In a Feb. 7 press conference, President Marty Martin announced the naming of the Larry and Kathleen Zimpleman College of Business and Public Administration.
The newly-named college honors Drake alumni Larry and Kathleen Zimpleman for their long-standing relationship with the university. In support of The Ones: Drake’s Campaign for the Brave & Bold, the pair made a multi-million dollar philanthropic contribution.
“In the fall of 2018, we settled on the aspiration to embark on a capital campaign, a comprehensive campaign for Drake University,” Martin said at the press conference. “We settled on the fact that we should do it because of who we say we are and living up to them; living up to what we declare about this place and what we strive to achieve.”
The One’s campaign was launched to help students build a professional foundation no matter what discipline they aim to enter. The campaign is meant to “transform lives and strengthen communities,” according to Martin – and he said the Zimplemans have contributed to those efforts.
Larry Zimpleman earned a degree in actuarial science from Drake in 1973 and furthered his studies to get his MBA in 1979 – both from the College of Business and Public Administration. He is now the President and Chief Executive Officer at Principal Financial Group, serving as a respected business leader in central Iowa. Kathleen Zimpleman graduated with a sociology degree in 1976 from Drake’s College of Liberal Arts and has maintained her support of the university and Des Moines through time.
“Business education is not just a way, as Marty said, about teaching people to make money,” Larry Zimpleman said at the press conference. “Students in the College of Business need to be taught about how business can, if any business can, in fact, be a force for good ethics.”
An email sent out by President Martin to students that day said that the name commemorates the Zimplemans’ “decades-long relationship with and continuing commitment to Drake.”
Possible uses of the donation include scholarships for students, renovations to certain facilities and or new professorship, but no plans have been finalized yet, according to administrative support specialist Katherine Coady of the Dean’s Office within the College of Business and Public Administration.
Larry stated at the press conference that their support towards Drake is prompted by the fact that the university has changed their lives and the lives of their children.
“The world needs more graduates from the College of Business that reflect the reality that business can be and should be a force for good,” Larry Zimpleman said. “With our gift to Drake, we can now pay it forward and help future generations of Drake students receive an education that we know will change their life.”
