Underscoring the importance of leadership in business education at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis, Stephen G. Newberry and his wife, Shelley, have pledged $1 million to endow a faculty chair in leadership, as well as $500,000 to create a fellowship that will support MBA students who have great potential as business leaders.

Stephen Newberry is president and CEO of Fremont, Calif.-based Lam Research Corp., a leading supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry.

Newberry says that business schools can help to develop a new breed of leaders at a time when those skills are desperately needed. On many occasions, Newberry has shared his leadership message with UC Davis MBA students, stressing the benefits of building a strong, values-based company and the critical importance of values to personal success. He also is a member of the Graduate School of Management Dean’s Advisory Council, lending his 25 years of experience in the high-tech industry.

The $1 million Newberry Chair will enable the management school to recognize an outstanding faculty scholar and support excellence in research on leadership issues. Interest earned on the investment of the endowed gift will provide an ongoing source of funding for the chair holder's professional activities, including support for teaching, research, equipment and specialized materials, student support, and academic travel.

“Endowed chairs honor our best faculty, which is important in keeping them at UC Davis, and chairs provide critical research funding,” said Nicole Woolsey Biggart, dean of the management school. “This is a wonderful gift from the Newberrys and it will support research about what it takes to successfully lead our complex modern institutions.”

The Newberrys also have established the $500,000 Stephen G. and Shelley A. Newberry Distinguished Student Fellowship fund to support MBA students each year who have demonstrated leadership abilities, but who may not be at the top of their class academically.

“We attract amazing students who already have distinguished themselves as leaders,” said James Stevens, assistant dean of student affairs. “The Newberry Distinguished Student Fellowship will allow us to continue to attract and recognize these future business leaders in an increasingly competitive environment.”

Newberry said the inspiration for the scholarship came from his real-world experience. The greatest performers in business, he believes, often possess equal measures of academic knowledge and leadership ability.

“How you’re evaluated in a company depends on your ability to apply your knowledge and skills both as a team member and a team leader, and in some cases as an individual contributor,” Newberry said.

“For the past few years, Dean Biggart and I have been exploring the critical role that business schools can play in developing strong leaders,” Newberry said. “I'm impressed by the Graduate School of Management's entrepreneurial orientation, its responsiveness to the business community and, specifically, its recognition of the importance of leadership.”

Newberry, who is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard Business School, said a focus on leadership opens up an opportunity for the UC Davis MBA program to differentiate itself from other business schools in today’s challenging economic environment.

“Because it's a smaller business school, it can move faster and be more innovative, which appeals to me,” he said.

Leadership education is sorely needed, according to Newberry. “Certainly, part of leadership involves personality, which is significantly shaped in early childhood. Other aspects are inherent, or the result of an individual's life experiences,” he said. “But there is no question that the fundamental principles of successful leadership can be taught. If you ask business executives what skills could better prepare MBA graduates, leadership would be one of those, yet it just isn’t taught.”