Wharton School Announces $1 Million Gift from Arthur and Dahlia Bilger to Launch Wharton Interactive Media Initiative

Philadelphia, Pa., June 30, 2008 -- The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is pleased to announce a $1 million gift from alumnus Art Bilger and his wife, Dahlia. The gift is to create and support the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative (WIMI). Mr. Bilger is a member of the Wharton School’s Board of Overseers and a Managing Member of Shelter Capital Partners, LLC, a Southern California-based private investment fund.

The Bilgers’ gift will provide term funding to launch the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative, a research endeavor focused on interactive media, the effects on global businesses and the implications for traditional media business models. Designed to capitalize on Wharton’s longstanding strength in conducting data-driven research, the WIMI will apply it to decision making in the media industry to help companies monetize interactive data that they and others have collected. Wharton Professors Eric Bradlow and Peter Fader are spearheading this initiative, which will focus on knowledge creation and dissemination, industry collaboration, new courses and other student-related activities, along with alumni networking opportunities. Several key components of the WIMI include: an annual conference, job placement assistance for students and alumni, the creation of an advisory board, and a prestigious prize for collaborative research in the field of interactive media.

"We are truly grateful for Art and Dahlia Bilger’s generosity and vision," stated Wharton School Dean Thomas Robertson. "Their commitment is a wonderful reflection on Art’s career-long interest in new media, and the family’s personal commitment to philanthropy at Penn."

Art Bilger is a 1975 graduate of the Wharton School, where he received an undergraduate degree in economics with a concentration in finance. He and his wife, Dahlia, have supported several areas at the School, including the Arthur and Dahlia Bilger Scholarship for Wharton and Penn undergraduates, the School of Arts and Sciences and PENN Medicine. The couple’s son, Alex, is an undergraduate at the University, and their daughter, Sabrine, will matriculate in the fall.

"We are delighted to support this important priority of The Campaign for Wharton and the future of the School," said Bilger. "Through the WIMI, Wharton will continue its tradition of innovative, leading-edge scholarship with practical applications that add real value to the world of business."

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,700 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 10,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 82,000 graduates.

For further information, please visit the WIMI website.