For people who dream of someday running a large company, there’s no one educational path to get there.
The CEOs who oversee the top 100 companies in the nation, according to the 2018 list of Fortune 500 companies, attended a variety of colleges.
Some studied at big, public institutions. For instance, Darren W. Woods, chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. — No. 2 on the Fortune list — earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University–College Station, according to the Exxon Mobil website. In fall 2016, Texas A&M had a total enrollment of 65,302 students, and 50,735 of them were undergraduates, according to data collected by U.S. News in an annual survey.
[Read: 10 Universities With the Most Undergraduate Students.]
Others went to smaller, private schools, like John L. Flannery Jr., chairman and CEO of General Electric Co. — No. 18 in the Fortune 500 — who studied finance at Fairfield University in Connecticut, according to the school’s website. In fall 2016, Fairfield enrolled 5,137 students, 4,032 of whom were undergrads, per U.S. News data.
After Fortune magazine released its annual list of the 500 largest companies, based on revenue, in May, U.S. News researched the educational backgrounds of the CEOs at the top 100 companies, tracking down information for all but one chief executive. Software company Oracle Corp. has two co-CEOs, which means there are 101 CEOs among the top 100 companies.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, business administration was a popular major among the top CEOs. Other relatively common majors included economics and various engineering disciplines.
[Read: Find an Undergrad Business School That Helps You Stand Out.]
For some of these company leaders, a bachelor’s degree wasn’t the end of the road — they went on to earn a graduate degree or two. For example, Roger W. Ferguson Jr., president and CEO of financial services organization Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, or TIAA — No. 84 on the Fortune list — earned a bachelor’s degree, law degree and doctorate from Harvard University, according to the TIAA website.
Ferguson is one of 14 top CEOs who earned their undergraduate degree at an Ivy League institution. Cornell University was the most popular Ivy League alma mater, boasting four CEO graduates among Fortune’s top 100 companies.
The top CEOs attended colleges and universities located in many different states. In fact, none of the leaders of the top 10 companies on the Fortune list went to college in the same state.
Other chief executives studied overseas. Among the CEOs of the top 100 companies, 11 earned their undergraduate degrees outside of the U.S.
AmerisourceBergen Corp., No. 12 in the Fortune 500, is the highest-ranked business with a CEO who earned an undergraduate degree from an international school. Steven H. Collis, chairman, president and CEO of the drug wholesale company, studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, according to his LinkedIn page.
The table below highlights the schools that were attended by at least two of the CEOs of the top 100 companies. These counts do not include CEOs who attended but didn’t graduate from a particular university, such as Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who dropped out of Harvard.
| School (state) | Number of CEO graduates | U.S. News National Universities rank |
| Cornell University (NY) | 4 | 14 (tie) |
| Texas A&M University–College Station | 4 | 69 (tie) |
| University of Michigan–Ann Arbor | 4 | 28 |
| Harvard University (MA) | 3 | 2 |
| Michigan State University | 2 | 81 (tie) |
| Pennsylvania State University–University Park | 2 | 52 (tie) |
| University of Pennsylvania | 2 | 8 |
| Yale University (CT) | 2 | 3 (tie) |
Sources: College and university websites, company websites, Bloomberg, Boston Business Journal, Business Roundtable, Forbes, Fortune magazine, Horatio Alger Association, LinkedIn.
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Top Fortune 500 CEOs: Where They Went to College originally appeared on usnews.com
