Jan 30, 2013 02:41 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

John Edwardson, retired chairman and chief executive of CDW Corporation, Vernon Hills, Ill., has donated $5 million to the University Of Chicago's Booth School of Business. 

This founding gift will be diverted to the Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI) and winners of the school's annual social new venture competition. The donation will also be used to fund faculty research and data collection.

"Generating understanding that improves human life is at the core of the University's mission," said Robert J. Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago. "John Edwardson's gift speaks to that core value in a very particular way, helping to support initiatives that simultaneously promote entrepreneurial innovation and social benefit." 

The Social Enterprise Initiative, launched in March, helps students and faculty develop businesses, caters to alumni interests in nonprofit organizations and supports student organizations and career plans in the social sector. The social sector comprises of for-profit and nonprofit organizations to enhance outcomes. 

"I am delighted to support Booth's Social Enterprise Initiative," Edwardson said in a statement. "Booth students, faculty and alumni are engaging in a variety of ways in the social sector, from starting their own social ventures, to choosing a career in the impact economy, making a commitment to philanthropic and volunteer activities, and doing academic research."

The school has renamed its annual competition to John Edwardson Social New Venture Challenge, to show appreciation for the gesture.

Sunil Kumar, dean of Chicago Booth, said that Edwardson's philanthropic gesture will help the university integrate academic research on social sector issues with educational activities to develop more effective organizations based on proven market-oriented ideas and best practices.

Robert Gertner, deputy dean of the part-time MBA programs said that student interests are now focusing toward how proven business practices can improve efficiency in the social sector and how strategically thought businesses can produce social good.

Edwardson completed his MBA in 1972 from the Booth School of Business. Currently, he is the chairman of the Council on Chicago Booth and a member of the University's board of trustees.

The alumni retired as chairman and chief executive of CDW Corporation in 2012 after serving the company for almost a decade. Prior to CDW, he was the president of United Airlines, chief financial officer of Northwest Airlines, president of Burns International Services and executive vice president of Ameritech.

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