UVA Darden Poaches Key UCLA Anderson Player For Its Foundation

Rob Weiler will be joining the University of Virginia to head up the Darden School Foundation

After a 16-year run at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, Rob Weiler is leaving the West Coast behind to join his undergraduate alma mater in Charlottesville, Va. Weiler, a major player at Anderson who has been associate dean of Anderson’s full-time MBA program for a decade, He will join UVA’s Darden School of Business as president of the Darden School Foundation.

For Weiler, the trip back East will return him to his undergraduate stomping grounds. He had earned his degree in economics from UVA in 1986 and then went to work in sales for the Carnation Company in New York. But the call of the West brought him to Los Angeles in 1991 when he joined Goldman Sachs as an associate.

After spending more than 15 years in business, primarily in the banking sector, with Goldman, UBS and the Trust Company of the West, among others. Along the way, Weiler picked up an MBA degree at UCLA Anderson in 1991 and loved the place so much that years later he ended up in career development at Anderson in 2007. Weiler worked closely in those days with the late Andrew Ainslie who was then senior associate dean at Anderson and later became dean of the Simon School at the University of Rochester. Before taking over the MBA program, Weiler  had been assistant dean of career management and interim director of admissions, giving him a full view of the operations of a major business school.

Weiler’s appointment to a position that puts him at the center of building alumni and donor relationships is effective this fall. He  will succeed Carolyn Miles, who became interim president of the foundation in January after the resignation of long-time Foundation President Michael Woodfolk. She will return to her position as the John Alden Purinton Jr. Professor of Practice and senior adviser to the Dean Scott Beardsley.

NATIONAL SEARCH LED TO WEILER AT UCLA

Weiler was chosen after a national search conducted by Russell Reynolds Associates. The Darden School Foundation he will lead is an independent, nonprofit corporation that supports the Darden School and its mission by promoting philanthropic support, managing endowment funds, operating Darden’s Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs, and ownership of The Forum Hotel on the Darden Grounds.

“As a Wahoo, I’m thrilled to be back in Charlottesville,” said Weiler in a statement. “All you have to do is look around the Grounds in Charlottesville and Arlington to see and feel Darden’s momentum. I’m confident there are more great things to come, and I am honored to join Darden at such an exciting time.”

The announcement of the appointment was accompanied by the usual array of quotes from key Darden players “Rob brings many strengths to the role,” said Frank Sands (MBA ’94), chair of the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees. “He understands how important the Foundation is to the School, and he knows firsthand how rapidly the landscape of business education is changing.”

“We are very excited to have a leader with Rob’s extensive experience and UVA roots at the head of the Foundation,” said Darden’s Dean Scott Beardsley, who is currently on sabbatical to study at Oxford University.

Darden’s Interim Dean Jeanne Liedtka added, “Rob’s enthusiasm for taking the Foundation forward will build on the tremendous momentum of the Powered by Purpose campaign.”

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