significant gift could bring in areas like expanding access, growing our faculty, and investing in innovation – and Larry was all in,” Brown recalled.