Michael and Allison Rees have committed $25 million to Vanderbilt University to establish the Vanderbilt Undergraduate Center for Finance, creating a new academic and career-development hub for students pursuing finance careers.
The center will be anchored at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.
The university plans to integrate finance education, career advising, industry engagement and experiential learning to help undergraduate students prepare earlier for increasingly competitive finance recruiting timelines.
The Rees family’s $25 million commitment serves as the lead gift toward Vanderbilt’s goal of raising $50 million for the center.
The university is seeking an additional $25 million from other donors to fully develop the initiative.
The new center will expand on programs including Vandy 2 Wall Street, an existing Vanderbilt Career Center initiative that connects students with alumni, employers and finance-related career preparation.
Vanderbilt plans to introduce finance coursework and programming for first- and second-year students so they can develop foundational skills before internship recruiting accelerates.
The university also plans to add faculty and staff focused specifically on undergraduate finance education.
Initial plans include a professor of the practice at Owen dedicated to undergraduate finance.
The center will expand career advising through staff with finance expertise, including advisers based in New York City.
Those advisers will strengthen relationships with financial institutions, support internship and full-time placement opportunities and deepen connections among Vanderbilt students, alumni and employers.
The center will also offer an undergraduate finance career seminar covering industry knowledge, networking, interviewing, professional development and other career-readiness skills.
Michael Rees is co-president of Blue Owl Capital, serves on its board and leads its GP Strategic Capital platform. He previously founded Dyal Capital, the predecessor to Blue Owl’s GP Strategic Capital business.
Allison Rees is a former sales and marketing executive at Bloomberg and serves on the Board of Trustees of the New Canaan Library.
KEY QUOTES:
“Finance plays a consequential role in shaping businesses, markets and economies, and Vanderbilt has an important role to play in preparing the next generation of leaders in the field. This extraordinary gift will give our students the rigorous education, practical experience and early preparation they need to succeed in finance—and, over the course of their careers, to help shape its future.”
Daniel Diermeier, Chancellor of Vanderbilt University
“Vanderbilt has extraordinary students with the talent and drive to compete for the most coveted careers in finance. We hope to accelerate their academic journey and practical preparation for these top careers. We encourage others who share that vision to join us in making it a reality.”
Michael and Allison Rees
“The Center for Finance reflects Vanderbilt’s commitment to creating an undergraduate experience that connects rigorous academic learning with connectivity to the leading financial organizations on Wall Street and beyond. By bringing together faculty expertise, career preparation and the growing opportunities created by Vanderbilt’s presence in New York, we can give students an even stronger foundation for pursuing careers in finance and contributing to the field.”
C. Cybele Raver, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Vanderbilt University
“This gift allows us to build something distinctive: a cohesive undergraduate finance experience that blends academic rigor with real-world relevance. By strengthening faculty capacity and creating a clear pathway for students, the Center for Finance will help Vanderbilt undergraduates compete for the most coveted roles on Wall Street and beyond, while deepening the university’s connections to leaders across the industry.”
Tom Steenburgh, Ralph Owen Dean
“The Center for Finance will create a more integrated path from classroom to career, one that reflects how students learn, prepare and succeed. With dedicated advisers and stronger and more expansive ties to the New York market, we will deliver more tailored advising, earlier preparation and deeper employer and alumni engagement to help students translate their Vanderbilt education into exceptional opportunities.”
Everette Fortner, Vice Provost for Career Advancement and Engagement and Evans Family Executive Director of the Career Center
