Garbers Lend Further Support To Farrell Center Venture Capital Fund
Garbers Lend Further Support to Farrell Center Venture Capital Fund
Garbers Lend Further Support To Farrell Center Venture Capital Fund
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (May 24, 2004) – Penn State alumnus John Garber and his wife, Bette, have added $500,000 of further support to the Garber Venture Capital Fund, an initiative of the Smeal College of Business’ Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The Garbers have given a total of $2.8 million to the fund named in their honor.
Established in 1999, the Garber Fund is actively managed by Smeal MBA students enrolled in the college’s venture capital practicum course. Under the guidance of Anthony Warren, director of the Farrell Center and the Michael J. Farrell Clinical Chair of Entrepreneurship, students research investment opportunities, determine valuation, and vote as a group on whether to invest funds in selected companies.
Since its founding, the Garber Fund has been used to invest in Alphasource Procurement Systems LLP, a Pittsburgh company offering purchasing outsource services to middle market companies, and in Schoolwires, a State College firm that develops web-hosting applications to enable schools to tailor, manage, and control their Internet sites.
“The educational vision and continued support of John and Bette Garber have enabled a remarkably creative opportunity for students in the Smeal College to put to practice what they learn,” said Dean Judy Olian. “Their continuing generosity will afford us the opportunity to enlarge the scale of this unique fund and the experience for our students.”
John Garber graduated from Penn State in 1940 with a B.S. in chemistry. He also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Garber retired in 1976 as corporate manager of industrial research and development for CPC International. During his career, he was also a research chemist with Standard Oil Development, E.M. Wanderman, Merck, and American Cyanamid.
“Bette and I have long enjoyed our relationship with Penn State and the Smeal College,” John Garber said. “The work of the students who’ve managed the fund has been terrific and we look forward to remaining engaged with the college.”
The Garbers live in Palm Desert and Carlsbad, Calif., and are members of the Laurel Circle of the Mount Nittany Society.
REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Wyatt DuBois in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or wed112@psu.edu.
Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, marketing, insurance and real estate, management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the Center for Digital Transformation, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.
