Four years later, several generous donors stepped forward to help the center expand as it continues to explore the role of entrepreneurship in advancing the well-being of society.

Donations announced at the end of 2019 totaling more than $5.7 million will allow the center to add two tenure-track faculty members in entrepreneurship and up to five doctoral fellows, plus staff for the center. The center will also partner with the Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship to examine ideas related to free enterprise through the lens of principled entrepreneurship.

The donors are:

• John Menard Jr., founder and owner of the chain of home improvement stores, $3 million
• Joseph W. Craft III Foundation, $2 million; 
• , a founding donor continuing its support, $737,000.

“Our students benefit from the rich experiences the Center for Free Enterprise provides,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to inspire our community’s future business leaders through these generous gifts.” 

Since the center , it has hosted speakers on topics such as criminal justice reform, the transformation of China, crypto-currency and entrepreneurship in Senegal. Beginning in the Spring 2020 semester, the speaker series has been renamed the Menard Family Speaker Series.

“We will continue to reach a breadth of students, alumni and the public with our speaker series,” said Stephan Gohmann, director of the center. “Additionally, I’m excited the center is expanding into entrepreneurship, as many of our students are interested in starting businesses and innovating within their companies.”

The center also hosts reading groups that attract students from across the university.

Menards is a privately-owned and family-run home improvement business with 325 stores and 41 manufacturing facilities located in 14 Midwestern states.��Read an open letter from the Menard Family .��

Craft, a native of Hazard, Kentucky, and a graduate of the University of Kentucky, is president, CEO and chairman of Alliance Resource Partners LP, the second largest coal producer in the eastern United States.

The Charles Koch Foundation has funded over 400 programs at more than 250 U.S. colleges and universities. Its goal is to “break barriers that stand in the way of people realizing their potential through grant funding to scholars, students and partners developing creative solutions that empower individuals to transform their lives and to improve society.”

The Menard Family Speaker Series begins Jan. 30 with author James Otteson, Thomas W. Smith Presidential Chair in Business Ethics and economics professor at Wake Forest University. His talk will be, “Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society.”

On Feb. 19, the center will present Clifton Taulbert, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated co-author of the book “Who Owns the Ice House? Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur.”

The series closes April 8 with a panel discussion and debate on school choice featuring Corey DeAngelis, Cato Institute Center for ����ֱ��al Freedom; Angela Dills, Western Carolina University; Peter Greene, The Progressive; and Helen Ladd, Duke University.

Check the Center’s for times, locations and more information.

The standing-room-only crowd got a chance to hear Schnatter, founder, chairman and CEO of Papa John’s International, tell the story of how his business started in a tavern broom closet and became the third-largest pizza delivery chain in the world.

He used the company’s television advertisements to show how it has grown, beginning with a vintage 1987 ad, and sprinkled in advice and lessons:

• On hiring: “Hire for attitude and train for aptitude.”
• On advertising: “Nothing sells like the truth.”
• On day-to-day work: “Wake up. Kick ass. Be nice.��Repeat.”
• On employees: “Be kind. Be respectful. Make sure they win. Teamwork is a byproduct of doing the right thing.”
• On consumers: “The customers can fire you anytime they want just by not buying your product.”
• On being successful doing what you love: “I wish that for all of you.”

Schnatter said Papa John’s is close to opening its 5,000^th store but that he doesn’t think too far ahead. Beyond a year or two, he doesn’t know what the future will hold, he said.

The Schnatter Center opened in August 2015 with a $4.64 million donation from the John H. Schnatter Family Foundation and a $1.66 million donation from the Charles Koch Foundation. Its purpose is to engage in research and teaching that explores the role of enterprise and entrepreneurship in advancing the well-being of society.

Stephan Gohmann, director of the center, said planning has already begun for the second year. An event scheduled for September will feature a former resident of North Korea who escaped the country.

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