$300 million gift from Fred and Jane Kummer propels educational institute to new heights

Kathryn Walker, of Olathe, Kansas, managing director of OpenAir Equity Partners, has been named chair of the Kummer Institute Foundation Board of Directors at Missouri S&T. Board members recently elected Walker to succeed Dr. G.P. “Bud” Peterson, who had led the institute for three years.

As we reported earlier, Fred and June Kummer donated $300 million to Missouri S&T to establish the Kummer Institute for Student Success, Research and Economic Development to support Missouri S&T. The gift also established the Kummer Institute Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation that supports several new initiatives at Missouri S&T.

The Kummer Institute Foundation Board is responsible for fiduciary management of the gift. Members oversee investments of funds from the gift and establish budgetary guidelines and policy. They serve four-year terms with the possibility of one renewal.

“Kathy is the best person to lead this board as it continues to implement Fred Kummer’s vision for the campus and community,” says Missouri S&T Chancellor Dr. Mo Dehghani, who also serves as president and chief executive officer of the Kummer Institute and a member of the board.

“Kathy has the experience and knowledge to help achieve the board’s goals while elevating them to higher standards and accomplishing more for S&T students. I really look forward to working more with her in this new role.”

Walker earned a bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University in 1981. In 1982, she earned a master’s degree in engineering management from Missouri S&T, and received an award of professional distinction in engineering management in 1999.

Walker currently works for OpenAir Equity Partners, a venture capital firm focused on investments in early-stage technology. Previously, Walker worked for Sprint Nextel for more than 24 years where, as chief network and information officer, she was responsible for planning, design, and operation of the company’s IT and network organizations.

At Missouri S&T, Walker is a member of the Academy of Engineering Management. She has served on the Engineering Advisory Board and Career Development Council and has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2008, serving as board president from 2018-2020. Walker is an Alumni Achievement Award recipient and was inducted into S&T’s Women in Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. She and her husband, Mark, also a Missouri S&T graduate, established the Kathy and Mark Walker Endowed Scholarship.

The Kummer Institute for Student Success, Research and Economic Development (Kummer Institute) was established in October 2020 through a $300 million gift from June Kummer and her husband, Fred Kummer, who was a 1955 civil engineering graduate of Missouri S&T (then known as the University of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy). Fred Kummer was founder and chair of St. Louis-based HBE Corp., which he established in 1960 and built into the world’s leading design-build firm for health care.

The Kummers’ gift also established The Kummer Institute Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports initiatives designed to elevate the stature of Missouri S&T, provide broad outreach for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education at all levels, and positively impact the economy of south-central Missouri and beyond.

Kummer Institute initiatives include four research centers, the Kummer Center for STEM Education, and the Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development. Learn more at KummerInstitute.mst.edu.

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact.

Octogenarian Fred Kummer is in the office every day; still a hands-on leader. As president and CEO of St. Louis-based HBE Corp., the nation’s leading design-build firm specializing in health care, Kummer is a scrapper who built his own company from the ground up, reaching a pinnacle of business success that few others have. He’s done it with a keen eye for detail, a strong sense of commitment and a solid work ethic.

That work ethic has been with him since his first high school entrepreneurial venture; printing menus for hotel restaurants out of the basement of the New York City hotel his family lived in.

His management philosophy probably hasn’t changed much since those days of setting lead type, where he learned that attention to detail leads to customer satisfaction.

“The detail is where you deliver the product,” Kummer says.

Early in his career, Kummer recognized the health care industry’s need for a single-source planner, designer and builder to maximize cost control. So he founded Hospital Building and Equipment, now HBE Corp., in 1960. To date, HBE has built nearly 1,000 hospitals in 49 states.

Back in 1973, Kummer launched the Adam’s Mark Hotels and Resorts chain. Operating up to 24 upscale properties over the next 35 years, he grew the chain into one of the largest independently owned and operated companies in the hospitality industry. He sold the Adam’s Mark Hotels in 2008.

Through the years, Kummer’s commitment to his alma mater has been unwavering. He has extended his design-build expertise to the Missouri S&T campus on many building projects.

He is a former trustee and he served six years on the University of Missouri Board of Curators. Kummer has also been a volunteer fundraiser and a generous donor.

He and his wife, June, recently made the naming gift for construction of the Kummer Student Design Center.