Eli Broad
Founder , Broad Foundations
Eli Broad built two Fortune 500 companies from the ground up over a five-decade career in business. He is the founder of both SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home. Broad and his wife, Edythe, are co-founders of the Broad Foundations, which they established to advance entrepreneurship for the public good in education, science, and the arts. The Broad Foundations, which include the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Broad Art Foundation, have assets of $3 billion. The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation seeks to ensure that every student in an urban public school has the opportunity to succeed. The Broad Foundation also invests in advancing innovative scientific and medical research in the areas of human genomics, stem cell research, and inflammatory bowel disease. Over the past five decades, the Broads have built two of the most prominent collections of postwar and contemporary art worldwide: the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection and Broad Art Foundation. The Broads built and endowed a contemporary art museum and headquarters for the Broad Art Foundation on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Broad was founding chairman and is a life trustee of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. He is a life trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which received a $60 million gift from the Broads to build the Renzo Piano-designed Broad Contemporary Art Museum. In 1996, Eli Broad and then-Mayor Richard Riordan spearheaded a fundraising campaign to build the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, which opened in October 2003. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a life trustee at Caltech, and on the board of the Future Generation Art Prize. The Broads gave a major gift to UCLA for the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, which opened in 2010. In 2008, they gave a major gift to UC San Francisco for the new headquarters of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research.
Enjoy most: Giving back and making a difference.
Proudest moment: Tie between getting Walt Disney Concert Hall built and building and opening the Broad museum.
Best advice: The harder you work, the luckier you get.
Most excited: The advances in scientific and medical research that will improve human health – and hopefully lead to longer, healthier lives.
Drink of choice: Diet Coke.
Alma mater: Bachelor’s, Michigan State University.
Car you drive: Porsche.
Fun fact: I don’t know how to dive into a pool headfirst.
Bucket list: Being a guest voice on “The Simpsons.”
Hobby/passion: Collecting art.
Favorite destination: India.
