Spirit of St. Louis: for Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton, growing the university cache means building cachet along the way.

When it comes to capital campaigns, most college and university presidents today wish their own were as successful as those launched by Washington University in St. Louis (MO). In fact, the university's last two back-to-back capital campaigns raised twice as much money as was originally sought: In the 1980s, the school's goal of $300 million actually brought in $630 million. And during the past few years of the most recent campaign, a $750 million target has already been met, and the bar has since been raised to $1.5 billion. The current campaign wraps up this year, but as of end of March 2004, Wash U's endowment has swelled to $4.1 billion, thanks, reportedly, to contributions from corporations Like Anheuser-Busch and Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

Yet when Chancellor Mark Wrighton, 54, came on board in 1995, the endowment was only $1.7 billion. Known for an intense but unassuming personal style, Wrighton began his academic career as a chemistry professor and researcher, and along the way garnered patents in the fields of molecular electronics and photoelectrochemistry. A former provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he is not a fundraiser by training, but has become one of higher education's most successful ones, nonetheless.

Though Wrighton has admitted he knew very little about Washington University in St. Louis before he was recruited for the top job, through his efforts and those of his staff, Washington University's academic strengths are now much better known. This year, the university ranks number nine (up from 20 in 1995) of U.S. News and World Report's Best National Universities-Doctoral--a spot that ties it with Dartmouth and is a prime indicator of the school's considerable research clout. Certainly, the heft of Wash U's endowment has gone a long way toward elevating the university to its current standing.

University Business: How did you grow your endowment 141 percent in nine years?

Wrighton: I was personally very fortunate in that the university was already undergoing a major planning exercise when I came on board. And planning proved very, very important, because in talking with potential donors, it wasn't Mark Wrighton conveying ideas. The board, a wide range of people, and I were presenting a development plan. Of course, the stock market gains of four years ago also helped to build the endowment. Washington University's investments, though, are managed by a separate team that answers to the stewardship of the Board of Trustees. I can't take credit for any of those investment decisions.

How was the growth plan created?

Each of Washington's eight schools developed its own plan under the guidance of what we called their National Councils. These councils worked with the academic leadership, faculty, and deans, and outlined goals and developed a plan for growth. This was done in the medical school, the business school, and the others. In all, 350 people were involved in the process. Each of these plans outlined how the schools could identify major opportunities and advance themselves, and therefore the university. We had three simply stated objectives: to attract and retain the most outstanding faculty; to recruit the most talented students and provide for them the best setting possible; and to identify areas where we could be in a leadership role in intellectual activity.

This process was underway when I arrived in 1995. One of the things you should do if you want to have a successful chancellorship is choose your predecessor carefully, and I was very fortunate in that Bill Danforth, my predecessor, encouraged the development of the councils.

Eventually, all of these plans became one Comprehensive Plan, which became our vision for the future. After the plan was approved, we executed a fundraising campaign. We went to major prospects with a welt-considered agenda. That inspired their confidence in us.

How did you segue from developing the plan, to raising the money to support it? In some cases, we focused on particular goals. One of the major initiatives in the School of Business was to develop executive education. The campaign included an effort to build an Executive Education Center. We approached Charles F. Knight, who was chairman and chief executive of Emerson [Electric Co.], with the idea. He, along with Emerson, made the lead gift--$15 million--that made our Executive Education Center possible. That center was completed in 2001.

In addition, we've expanded our business school faculty. In the course of our fundraising campaign, we created more than 140 new endowed professorships. Just to put this in perspective, up to that point, through the course of the university's 150-year history, I think we had 138 endowed professorships.

The lead initiative in the School of Engineering and Applied Science was to expand biomedical engineering. The message there was to raise the money needed to recruit outstanding people and get the resources to develop facilities. We secured financial commitments to help construct a building and recruit a founding chair, while creating a number of endowed professorships. That was a $45 million project.

And we launched a campaign in the School of Medicine to build a cancer center to strengthen our focus on cancer research, patient care, prevention, and education. This is a partnership between us and other healthcare systems in St. Louis.

The Siteman Cancer Center has been a flagship activity in connection with the School of Medicine's aspiration to become even stronger. We have developed much community support around the development of it, and in the course of our cooperative campaign in partnership with the city's other medical centers, we've secured over $120 million.

In the course of the campaign we've completed, I believe, 25 new buildings.

I mention these specifics because sometimes people who aren't familiar with the process say, "I see you're trying to raise a lot of money. When you get it, what will you do?" Some people believe that Mark Wrighton has a war chest of money sitting in his office, waiting to be deployed when a good thing comes along. In point of fact, we developed resources to build facilities.

What role did alumni giving play?

We created a number of alumni efforts. To do so, we expanded our development staff and recruited really great people who understood the mission of the university. They have become ambassadors for the university and for the individual schools.

We've focused on major urban areas where large numbers of alumni are employed and where we have been recruiting substantial numbers of students. Some of the areas we've focused on are Seattle, northern and southern California, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Miami, the Gold Coast of Florida, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, Phoenix, and certainty in St. Louis.

What are you doing abroad?

About the time we formed the National Councils we formed the International Advisory Council for Asia and drew together parents of students, alumni, and friends of the university. These groups are based in Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Singapore. We hold leadership meetings in the major Asian capitals, to which we travel two times per year. The effort has helped tilt our visibility in a growing and important part of the world. Two-thirds of our international students are from Asia, and international students represent 10 to 12 percent of our total student body.

In addition to being known for our medical school we are a very large research institution. The School of Medicine probably has research expenditures of about $400 million, and a lot of the researchers are in positions that are post-doctoral or research staff--people who spend a few years here. They're not really alumni, but they will have had a great experience. These people remain friends of the university and help build relationships wherever they find themselves--in Asia or the U.S.

How has the endowment impacted yield? We've been able to strengthen our applicant pool, and have about 15 times more applicants than we can enroll--probably about two-and-a-half times more applicants than we had a decade ago.

What prepared you for this phase of your career?

I worked at MIT for 23 years before joining Washington University, and for the first 15 years of my career there, I was a full-time faculty member. After 15 years, I was selected to be the head of the chemistry department, which I did for three years. But when MIT chose a new president, I was drawn into the central administration to become provost. That proved to be excellent preparation for the kind of job I have now. I was involved in fundraising as a department head and then provost, and could see the difference that securing new endowments could make in strengthening an institution.

What was it like to switch from the life of an academic, to one in which you directly ask for money?

The actual asking for money takes up a small fraction of time. What you really need to do is work hard to develop a good initiative, and then develop relationships with people who have an interest in helping you execute those plans. The resource development part of it is the fuel that keeps this enterprise flourishing.