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auto repair shop in a region marked by racial
segregation. “We were in the South,” Penley
says. “And my dad’s business was the only one
in town that had African American customers
as well as White customers.”
Penley says his father treated everyone with
dignity, including his employees. “When I
think about business and management,” Penley
says, “it really was my dad that I learned
from.”
Penley traces his global mindset to his
mother, who had limited opportunities to
travel but read voraciously.
“I owe her a debt for having inspired that
curiosity,” Penley says. “She instilled an interest
in what is novel — the unwillingness to
live the same way from day to day.”
A SENSE OF HOPE
Progress came quickly when Penley brought
his global mindset to ASU in 1985, serving
first as a professor and then as dean of the
business college. Rankings improved and fundraising
increased, including a $50 million
naming gift from W.P. Carey.
Penley also helped the school launch international
MBA programs in China and Mexico,
and an Online MBA for distance learners. “We
joined the international scene,” Penley says.
By the time he moved to his next challenge
in 2003, the business school was producing
40 percent of ASU honors graduates. Faculty,
staff and students started seeing their MBA
program as a top-tier competitor.
“We changed the way people thought about
themselves and their opportunities,” Penley
says. “It is that sense of hope, that sense of a
dream, that sense of possibilities that to me is
the greatest achievement of that period.”
As president of CSU from 2003 to 2008,
Penley continued the fast pace. Research expenditures
increased by 50 percent and fundraising
doubled under his leadership.
Penley also helped the university focus on
its responsibilities to the community, which
led to specializations in sustainable energy,
infectious disease and cancer research.
“We focused the institution on what it could
do best,” he says. “But we did so in terms of
what the community needs were.”
Thunderbird Chairman
of the Board of Trustees
Ann Iverson, left, leads
a presidential transition
ceremony during winter
commencement on
Dec. 14, 2012. Barbara
Barrett, center, served
as Thunderbird interim
president from April 27 to
Nov. 1, 2012, when the
board announced Larry
Edward Penley, right, as
her replacement.
(TIM CLARKE)
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