The Center for Private Business is pleased to announce a strategic alignment with The Wake Forest University School of Business beginning fall of 2024.

“This is an incredibly exciting move as the School of Business and Center for Private Business are natural partners to benefit our students and broader community,” said Dean Annette L. Ranft. “Nurturing strategic collaborations in both academia and practice will support our learning communities and better serve the broader communities in which we live and work.”

This strategic alignment opens the door for greater sharing of resources, faculty expertise and connection with students to companies growing and thriving across North Carolina.

“Privately held and family-owned companies are the fabric of our communities, and our mission at the Center is to help these companies build better business,” said Dana Alligood, Executive Director of the Center for Private Business. “Similarly, Wake Forest University and the School of Business are committed to helping businesses and organizations create a better world.

Going forward, we are excited to be aligned with the School of Business where we can continue to deliver quality thought leadership and resources to our members, and provide students access to experiential education, engaging and working with our member companies.”

In 1946, the school accepted an invitation from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to move 100 miles west to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Construction began in 1952, and the new campus opened its doors in 1956.

Winston-Salem is the home of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and much of Wake Forest’s main Reynolda Campus is comprised of land that was once the R.J. Reynolds estate, a gift from the late Charles and Mary Reynolds Babcock. The institution was designated Wake Forest University in 1967.