KU alumni, employees of Wichita firm raise $300K for new business school

Students pass by the construction site for the new KU School of Business, Friday, Dec. 12. The new 5.7 million dollar facility for the Kansas University School of Business is set to open fall 2016. The structure will be four stories with 155,000 square feet. It is located on the east side of Naismith Drive, across from Allen Fieldhouse at the south entrance of campus.

Bill and Traci Pickert

Fundraising to date

As of this week, KU Endowment reported that the total fundraising commitments for KU’s new School of Business building are $65 million, with a goal of $70 million. It is the largest privately funded project in KU history.

Additional fundraising is hoped to enable square-footage initially planned as a future expansion to be constructed now instead.

An accounting firm that donated $300,000 toward construction of a new home for the Kansas University School of Business sees its gift as an investment.

“We recruit a large number of business and accounting students out of the School of Business every year,” said Bill Pickert, managing partner of BKD’s Wichita offices, who led the fund drive. “It’s an extremely important source of new talent for the firm.”

KU Endowment announced the gift on Tuesday. BKD matched donations by Pickert and 10 other KU alumni in the company’s Wichita offices, for a total donation of more than $300,000.

Construction on the $65.7 million new business building began last spring on Naismith Drive across from Allen Fieldhouse. It’s expected to open in fall 2016.

Pickert himself attended classes in Summerfield Hall — the school’s current and longtime home — before graduating with degrees in accounting and business administration in 1983. While at KU he met his wife, Traci, also an accounting and business administration major.

Pickert said he and his wife both benefited from the education they got and experiences they had while at KU and wanted to do something in return. He said he was impressed by KU Business Dean Neeli Bendapudi’s enthusiasm, commitment to a strong business climate statewide and efforts to connect KU business students with the business community.

Bendapudi said the school was grateful for the gift.

“The new building allows us to build a greater sense of community for future KU business students,” she said in a news release. “Alumni support propels the School of Business as a great place to work, a great place to learn and a great place in which to invest.”

Headquartered in Springfield, Mo., BKD employs roughly 2,500 people nationwide, Pickert said. The firm provides a wide range of assurance, tax and accounting outsourcing services.

BKD’s gift counts toward KU Endowment’s comprehensive fundraising effort, Far Above: The Campaign for Kansas. The campaign recently announced it had reached its $1.2 billion goal but will continue fundraising as planned until 2016.