International real estate executive William J. McMorrow has donated a significant gift that will help to establish and endow a program in global real estate at the University of Southern California and the Marshall School of Business at USC.
The William J. McMorrow Global Real Estate Program will represent cutting-edge scholarship, preparing students for leadership in an interconnected global marketplace.
McMorrow is chairman and CEO of the successful international real estate investment and services firm, Kennedy Wilson. The company is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California and has 24 offices, 400 corporate employees and 2000 operating employees.
“We are profoundly grateful that someone with William McMorrow’s stature and expertise in real estate has chosen to put his name on this endeavor,” said Al Checcio, USC Senior Vice President for University Advancement. “We are thrilled to call Bill a partner and a friend, and we know his involvement augurs a world-class program.”
The gift is part of the Campaign for the University of Southern California. The campaign is a multi-year effort to secure $6 billion or more in private support from individual donors, foundations, and corporations. At the time of its launch, the campaign had the largest fundraising goal ever announced in higher education. As of November 2013, the campaign had already raised $3 billion, or more than half of its goal.
“The William J. McMorrow Global Real Estate Program will be a vital forum for thought leadership that attracts prominent faculty and trains the next generation of visionaries in the field,” said USC Marshall Dean James G. Ellis. “The gift is a natural fit for a university so rooted in Southern California, which has always been a hub of real estate innovation.”