April 21st, 2011
Members of the list of the Wealthiest College Graduates saw their stock portfolios jump by 14.94% over 2010, impressively outpacing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gained 10.70% over the course of the year. The annual list of the Wealthiest College Graduates, which is compiled by Donor Watch, includes 180 wealthy individuals who had nearly $120 billion in their SEC filed stock portfolios as of 12/31/2010. During the first quarter of 2011, their stock portfolios jumped another 5.41%, representing $6.47 billion in new wealth.

According to Donor Watch, the 180 wealthy individuals on the list have a total 292 undergraduate and advanced degrees from leading colleges and universities. Notably, 35% of the list's members had MBAs and 9% had JDs.

The top individuals on the list include: Jeff Bezos, CEO & founder of Amazon.com (AMZN), graduate of Princeton University Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources Inc's (CLR), graduate of Phillips College and Northwestern Oklahoma State University (MA) Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corp (MSFT), graduate of Harvard College Phil Knight, Chairman of Nike Inc (NKE), graduate of University of Oregon and Stanford University (MBA) Pierre Omidyar, founder of Ebay Inc (EBAY), graduate of Tufts University Rupert H Johnson Jr., Vice-Chairman of Franklin Resources (BEN), graduate of Washington and Lee University.

The top ten schools with the highest number of undergraduate alumni on the list include: Harvard College, Princeton University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Berkeley, University of North Carolina, Stanford University, New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Minnesota. Some other notables include University of Kansas, UCLA, University of Arkansas and Lehigh University, all of which had at least three alums make the list.

81% of the individuals on the lists saw their stock portfolios increase in value over 2010. Notably, fifty of the gainers saw their portfolios increase by over $100 million each, making them key targets for prospect researchers.

One of the $100 million plus gainers is Tracy W. Krohn, the Chief Executive Officer and founder of W&T Offshore (WTI). W&T Offshore's stock has nearly doubled since November of 2010, a trend that has increased Mr. Krohn's holdings in the company by more than $242 million. Similarly, University of California, Berkeley graduate David Schwartz saw his stock portfolio jump by $156 million. Schwartz, who co-founded Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO) with his wife Alice Norman Schwartz, benefitted from the strong performance of BIO's stock over 2010.

However, things are not all bad for the executives who saw their stock portfolios decrease over 2010. One such example is Manny Mashouf, the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Bebe Stores, Inc (BEBE). While BEBE's stock underperformed during 2010, Mr. Mashouf still managed to sell off 550,000 shares of the company, netting the San Francisco State University alumnus more than $4.5 million in cash. Donor Watch's list of Wealthiest College Graduates is used by prospect researchers and development officials at leading colleges, universities and non-profits to track the wealth of their alumni and top donors. Beyond the Wealthiest College Graduate list, Donor Watch compiles various custom lists for specific universities, causes, regions, and metro-areas. Donor Watch's prospect research tool has powerful summary and analysis features that provide critical prospect details and reports at the click of a button. Donor Watch also provides real-time email alerts so your team will be notified immediately following a major wealth creating event.

For more information about Donor Watch and its top donor prospect targeting reports, please visit Donor Watch's Website or sign-up for a To sign-up for a free trial of Donor Watch, please click here. Donor Watch provides its reports and analyses to the development offices and prospect research teams at many leading colleges, universities and non-profits. Donor Watch's unique and robust set of research tools empower fund raisers and prospect researchers to manage their relationships with top and high potential donors.