The USC Marshall School of Business Entrepreneurship & Venture Management Association (EVMA) recently established the Lloyd Greif Award, which will further the school’s mission while honoring one of its most successful alum.
Lloyd Greif earned his MBA from USC Marshall in 1979, and his is a classic American entrepreneurial success story.
Greif studied undergraduate business, economics and architecture at USC, and then earned his law degree from Loyola. Entering USC with a Food Industry Management scholarship, he worked full-time for Ralph’s Grocery Company. He found the time to take classes from USC’s fledgling entrepreneurship center, where he was inspired to advance beyond the possibilities of his current career. When told that he would not be able to advance beyond the position of Vice President at Ralph’s unless he climbed the ladder for two more years, Greif decided to resign for bigger and better things. He joined investment banking company Sutro & Co., and after a successful and lucrative tenure there, he launched Greif & Co.
In 1997, Greif and Professor Tom O’Malia formed the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Marshall, which is at the forefront of centers of its kind, with a high profile speaker series along with pitch competitions and classes.
EVMA president Chelsea Graf MBA ’16 said, “The entrepreneurial eco-system at USC is rooted at the Greif Center. [The Greif Award] … will in future years enable student entrepreneurs to be similarly fearless in pursuit of their goals.”