Stanley W. Silverman Makes a Pledge for the Next Generation

When Stanley W. Silverman, BS CoE, ’69, MBA LCoB ’74, received the A.J. Drexel Paul Award in 2009, he credited his Drexel education “for providing the opportunity to develop the foundation for a successful and rewarding career.”

The former President and CEO of the PQ Corporation, a privately held global chemicals and engineered glass materials enterprise, Stan now serves as a director on the boards of both publicly traded private equity owned companies. He also has been an invited lecturer on the subject of “Leadership” at the Wharton School and at the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business.

Stan is a longtime philanthropist to Drexel, but he also supports his alma mater with his time and expertise. He currently serves as trustee on the Drexel board, chairing the board finance committee, and he is a trustee on the Drexel University College of Medicine board. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the LeBow College of Business. In 1992 he was inducted into the Drexel 100, and in 1995 he received Drexel’s College of Engineering Alumnus Award. In 2004 Stan was inducted in the National Commission for Cooperative Education Hall of Fame. He is also a Charter Member of the College of Engineering’s Circle of Distinction. Those are just some of the honors Stan has received for the numerous contributions he has made as a Drexel alumnus.

He maintains that his time as a student at Drexel was pivotal to a productive career: “I had three solid co-op experiences that taught me how to deal with different kinds of people, and I learned how to deal with a range of issues and problems. My co-op positions proved to be of significant value in my first job after graduation.”

Why did he decide to earn an MBA after completing his degree in Engineering? “Earning an MBA seemed like the natural thing to do in order to have a wider range of career possibilities,” he says. “After five to seven years, most Engineering majors aren’t engineers anymore—they use their engineering backgrounds to do other things.”  

Stan and his wife, Jackie, recently made a significant pledge to the comprehensive Drexel Campaign, Dream It. Do It. Drexel. A Campaign for the Future, because, says Stan, “we believe that people who have been successful have a responsibility to help the next generation succeed.”