Joshua J. Harris, co-founder and a senior managing director at Apollo Global Management, and his wife, Marjorie Harris, are helping to train the next generation of alternative investment executives.
They have donated $10 million to Mr. Harris' alma mater, University of Pennsylvania's The Wharton School, to create the Joshua J. Harris Alternative Investments Program. The program aims to become a hub for alternative investment research to be incorporated into the curriculum as well as events and programs for students, Wharton alumni and industry experts.
This is not Mr. and Ms. Harris' first gift to the university. They co-founded the Wharton Private Equity Professorship, currently held by Bilge Yilmaz, also a professor of finance. Mr. Yilmaz will serve as faculty director of the Harris Alternative Investments Program. The couple also funded the Harris Family Endowed Scholarship for Wharton undergraduate students from Washington, the Joshua J. Harris Professorship and the Joshua J. Harris Wrestling Assistant Coach Endowment.
"The Harris program will provide unprecedented resources to enrich their (students') understanding of the (alternative investments) industry," Mr. Harris said in a news release. "I know firsthand that Wharton students are creative, entrepreneurial and eager for new challenges — attributes that the great leaders of the industry possess."
