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Kinko's Founder and Chairman Paul Orfalea, a graduate of USC’s Marshall School of Business, has pledged $2.5 million to endow the Kinko’s Chair in Entrepre-neurship in the school.
“It was at USC that I gained the confidence to do much of what I have done in life,” Orfalea said. “It’s a privilege to be able to give back to an institution that helped to further my goals.”The professorial chair will be awarded under the aegis of the Mar-shall School’s Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
“We are honored that one of our own has committed to business education for the 21st century,” said Marshall School dean Randolph W. Westerfield.
“Paul Orfalea is a shining example of an entre-preneur who was able to apply the principles he learned at the Marshall School and who has become a tremendous success.”
Thomas J. O’Malia, director of the Lloyd Greif Center, will be first holder of the endowed chair. Subsequent Greif Center directors will also hold the chair.
“Paul Orfalea is a great friend to the school, and he has been a personal friend for many years,” O’Malia said. “His mentoring and friendship have helped the Marshall School and the Greif Center to produce the finest entrepreneurs in the world. I am proud to be the first holder of the Kinko’s Chair.”
Orfalea was named the Greif Center’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1997. Since graduating from USC in 1971, he has spent many hours at the Marshall School, serving as an entrepreneur-in-residence, lecturing and meeting with students.
Based in Ventura, Calif., Kinko’s is the leading document copying and office services provider in the world, operating a chain of more than 900 branches in eight countries.
In addition to providing work-environment tools, such as computers, photocopiers and desktop publishing services, Kinko’s offers its clients e-mail access and video conferencing. In its annual rankings, Success magazine named the Lloyd Greif Center as the number-one program in entrepreneurship in the nation.
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