Alumni Reunion - The Wharton School of the University of ...

LeadershipSpotlightANDREW M. HELLER, WG’79Andrew Heller likes to tell the storythat the reason he went to theWharton MBA program was that anair hockey table arrived at his frathouse at Wesleyan University onthe day he had set aside to fill outhis Harvard application. “I chose tobecome fraternity air hockey championrather than write my application,”he joked.It was certainly an unlucky break for Harvard.To say Heller is a devoted alumus is an understatement.He has been a member of the Wharton Graduate AdvisoryBoard for the past nine years, chair of The Wharton Fund forthe past three and has chaired several reunions. In June andJuly, he raced around the world for the “Triple Crown” ofWharton alumni events – attending all three global alumniforums, in Moscow, Shanghai and Mexico City (along withfellow graduate board member Matt Greene, WG’89). Theglobal meetings represented just half of the six Whartonalumni events Heller attended in a two-month period.Under his leadership, Wharton Fund donors increasedfrom less than 6,000 in 2001 to approximately 7,500 in2004, and annual contributions climbed from $5.6 million toapproximately $6.5 million. The 2003 and 2004 MBA classesset new records for participation and donations. Of course,Heller doesn’t take credit for The Wharton Fund’s success.“It wasn’t me,” he said. “I greatly admire what SteveOliveira has accomplished at Wharton. I’ve loved being involvedin the Wharton Fund.”His commitment reflects his gratitude to Wharton for givinghim his start in business. “I have been extraordinarilyfortunate in my life,” he said. “I love what I do for a living,and Wharton played a huge role in my ability to accomplishwhat I have. I realized that my education and the opportunitiesit afforded me were instrumental to my success.”Born in Chicago, Heller became interested in businesswhile working for his father’s electronics distribution companyin Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from Wharton in1979, Heller joined Deloitte Haskins & Sells as a manage-ment consultant. Then, he left to found his own company,Heller Capital, a private investment company that providesfinancing for start-up companies and acquisitions in manyindustries, as well as for a variety of real estate ventures.Along the way, he bought a medical device manufacturerand grew the business by eightfold in three years. Healso co-founded a company that originated the first mortgageover the Internet (and sold it before the dot-combubble burst).All of which doesn’t leave much time these days for airhockey – although he has an air hockey table, pool tableand a number of other “toys” in the basement of his homein McLean, Virginia.He is passionately devoted to education. “I decided in theearly 90s that education would be the focus of my charitableefforts,” said Heller, who also chaired a capital campaignthat raised millions of dollars for the Langley School, wherehis two children attended. “I believe great educational institutionswill produce our leaders of the future. ◆– R O B E R T G U N T H E RT O M M Y L E O N A R D IS T O R Y T I T L E . W H A R T O N A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E . 39