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Gift to fund endowed professorship
H. William Lichtenberger has made a $1 million gift to the School of Management to establish an endowed professorship.
The H. William Lichtenberger Professor of Global Services and Supply Management was created to help the School of Management attract and retain top talent and build its Global Services and Supply Management program.
“This generous gift will help us to build a world-class program designed to train managers for a 21st century that is increasingly defined by the global dispersion of information, services and business processes,” said Arjang A. Assad, dean of the School of Management. “The Lichtenberger professorship also will provide the faculty leadership we need to conduct cutting-edge research and teach in this exciting area of management practice.”
Lichtenberger made the gift in recognition of the leadership of the school’s former dean, John M. Thomas.
“I am honored and extremely grateful to Bill for his gift to the school,” said Thomas, who now serves as a professor in the school and director of the School of Management HSBC Center for Global Business Leadership.
Lichtenberger earned his MBA from the School of Management in 1966. While studying at UB, he divided his time between school and the roles of husband, father and full-time chemical engineer.
He worked his way up the corporate ladder at the former Union Carbide Co. and in 1992 was named chairman and CEO of Union Carbide spinoff, Praxair, one of the world’s largest industrial gas companies.
At the height of his career, Forbes ranked Lichtenberger as one of the top dozen most powerful executives in the U.S. chemicals industry and one of the most powerful chief executives in all of corporate America.
A strong believer that industry and education should be partners, Lichtenberger played a key role in helping to develop the School of Management’s Executive MBA program in China, helping to advance Chinese knowledge of Western business practices.
Lichtenberger retired from Praxair in 2000. He has served in the past as a member of the Business Roundtable, a director of the National Association of Manufacturers and a member of the board of the Chemical Manufacturers Association. He currently serves on the boards of Huntsman Corporation and Ingersoll-Rand and is chairman of Treasure Coast Hospice, headquartered in Stuart, Fla.
In 2001, Lichtenberger was awarded an honorary doctorate from SUNY.
The H. William Lichtenberger Lecture Hall in the Alfiero Center is named in honor of a prior gift to the school, which he made in recognition of the School of Management’s contribution to his career success.
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