Clockwise from top left: Karthik Kannan, the Thomas J. Howatt Chair in Management and director of the Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning; David Hummels, the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School; Purdue benefactors John and Donna Krenicki. (Photo by Rebecca Wilcox)
Bigger Data
Multimillion-dollar gift supports Purdue’s business analytics leadership
Fall 2019
By Joe Paul
Alumnus John Krenicki Jr. and his wife, Donna, recently made a $5 million gift to a business information and analytics center in the Krannert School of Management that will support Purdue’s continued leadership in applying big data research to address real-world business challenges.
The renamed John and Donna Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning, which was approved by the Board of Trustees in June, conducts research, student-led consulting projects, conferences and competitions.
The gift from the Krenickis will be used to leverage additional support by corporate partners for the consulting services of the center, eventually providing a $10 million initiative.
“Our center connects businesses with Purdue researchers to find answers to data-driven business challenges,” says Karthik Kannan, the Thomas J. Howatt Chair in Management and director of the center. “We team faculty and graduate students from science, engineering, agriculture and management to utilize business data analytics to solve deep specialized problems.
“We are grateful to John and Donna for their support of the center, and we look forward to continuing our work in this important area.”
David Hummels, the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School, says the center already has supplied answers to problems in manufacturing, health care and telecommunications, and is expanding rapidly to influence and assist a broad range of companies.
“We thank the Krenickis for their support of a center that is vital to our mission,” Hummels says. “All areas of Krannert have a strong interest in data-centric work.
“Data is a strategic asset in any organization. Those with significant investments in acquiring, managing and analyzing data to enhance decision-making hold a competitive advantage. The Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning plays a large role in giving companies that edge, while providing a pipeline of future talent for their companies.”
John Krenicki, a senior operating partner in the private equity investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1984 and an honorary doctorate in 2007. He received a master’s degree in management from Krannert Executive Education Programs in 1991 and was named a Krannert distinguished alumnus in 2013.
Before joining Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, John Krenicki spent 29 years at General Electric Co., where he was a former vice chairman of GE and former president and CEO of GE Energy.
Donna Krenicki earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1984 and has served on the UConn Foundation Board of Directors. Their son, Michael Krenicki, is a 2019 Krannert MBA graduate who recently joined NextEra Energy as a sourcing specialist.
The couple has made numerous major gifts to Purdue, including funding for the John and Donna Krenicki Chair in Operations Management in the Krannert School. Their latest gift is part of the university’s Ever True campaign and establishes a partnership between the John and Donna Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning and Purdue’s Integrated Data Science Initiative.
“This investment plays to Purdue’s strengths as a premier data-driven business school and STEM research institute,” John Krenicki says. “We are proud of the Purdue team and excited about the center’s future.”
