Key Takeaways
- • Villanova University received a $25 million gift from Justin Gmelich '90 VSB and his wife Victoria to the Espiritus Nova: The Campaign for Villanova University, according to a Business Wire release.
- • The campaign was launched in October 2024 with a goal of $1.25 billion and is described as the most ambitious fundraising effort in the University's history.
- • Justin Gmelich, co-chief investment officer at Millennium Management, serves as a co-chair of the campaign and previously chaired Villanova's Board of Trustees and its Investment Committee.
- • The gift funds the Victoria and Justin Gmelich '90 Lab for Financial Markets in the Villanova School of Business and Falvey Library's Distinctive Collections in the new Vic Maggitti Hall, and names the Gmelich Family Gallery.
Summary
Villanova University has received a $25 million gift from Justin Gmelich '90 VSB and his wife, Victoria, to Espiritus Nova: The Campaign for Villanova University, the University's comprehensive capital campaign, according to a Business Wire release. Justin Gmelich serves as a current co-chair of the campaign and is co-chief investment officer at Millennium Management, a global diversified alternative investment firm headquartered in New York City.
The gift will provide significant funding for the Victoria and Justin Gmelich '90 Lab for Financial Markets, named in 2019 and located in the Villanova School of Business. The lab offers students and faculty an environment parallel to a Wall Street trading floor, with exposure to finance technology and high-processing computers with access to Bloomberg and other financial databases. The gift also funds Falvey Library's Distinctive Collections, which moved into the new Vic Maggitti Hall after its October opening, and names the Gmelich Family Gallery there. The gallery will house historic Civil Rights Movement documents, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, which the Gmelichs helped bring to Villanova in 2021 while Justin chaired the Board of Trustees.
University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, praised the couple's more than three decades of engagement with the university and their leadership of the campaign. Justin Gmelich's career includes partner and head of Global Markets at King Street Capital and global chief operating officer for Fixed Income, Commodities and Currencies at Goldman Sachs. Victoria Gmelich, a former mortgage derivatives trader, co-founded Trinity Hall, an all-girls private high school in Tinton Falls, N.J.
The Espiritus Nova campaign is focused on three goals: meeting financial need, research and scholarship, and campus investment.
The gift will provide significant funding for the Victoria and Justin Gmelich '90 Lab for Financial Markets, named in 2019 and located in the Villanova School of Business. The lab offers students and faculty an environment parallel to a Wall Street trading floor, with exposure to finance technology and high-processing computers with access to Bloomberg and other financial databases. The gift also funds Falvey Library's Distinctive Collections, which moved into the new Vic Maggitti Hall after its October opening, and names the Gmelich Family Gallery there. The gallery will house historic Civil Rights Movement documents, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, which the Gmelichs helped bring to Villanova in 2021 while Justin chaired the Board of Trustees.
University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, praised the couple's more than three decades of engagement with the university and their leadership of the campaign. Justin Gmelich's career includes partner and head of Global Markets at King Street Capital and global chief operating officer for Fixed Income, Commodities and Currencies at Goldman Sachs. Victoria Gmelich, a former mortgage derivatives trader, co-founded Trinity Hall, an all-girls private high school in Tinton Falls, N.J.
The Espiritus Nova campaign is focused on three goals: meeting financial need, research and scholarship, and campus investment.
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