Jon Huntsman: The last great American industralist
Ben Chadwick, WG'05
Issue date: 11/1/04 Section: News
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Andras Forgacs (WG'05) and Mona Bijoor (WG'05) began the discussion with a warm welcome to the standing-room only crowd in Huntsman auditorium. After outlining the purpose of the Alumni Leadership Series, they made way for Steve Oliveira, Associate Dean of Wharton's Office of Alumni Affairs, to introduce the day's key speaker. Mr. Oliveira outlined Mr. Huntsman's substantial accomplishments, including his role in building the largest privately held petrochemical company in the world. He finished his introduction with Mr. Huntsman's personal accomplishments, which include his leadership position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a member of the Seventy, and role as a father of nine and grandfather of fifty-two. This last accomplishment seemed to impress those in attendance the most, judging by the spontaneous applause that ensued.
Mr. Huntsman then took the stage, and with an earnest modesty that has characterized all facets of his illustrious career, began his conversation on a light-hearted note - "Those children were all with one wife." The crowd erupted with laughter and additional applause and the stage was set for a great discussion, as Huntsman outlined his personal history and the role our institution has played in making all that he had accomplished possible.
Beginning with his own upbringing in a low-income but loving household in Idaho, Huntsman's background was not the norm for most would-be Ivy Leaguers. The son of a public school teacher and raised in a two-room house with no indoor plumbing, Huntsman grew up thinking everyone was like him. After the family moved to California for his father to pursue a PhD, Huntsman rose up the management ladder in the shoe department at JC Penney, which he jokingly referred to as the luxury clothing store "JC Penné".
As Huntsman was contemplating a career in shoe sales, he was approached by Harold Zellerbach, head of Crown Zellerbach, the largest paper company on the West Coast. Mr. Zellerbach, with the Dean of Admissions by his side, told Huntsman about "The Wharton School of Finance" and offered him a scholarship. Several months later, Huntsman arrived in West Philadelphia with a "glow-in-the-dark" polyester suit, a gaudy hand-painted Navajo Indian tie his father had bought him, and what he described as "the lowest scores in the undergraduate division my year, and maybe in the history of the school." Four years later, the man in the glow-in-the-dark suit was senior class president and a winner of the prestigious Spoon Award.