While he has enjoyed a very successful business career, Robert Murley is taking on a new challenge as chairman of the Lake Forest College Board of Trustees.
Murley, a member of the Lake Forest College board since 2019, assumed the chairmanship on June 1. He has spent the past year preparing for the role, which is set to run through June 30, 2029.
In an interview, Murley outlined his goals for the liberal arts college, which was founded in 1857.
“I believe that Lake Forest College is an incredibly important part of Lake Forest,” he said. “It is an important asset; it is part of the culture and I want it to be successful.”
Born in California, Murley was raised primarily by his mother, a public school teacher, after his father died when he was young. Despite limited financial resources, he was accepted to Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree. He later received an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Murley began his professional career in investment banking when he joined The First Boston Corporation in 1975. Today, he serves as vice chairman of UBS, specializing in advising major corporations on mergers, acquisitions and capital raising.
In the early 1980s, Murley and his wife, Mimi, were living in Greenwich, Connecticut, when he was offered an opportunity in Chicago that led to a promotion. The couple moved to Lake Forest in 1984.
Although he had been approached previously about becoming involved with Lake Forest College, Murley declined because of time constraints. In 2019, however, he joined the board of trustees.
Fellow trustees praise his leadership abilities.
“Bob Murley has a unique opportunity to help LFC excel by working closely with the new college president, staff and trustees,” Trustee Susan Garrett said. “He has been deeply involved in education during his professional life and will bring that expertise to the table.”
Murley has served on several board committees during the past six years and last year co-chaired the presidential search committee that recommended Mike Sosulski as the college’s 15th president.
Sosulski is approaching his first anniversary in office, and Murley is pleased with the early results.
“He is an outstanding academic leader,” Murley said.
As board chairman, Murley is responsible for board governance and leadership oversight. According to the college’s most recent figures, Lake Forest College enrolls more than 1,800 students from 43 states and 114 countries. Annual tuition is approximately $58,000, and the institution operates with a budget of roughly $70 million.
The college’s endowment stands at $137 million, a figure Murley hopes to increase.
“It’s doing well, but it is undercapitalized to support its mission,” he said. “It needs to grow its endowment. It needs to develop and build stronger ties to its alumni community and create a culture of philanthropy within the undergraduate and graduate student body.”
Murley also wants to diversify the college’s revenue streams amid concerns about declining enrollment driven by demographic trends, lower birth rates and federal immigration policies that could reduce the number of international students.
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Among his first-year priorities is reshaping the board’s governance structure, including the possible creation of new committees.
He also plans to announce a chairman for the college’s upcoming capital campaign, which aims to raise $175 million.
Murley believes his extensive business and civic connections can help advance the college’s goals. He serves on several boards of other universities and colleges, as well as the American Enterprise Institute, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
He also wants to strengthen relationships with alumni, businesses and community organizations while expanding career opportunities for students.
“My view is, if you’re paying this kind of money to send your children to college, you expect your child to get an education and you expect the school to help the child get a job for the next step,” he said.
Murley would also like to see the college become a more visible presence within the community.
“I would love to see Lake Forest seen not only as a wonderful residential community but also a college town,” he said. “When people think of Lake Forest, they think of a beautiful community, they also think of Lake Forest College. I think the school will benefit from that.”
To help achieve that goal, Murley hopes to leverage his relationships to bring notable speakers and other programs to campus.
“The whole goal of building those relationships to the community is to have the community believe and see that there’s value in what is going on here,” he said.
A strong advocate for liberal arts education, Murley believes its value is increasingly underestimated.
He argues that college graduates continue to enjoy greater job security and financial opportunities than those without degrees.
Murley assumes the chairmanship at a time when colleges are grappling with the growing influence of artificial intelligence. LFC has offered a minor in AI since 2025.
“We are not going to push AI away; we have to embrace it,” he said. “One of the ways we are embracing it is we are offering now a minor and maybe soon a major in artificial intelligence. If that is going to be critical for young graduates to understand how to use AI to make them more effective as employees or whatever job they are pursuing or building their own companies, they need to have the basic tools.”
Murley was selected last year to succeed William Lowry as board chairman and has worked closely with Lowry throughout the transition. Lowry will remain on both the board and its executive committee.
Murley will continue in his role at UBS and emphasized that he does not intend to interfere with Sosulski’s responsibilities as president.
Still, he is optimistic about what can be accomplished during his tenure as chairman.
“What I’m most excited about is the opportunity to help this school to be on a path to gain its fullest potential through increased support for its mission,” he said. “And for creating a solid financial base to achieve its goals.”
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.