In the article Corporate Career Success – How to Become CEO we receive a lot of questions about what education one should get in order to become a CEO.  We also get quite a few inquiries about how important it is to get an Ivy League education.   Despite of the fact that we have emphasized the fact that there are many other factors listed in the article that are a lot more important than an education in the quest to become a CEO, this seems to be a question that does not seem to want to quit.  So here in this article we will provide these inquisitive minds with some data that may help add some color to this subject. 

According to a study conducted by the executive search firm Spencer Stuart the percentage of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies that went to Ivy League schools declined from 16% in 1998 to 11% in 2004.  Many large company CEOs who have MBAs received their degree from Harvard, but even the prevalence of the Harvard MBA at the helm of the largest American corporations is deteriorating.  The number of Harvard MBAs among large-company CEOs declined from 28% in 1998 to 23% in 2004.

Confirming this trend, a survey by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania shows that in 1980 14% of the CEOs at Fortune 100 companies received their undergraduate degrees from an Ivy League School.  By 2001, only 10% of CEOs received undergraduate degrees from one of the Ivy Leagues.

One of the reasons for this trend is the fact that non-Ivy League colleges and universities have gained stature, encouraging recruiters to broaden their search.   According to Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, founder of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, recruiters avoid the “sense of entitlement” often found on Ivy campuses when they recruit at non-Ivies.

It is not just the sense of entitlement that potentially impacts Ivy Leaguers effectiveness as CEOs; it is also their inability to relate to the common man and woman who may not have come from a privileged background.  According to Bill Zollars, CEO of trucking firm Yellow Roadway, “The best CEOs today have a rapport with the rank and file”.

 Jim Jenness, CEO of Kellogg summarizes it nicely:

“An Ivy League education is certainly something to be proud of, but there are plenty of top-notch leaders who hail from excellent schools from all parts of the world.”

If you are curious to know where CEOs recently hired at Fortune 1000 firms went to school, here is an interesting chart compiled in 2004 and 2005 by Burson-Marsteller and USA Today.