WSB Gets Boost from John and Anne Oros’ $10 Million Gift to All Ways Forward Campaign

The Wisconsin School of Business received a significant boost thanks to a $10 million commitment from John and Anne Oros (BBA ’71 and B.A. ’72 respectively) to the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s All Ways Forward campaign.

Additional designees of the Oros’ gift include the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the School of Social Work, UW Athletics, and faculty excellence.

John and Anne Oros currently serve as chairs of the All Ways Forward campaign, along with Ted and Mary Kellner.

“We’re proud to be part of this campaign and proud that these funds can help meet the needs of the university now and into the future,” said John Oros. “Anne and I feel strongly that now, more than ever, our faculty and our students need private support to help them reach their goals.”

“John and Anne Oros are among the UW’s most ardent supporters, and we are grateful for their incredible support,” said Mike Knetter, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association. “From participating in the transformative Wisconsin Naming Partnership at the business school to supporting communication sciences and disorders, John and Anne truly have made a difference throughout campus. This gift demonstrates their longstanding commitment to students, faculty, and the Wisconsin Experience.”

In 2007, John Oros was one of 13 donors who established the Wisconsin Naming Gift, an $85 million gift to name the Wisconsin School of Business for at least 20 years. In 2004, John and Anne gave $1 million to WSB to name the dining room and courtyard at the Fluno Center for Executive Education and funded the John J. Oros MBA Speaker Series.

Their commitment to giving back to the university started early, thanks to examples they saw in other UW alumni benefactors, including Anne’s father, Kenneth Wackman.

“Back then, not a lot of kids just out of college cared much about giving money back to school—especially a public school. But I just had an affinity for it,” said John Oros, in an article published in WSB’s 2014 Report to Investors.

John and Anne Oros hold degrees from UW–Madison and live in Ridgewood, New Jersey. John is managing director of J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, a private equity firm based in New York. From 1980 to 2000, he was an investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group of Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he became a general partner in 1986. John was named a Wisconsin Distinguished Business Alumnus in 1999. Anne is a member of the Board of Trustees of Children’s Aid and Family Services of New Jersey and received the Angels in Adoption Award from the U.S. Congress in 2007.