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The 30 Most Successful UPenn Alumni Of All Time

Donald and Ivanka Trump
Donald and Ivanka Trump

Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesBoth Donald and Ivanka Trump are UPenn alumni.

Founded by Benjamin Franklin, the University of Pennsylvania remains among the top colleges in the world.

The Philadelphia Ivy has produced 25 billionaires — more than any other school in the world — as well as a number of CEOs, politicians, and actors.

From billionaire Warren Buffett to “Hunger Games” actress Elizabeth Banks, these are UPenn’s most successful alumni.

American civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred earned her Bachelor of Arts in English at UPenn in the early 1960s. Her senior honors thesis on Armenian writers opened the door to her civil rights work.

Source: Gloria Allred.com

Indian business magnate Anil Ambani got his MBA from UPenn’s Wharton School of Business in 1983. The former Reliance Group CEO was the first recipient of the Wharton Indian Alumni Award and serves on Wharton’s Board of Overseers.

Source: Wharton Alumni Magazine

In the early ’90s Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk was offered a full scholarship to the Wharton School of Business. Musk completed bachelor degrees in economics and physics.

Source: Evan Carmichael, Wharton

“Hunger Games” actress Elizabeth Banks graduated in 1996 magna cum laude. She met her husband at school, and was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. Banks was a big fan of the on-campus a capella group Penn Six-5000.

Source: The Daily Pennsylvanian, Business Insider

Chief Justice William J. Brennan Jr. changed the Supreme Court’s approach to individual and civil rights under the Constitution. Brennan was a member of UPenn’s Delta Tau Delta fraternity and graduated with a degree in economics in 1928.

Source: Wharton Alumni Magazine

Warren Buffett spent two of his undergraduate years at the Wharton School of Business before finishing his degree in Nebraska in 1951. The billionaire Berkshire Hathaway CEO was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity at UPenn.

Source: Biography.com, Fortune

UPenn was Tory Burch’s first choice college when she applied. The billionaire fashion designer majored in art history, and helped found the school’s Kappa Alpha Theta chapter. Before graduating in 1988 Burch studied abroad at sea.

Source: UPenn Gazette

Two-time Academy Award nominee Bruce Dern attended UPenn in 1954, following in his father’s and brother’s footsteps, but dropped out to pursue his acting career. “If you want to be an actor, you can’t learn how to act in college,” he’d said.

Source: The Daily Pennsylvanian

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan earned her BA in 1985. As an undergraduate she dated Steve Jobs, who installed a Macintosh computer in her dorm. Egan was recently honored at UPenn’s 78th Annual Alumni Award of Merit Gala.

Source: The University of Pennsylvania, The Guardian

Warby Parker co-CEOs Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal came up with the idea for their $500 million glasses company at a Penn bar. The 2010 Wharton graduates met their two other cofounders, Jeffrey Raider and Andrew Hunt, at Wharton as well.

Source: Penn Gazette, Forbes

Former MetLife CEO Rob Henrikson earned his BA at UPenn in 1969 and later graduated from Wharton’s Advanced Management Program. He stays involved as the chairman of the board of Wharton’s S.S. Huebner Foundation.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

The chairman emeritus of Estée Lauder, Leonard Lauder, and his brother both attended UPenn in the ’50s. Together they co-founded the school’s Joseph H. Lauder Institute to provide business students with an interdisciplinary education.

Source: Wharton Alumni Magazine

Soulful crooner John Legend was John Stephens to his UPenn friends. The nine-time Grammy winner was the president of the jazz a capella group. The 1999 graduate delivered the commencement speech at his alma mater in May.

Source: The University of Pennsylvania

Ben Lerer founded Thrillist Media Group two years after graduating from UPenn, and now serves as the CEO. While at school, the 2003 graduate was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.

Source: Business Insider, Inc.

Marc Lore earned his MBA from the Wharton School of Business in 2007. He has since gone on to found Quidsi, which he sold to Amazon for $545 million, and is currently the CEO of the e-commerce site Jet.

Source: Business Insider, Business Week, Tech Crunch

NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell has been a journalist since her UPenn days, when she was the news director for student radio station WXPN. The English lit major, who graduated in ’67, is now a trustee of the school.

Source: Wharton News, UPenn

David Montgomery was a Phillies fan and regularly attended games while at UPenn, and is now CEO, general partner, president, and co-owner of the team. A history major and Phi Sigma Kappa as an undergrad, he returned for an MBA in 1968.

Source: Penn Gazette, Business Insider

Doctor Mehmet Oz earned his dual medical and business degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986. While in medical school, Dr. Oz served as the student body president. He now hosts the daily “Dr. Oz Show.”

Source: Wharton News, UPenn

William S. Paley graduated from Wharton in the ’20s. His family bought a failing radio network as an advertising opportunity for their cigar company, and within a year Paley secured majority ownership of the network, which later became CBS.

Source: The Wharton School

Michelle Peluso chose to attend Wharton because she could pursue her interest in business while still having a rounded liberal arts education. She earned her BA in ’93 and went on to serve as the CEO of Travelocity before taking over as the CEO of Gilt in 2013.

Source: Wharton, Gilt

Theatrical producer Harold Prince, ’42, graduated from UPenn in just three years. With 21 awards, he went on to become the most decorated Tony Award winner in history. The university honored his achievements by naming a theater after him.

Source: The New York Times

Brian L. Roberts earned his degree from the Wharton School in 1981, was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity, and was an All-American squash player. After graduating he worked for his father’s company, Comcast, and at 31 took over as CEO.

Source: Business Insider

After earning his MBA from Wharton in 1963, John Sculley went on to serve as the CEO of Pepsi Co. and Apple. He credits Wharton professor Wroe Alderson as a significant business influence.

Source: Wharton Alumni Magazine

 

David Tisch is the co-founder of Spring, Techstars, and is in an angel investor through the BoxGroup. The ’03 UPenn alum was president of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

Source: David Tisch, Business Insider

Donald Trump, ’68, started at Fordham University but transferred to Wharton after two years. “I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best,” Trump said in his book “Trump: The Art of the Deal.”

Source: The Art of the Deal

 

Following in her father’s footsteps, Ivanka Trump transferred to Wharton in her junior year of college and graduated in ’04. The businesswoman, writer, heiress, and former model graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in economics.

Source: Gawker

Former NFL Commissioner Bert Bell was an English major at UPenn, but never finished his degree. While there he was a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, and played quarterback for the football team during the 1917 Rose Bowl. Bell coached UPenn’s football team in the early ’20s before joining the NFL.

Source: Penn Athletics

Invite Media and Flatiron Health founder and CEO Nat Turner spent his time at Wharton taking entrepreneurship classes. In 2007, the summer before his senior year, Turner was awarded one of five Wharton Venture Awards, which allows students to start developing their own businesses.

Source: Wharton 

Las Vegas hotel magnate Stephen “Steve” Wynn studied cultural anthropology and English literature before graduating in 1963. The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity brother is now the chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts Limited.

Source: Business Insider, Forbes

Mortimer Zuckerman graduated from the Wharton School in 1963. He co-founded real estate investment trust Boston Properties, and now owns The New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, where he serves as editor-in-chief.

Source: Wharton Alumni Magazine

Now meet some successful grads from another Ivy.

The 22 Most Successful Yale Alumni Of All Time »

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