Kansas State University

MANHATTAN -- Rand and Patti Berney, Southlake, Texas, have made a $1 million gift to support the new building for the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University.

The proposed new building plan has 140,000 square feet of space featuring tiered classrooms, a large showcase lecture hall, computer labs, a financial research lab and an executive conference room. The plans include dedicated space for entrepreneurship and sales education, as well as space for study, collaboration and networking throughout the building. The goal is to deliver the brightest future possible for business students, including collaboration with industry and networking opportunities from the start of their college careers.

Rand Berney, a native of Phillipsburg, graduated from Kansas State University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in accounting. He earned a master's degree in business administration from Oklahoma State University in 1982. He is retired from ConocoPhillips, where his last position was senior vice president of corporate shared services from 2009 until his retirement in May 2012. He is on the executive committee of the dean's advisory council for the College of Business Administration, is an executive-in-residence for the college and serves as vice chairman of the board of directors of the Kansas State University Foundation. He was honored in 2004 as the College of Business Administration's Distinguished Business Leader of the Year and was inducted into the Distinguished Business Leaders Hall of Fame that same year. In 2006, he was honored again by the college when he was named an alumni fellow, and in 2011 he served the college as its distinguished lecturer in the spring. Berney also serves as an executive mentor in the college.

Patti Berney attended Fort Hays State University. She has been an active volunteer leader for community, church, arts and educational institutions in both Bartlesville, Okla., and Houston, including Salvation Army, Family Crisis and Counseling, Red Cross, Greenspoint Mission, Target Hunger, the Bartlesville Symphony and Special Olympics. Patti Berney is also a member of the board of trustees of the KSU Foundation.

"Patti and I are pleased to continue our support of Kansas State University through our gift to the College of Business Administration," Rand Berney said. "It has been more than 40 years since we first stepped on campus and it is great to see the significant progress that has been made. The new building for the college will help prepare many in the future for tremendous career opportunities. We are excited to give back to the college and be part of its future."

The Berneys are members of the KSU Foundation's President's Club, a philanthropic leadership organization for friends and alumni of Kansas State University. They have served the university in a number of capacities and have supported other major projects, including the Basketball Training Facility and the K-State Welcome Center. They have contributed generously to numerous funds and campaigns over the past 30 years, including Telefund, the College of Business Administration Dean's Excellence Fund, the K-State Alumni Association's Tradition Founders Fund, and the Ahearn Fund's National Leadership Circle.

"I am very grateful for Rand and Patti Berney's generosity toward the college," said Ali Malekzadeh, Edgerley family dean of the College of Business Administration. "Rand's involvement with the college and the university has been incredibly beneficial to all of us. He has devoted many hours to enhancing the college as part of the Dean's Business Advisory Council, is serving as a member of its executive committee, and is now sharing his many years of industry experience in the classroom as an executive-in-residence. In addition, he has volunteered his time to help us with our fundraising campaign for the new building. We are very grateful to have Rand and Patti's support for the new building; tens of thousands of future CBA students will benefit from their philanthropy."

"Rand and Patti Berney's contributions to K-State, through philanthropy and their leadership and expertise, have been invaluable," said Kirk Schulz, president of Kansas State University. "Their gift to the new business building will help move this project forward and propel us toward our goal of becoming a Top 50 public research university by 2025. We are extremely grateful for all that Rand and Patti do for K-State."

Philanthropic contributions to K-State are coordinated by the Kansas State University Foundation. The foundation staff works with university partners to build lifelong relationships with alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students through involvement and investment in the university.