Sealeys Give $1 Million to the Drucker School in Support of Annual Family Business Award

Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Management has received a $1 million endowment to benefit the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute.

The gift from alumnus Peter S. Sealey (MA, ’90; PhD, ’97, Management) and his wife, Elizabeth Sealey, will establish the annual Dr. Peter S. Sealey, PhD Award in Family Business to recognize exemplary contributions to business or society by a family business or a family business leader.

The award was announced this morning in an email message to the university’s campus community and the Drucker School community from Drucker School Dean David Sprott and David Specht, the institute’s director.

Peter Drucker, their message said, lamented the lack of attention given to family businesses in many management schools.

“Now, we are honored and thrilled to have Peter, who has been a part of our Drucker family as both a student and faculty member for many years, and Elizabeth support our Institute with an annual award that will shine a light on some of the world’s most exemplary business-owning families,” they said.

A Distinguished Business and Academic Career

The gift will support the mission and vision of the Institute and help gain international recognition of the vital importance of family business. Peter Sealey firmly believes that Peter Drucker’s philosophy of management can help family businesses around the world and that the Drucker School and the Institute will be able to serve a huge unserved market.

Sealey has deep experience in the corporate world, including 20 years at The Coca-Cola Company, where he held a variety of key positions, including chief marketing officer. (He was responsible for the 1993 global launch of the “Always Coca-Cola” advertising campaign and its famous Polar Bear commercials.)

Sealey also served as president of marketing and distribution at Columbia Pictures in the late 1980s, where his releases included “Ghostbusters,” “The Karate Kid,” and “Tootsie.”

Sealey has seen CGU from both sides of the classroom, earning two graduate degrees as well as teaching marketing at the Drucker School as an adjunct professor.

“Peter Sealey represents so much of what is good about Drucker and CGU,” said Sprott. “He has had an exemplary career and paid it forward by returning to campus to share his expertise with a new generation of students. His gift to the Global Family Business Institute embodies the Drucker School’s commitment to make the world a better place and will firmly position the Institute as a leader in sustaining family business.”

A Deeper Recognition of Family Businesses

Founded in 2018, the Global Family Business Institute is committed to serving multi-generational family businesses in practical and academic ways. The Institute provides thought leadership and convenes educational sessions to assist with the perpetuation of the business and the preservation of the family unit.

“The Sealey endowment is a great opportunity for the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute to celebrate, highlight, and learn from some of the world’s most influential business-owning families,” Specht said.

C.S. & D.J. Davidson Chair and Professor of Management Vijay Sathe has known Sealey since he was a student at the Drucker School 30 years ago. He said he was elated but not surprised by Sealey’s transformational gift.

“Pete has been a consistently generous supporter of the work of the Drucker School, and this great gift is so timely as the Global Family Business Institute accelerates toward delivering on its mission and beyond,” said Sathe. “I know of Pete’s personal relationship with and high regard for Peter Drucker, and I think Peter Drucker must be smiling approvingly as we move forward faster, thanks to Pete.”

• Learn more about the Drucker School Global Family Business Institute