See more recent post with data from 2005-2009: S&P 500 CEO’s: Engineers Stay at the Top
The most common undergraduate degree for CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies is Engineering: with 20% of all CEOs (from 2005 CEO Study: A Statistical Snapshot of Leading CEOs
Another interesting point from the report (at least to those of us who grew up in Madison with a father who taught at the University of Wisconsin (teaching Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Statistics, in my father’s case, by the way):
For the second year in a row, the University of Wisconsin joins Harvard as the most common undergraduate university attended by S&P 500 CEOs. Prior to 2004, Harvard alone was the most common school attended.
Pingback: Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Electrical Engineering Future
Pingback: Engineers and Engineering's Journal
I will admit this much, and gladly so. Wisconsin has the penultimate football fight song. In the Walt Disney animated movie of the 60’s, “Robin Hood” an escape scene was directed to show a plump matron running to get through the Sheriff’s men. She tips her brow forward and with a stiff arm, “On Wisconsin” is played and she navigates her way to safety. A subtle tease to the adults in the audience!
It is probably recognized most often, only behind “Notre Dame” and possibly behind “The Eyes of Texas” because of the “railroad” theme. “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, very well known, are not from any school! Wisconsin also has “Varsity” and “Roll out the Barrel”
So, I would call it 1 for Notre Dame, March Grandioso and On Wisconsin as a tie for second.
Wisconsin, Madison, aka the Midwest Office of the Kremlin, should be detached and let loose under a different banner.
I enjoy your site. And, my second son (I have three) is trying to teach me about Quantum Mechanics and
we chat about some theories of Physics. God exists and by definition, is only knowable by His revelation not by our discovery. For if we could define God, He would therefore cease to be God but be only an interesting but obserevable phenomenon. We both do agree that current critical thinking that is not wholey compliant with the “standard model” is shunned and relegated to nonsense. We should at least be allowed to be incorrect. Bohr, Heisenberg, Fermi and even Capernicus were taken as “outside” thinkers. “The greatest obstacle to advancement in science is the illusion of knowledge.”
His desire in engineering is to be in the space program and the complex engineering required for non-Earth construction.
smart Kid’s Dad
Austin, YeeHaw!, Texas
Pingback: CuriousCat: S&P 500 CEOs - Again Engineering Graduates Lead
Pingback: Engineering Parents Say The Darndest Things | Chris Gammell's Analog Life
Well, don’t forget, 70% of all other CEOs hold degrees in accounting as an undergrad, and finance and economics as a graduate degree. That bieng said, accounting majors are more suitable to the CEO position more than any other major.
Adam you must be kidding me only 7 % took accounting as a undergrad. Get your facts straight!
Pingback: S&P 500 CEO’s: Engineers Stay at the Top » Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog