Ross Community Celebrates Donor Impact and Student Success

Jon Harris, BGS, ’94, chief executive officer of AIM13 and chair of the firm’s Investment Committee and Board of Managers, serves on the University of Michigan endowment’s Investment Advisory Committee, the Polk Brothers Foundation Investment Committee, and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business Private Equity Council. 

Nicki Harris, Jon’s mother, is the president of the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Foundation, which she established with her late husband, J. Ira (Ira) Harris, BBA, ’59. At U-M, Nicki previously served on the LSA Dean’s Advisory Council (of which she is now an emeritus member). Mr. and Mrs. Harris also served as honorary co-chairs of the Michigan Difference campaign.

In 1983, the Harrises established the J. Ira Harris Scholarship, which has provided more than $2 million in MBA scholarships for more than 300 Ross students since its inception.

"It is our privilege and honor to help provide many students the ability to experience the Ross Education and all that it has to offer," Mrs. Harris said. 

Travis McHugh, MBA, ’25 — who spoke at the Donors & Scholars Celebration — is one of 21 MBA students receiving support from the J. Ira Harris Scholarship this year. 

“Going to business school is an eye-popping investment that almost precluded me from even considering pursuing an MBA in the first place,” McHugh said. 

“The gift of financial support has allowed me to be physically and mentally present wherever I go — to be the most authentic version of myself.”

A unique aspect of the J. Ira Harris Scholarship that McHugh appreciates is that it invites recipients to give to the scholarship fund when they have the financial means. It encourages them to be philanthropic. More than 60 percent of past scholarship recipients give back to the fund at some point after graduation. 

“Part of the reason why I came to Ross is the ethos of hard work and ‘paying it forward,’” McHugh continued. 

“I’m excited to bolster this tradition.”