Executive in Residence and Former Wake Forest Dean of Business School Steve Reinemund chosen for 2020 Horatio Alger Award

Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education, today announced that Steven S Reinemund, Retired Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo, has been selected for membership in this prestigious organization. Mr. Reinemund joins 13 other exceptional business, civic and cultural leaders from across North America in receiving 2020 honors. For more than 70 years, the Horatio Alger Award has been annually bestowed upon esteemed individuals who have succeeded despite facing adversities, and who have remained committed to higher education and charitable efforts in their communities.

After his father passed away suddenly when he was just six years old, Mr. Reinemund began taking on household tasks to support his family. By the time he was in fifth grade, he worked as a janitor for a small company, sweeping floors and cleaning bathrooms, and also delivered newspapers in the early mornings and evenings. He dedicated himself to developing as a scholar, athlete and leader and achieved his life long dream of going to The U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated from Annapolis in 1970. Mr. Reinemund served for five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and had the opportunity to work as a Social Aide in the White House during the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

In 1986, Mr. Reinemund was named president and CEO of Pizza Hut North America, where he introduced home delivery as a distribution method, overtaking the market share of rival Domino’s Pizza within two years of service. In 1999, Mr. Reinemund was promoted to the chairman and CEO of PepsiCo where, during his tenure, revenues grew by $9 billion and net income rose 70 percent. In 2008, he turned his focus to higher education and accepted a job as Dean of the Business School at Wake Forest University. During his tenure, the school transformed its approach to business education by integrating the undergraduate and graduate facilities, instilling a stronger focus on career development and emphasizing the importance of leadership, ethics and diversity. Additionally, Mr. Reinemund led the design, construction and complete funding of a new building to house the expanded business school. He retired from the position in 2014, but continues to serve on the corporate boards of ExxonMobil, Marriott International, Wal-Mart, Goldman Sachs Acquisition Holdings Corp. and Chick-fil-A.

“Steven Reinemund exemplifies all of the attributes that we look for in a Horatio Alger Member,” said Terrence J. Giroux, executive director, Horatio Alger Association. “His story and his lifelong passion for education will serve as an inspiration to our Scholars.”

Mr. Reinemund’s dedication to education can be noted throughout his philanthropic work. While Dean of Business at Wake Forest, Mr. Reinemund donated more than $2 million of his personal funds to the construction of the Business School building. Additionally, while at the University, he developed a one year-master’s business degree, designed to build a classroom of students who represent the racial and gender makeup of the workplace with the core goal of every student having a job upon graduation. In 2016, following the death of his mother, he created the Beautiful Day Scholarship at the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation in her memory. Each year, deserving students raised by single mothers and whose mother or father served in the Marine Corps are awarded up to four years of college tuition. He also continues to contribute to other initiatives of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Academy Prepatory School.

“The Horatio Alger Association’s mission of providing scholarship assistance to deserving young people is something that I felt immediately connected to,” said Mr. Reinemund. “Higher education has long been my passion, and I am grateful to become a part of an organization that makes it attainable for so many deeply deserving young people.”