The Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center was feted for its 10th anniversary Oct. 5 with a celebration in the building’s Anheuser-Busch Dining Room.
David Kilper
Mahendra Gupta, PhD (right), dean of the Olin Business School and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, thanks former Dean Stuart I. Greenbaum, PhD (left), the Bank of America Professor Emeritus of Managerial Leadership, and Charles F. Knight (center), former chair and chief executive officer of Emerson Electric Co., after cutting the Knight Center 10th birthday cake Oct. 5 in the building’s Anheuser-Busch Dining Room.
The 135,000-square-foot Knight Center was dedicated Oct. 5, 2001.
“The Knight Center is truly a place where leadership is cultivated, a symbol of world-class executive education,” says Mahendra Gupta, PhD, dean of the Olin Business School and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management. “The vision of many people, including Dean Emeritus Stuart Greenbaum and Chuck Knight, has been realized through this center as we work to further global business leadership.”
Designed as an integrated residential learning facility, the building houses five high-tech classrooms, an executive boardroom, 28 small-group study rooms, a pub, several lounges, dining facilities that can serve up to 225 and 66 rooms for overnight lodging.
Today, Fortune 500 companies use the Knight Center to recruit and develop talent, while students in myriad executive education programs use it to learn and network.
The building, named in honor of Charles F. Knight, chair and chief executive officer of Emerson Electric Co. for 27 years, has hosted more than 125,000 overnight guests during its 10 years and served as the academic home to 2,126 Executive Master’s of Business Administration (EMBA) students.
“We are prouder than words can properly express on this historical occasion for the Olin School,” says Greenbaum, PhD, former dean and the Bank of America Professor Emeritus of Managerial Leadership.
“This dedication marks the beginning of a new era for Olin, Washington University and the St. Louis region,” he says. “The Knight Center is more than just the pre-eminent executive education facility in the Midwest, perhaps in the United States. It is also a unique asset serving the St. Louis community.”
Olin’s EMBA program, which has locations in St. Louis, Kansas City and Shanghai, China, was ranked No. 2 in the world by The Wall Street Journal in 2010.