Purdue University has received a $5 million gift for its business analytics center to leverage additional support by corporate partners for its consulting services.
The gift was donated by alumnus John Krenicki Jr., a senior operating partner with the private equity investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and his wife, Donna, under the university’s Ever True campaign to the Business and Information Analytics Center in the Krannert School of Management.
The university will rename the center as the “John and Donna Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning” pending Board of Trustees approval.
The center currently conducts research, student-led consulting projects, conferences, and competitions and seeks answers to data-driven business challenges. Officials say the center has supplied solutions to problems in manufacturing, health care, and telecommunications.
“Data is a strategic asset in any organization. Those with significant investments in acquiring, managing and analyzing data to enhance decision making hold a competitive advantage,” David Hummels, the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School, said.
“The Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning plays a large role in giving companies that edge, while providing a pipeline of future talent for their companies.”
John Krenicki cited Purdue’s strength as a premier data-driven business school and STEM research institute as a reason to make the gift.
“We are proud of the Purdue team and excited about the center’s future,” he said.
In the past, the Krenickis have donated to various initiatives taken by the university including the John and Donna Krenicki Directorship of the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, the Krenicki Family Directorship in Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease, and the John and Donna Krenicki Chair in Operations Management in the Krannert School.
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