2014 Service to Society Award

Robert Faris, ’60 Chemistry, is Founder and Chairman of Enterprise Investors, one of the largest private equity investment companies managing funds in Eastern Europe. The company rose from Bob’s earlier leadership of a foreign assistance program that helped transform Poland’s economy. For that success, Bob received several honors including Poland’s Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit. Previously, he had been a pioneer in global private equity and venture capital industries.

Bob and his wife, Ruth, are volunteers with community organizations, such as the Center for the Protection of Children, Inc. In the College of the Liberal Arts, they endowed a fund in the Child Study Center, a graduate endowment in honor of Dean Susan Welch, a Trustee Scholarship, and graduate support funds.

Global private equity and venture capital industries