Karen and Dennis Chookaszian,’68, Be certain Potential of Chicago Booth’s Accounting Analysis Heart (ARC) with $8 Million Gift

In get to forever secure the foreseeable future of Chicago Booth’s Accounting Investigation Middle (ARC) and the Journal of Accounting Study (printed by ARC), Dennis Chookaszian, ’68, and his spouse, Karen, have designed an $8 million gift to the centre, which will now be called the Chookaszian Accounting Investigation Center.

Chookaszian has been impressed with the top quality and significance of ARC and the Journal of Accounting Investigation considering that his days as a Booth scholar. As a business leader and company governance qualified, he has been actively concerned in the method of location accounting expectations and is a business believer in accounting standards that produce transparency and integrity.

“Throughout the years, ARC has completed a great task of endorsing accounting transparency and establishing imagined management in accounting,” Chookaszian claimed. “The Journal of Accounting Exploration is the most prestigious journal in the career. Supporting the heart with an endowment is our way of making certain that ARC is able to continue on its very good get the job done.”

“Dennis has been a committed alumnus and enthusiastic supporter of the university on so lots of concentrations: as a Council member, philanthropist, and school member,” reported Madhav Rajan, Chicago Booth Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting. “We are so grateful to Dennis and Karen for their hottest generous dedication to the university, which will permanently sustain the essential operate of the Accounting Investigate Center.”

The ARC and the Journal of Accounting Analysis have prolonged performed central roles in setting up and protecting Chicago Booth’s around the globe educational management in the area of accounting investigate. More and more in latest many years, the ARC has also arrive to engage in a central purpose in supporting the Booth accounting college and its PhD students in their investigation endeavours, according to Philip G. Berger, ARC Govt Director and Wallman Household Professor of Accounting. As accounting investigate has ongoing to turn out to be additional interdisciplinary and also far more intercontinental, ARC has expanded its meeting aid outside of the once-a-year Journal of Accounting Exploration Meeting to now also include things like the Global Difficulties in Accounting Meeting, the Biennial Concept Convention, and occasional particular conferences.

“For all of these present-day endeavors as effectively as new initiatives to boost ARC’s influence, the very generous present from Dennis and Karen Chookaszian supplies indispensable assist,” Berger reported.

Chookaszian attained his undergraduate diploma in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, his MBA from Booth, and an MS in economics from the London School of Economics. He began his career at Deloitte, and worked as a management consultant for 8 several years. Chookaszian joined CNA Insurance plan in 1975 and served as CFO for 15 many years, extra CIO responsibilities, and eventually served as chairman, president, and CEO for nine several years. He also served on the board of administrators as chairman of the executive committee for three years right after his retirement.

Chookaszian then struck out on a new path for the subsequent stage of his vocation and grew to become the CEO of an web startup, mPower, the to start with digital advisor for running retirement funds. He also served for 5 several years as chairman of the Money Accounting Criteria Advisory Council (FASAC), which advises the Economical Accounting Benchmarks Board (FASB) on its agenda.

A teacher for additional than 40 several years, Chookaszian serves as an adjunct professor at Chicago Booth, exactly where he has taught corporate governance for the previous 5 many years. He also teaches classes in company governance at two universities in China, Cheung Kong Graduate Faculty of Business and Shanghai Innovative Institute of Finance. He also taught for 10 decades in India at IIPM, the Indian Institute of Setting up and Management, and produced the Finance and Accounting for Non-Economical Executives class for the American Administration Association.

“I genuinely love teaching,” he said. “I’m continuing to generate new programs based on the hottest governance developments. At Booth, I developed the company governance program on the realistic areas of working a business enterprise, and it’s developed in excess of the a long time. I delight in incorporating new product this sort of as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, autonomous vehicles, the sharing economic system, cybersecurity, and world wide web marketing.”

In the program of his profession, Chookaszian has served as a director of 13 publicly traded businesses, 70 private businesses, and 15 nonprofit organizations. He is also a life time member of the Chicago Booth Council.

“I knew that at the time I still left CNA, my vocation was heading to be a blend of board company and educating,” he said. “I have relished supporting a wide variety of firms in varied industries to produce and put into action their strategic designs.”

Chookaszian counts philanthropy among the his leading priorities, as he and Karen come to a decision where by their investments will go furthest—most generally with a concentration on schooling.

“We commit in education and learning due to the fact we want to give back to the establishments that served me make my career, and it is an space where by we can actually make a change,” he claimed. “I am grateful to Booth for encouraging me find out how to be a inventive thinker. As a scholar at Booth, I was in a position to discover many concepts and take into account whether I agreed or disagreed with them. It is a location the place I was frequently challenged and I’m satisfied to give back again to guide other people in owning the exact experiences.”