Emerging Markets Institute renamed in honor of Gail and Rob Cañizares ’71, MBA ’74
Lourdes Casanova, Andrew Karolyi, and Gail Cañizares cut into the cake, while two people steady it (photo by Michael Graham).
The Emerging Markets Institute at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business is now the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets, in recognition of an endowment established by Gail and Rob Cañizares ’71, MBA ’74. The name was announced Nov. 7 at in New York City at the EMI Annual Conference marking the institute’s 15th anniversary.
“This is a moment of both celebration and gratitude,” said Andrew Karolyi, Charles Field Knight Dean of the SC Johnson College of Business. “It’s all about action. Talking and understanding are important, but ultimately, it’s about action.”
Before retiring as president of MSA International, Rob Cañizares led global businesses and operations at Trane and MSA, and his experience across emerging markets shaped his long-standing engagement with Cornell.
“Gail and I have a lifelong appreciation and affection for Cornell that, given our life pace and 20 years as expats, deserved more than I could commit to until I retired,” Rob Cañizares said after the event, held on the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island. “In 2012, I finally had the time to devote the attention and energy I wanted to provide.”
The family’s earlier philanthropic support endowed the center’s directorship and the Cañizares Student Funds, which helped grow research efforts and support for MBA fellows programs and experiential learning. They also established the Cañizares Alumni Awards in 2022 to recognize outstanding alumni careers and impact in emerging markets. The 2025 awardees, Wendell Huang, MBA ’86, chief financial officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and Esohe Denise Odaro, MBA ’09, head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives and sustainability at PAI Partners, were recognized at the EMI Conference. The Cañizareses’ newest commitment expands initiatives in all these areas.
Before the naming announcement, the center’s founders, Nell Cady-Kruse, MBA ’85, and Karolyi shared a brief reflection on its origins and creation. Karolyi recalled that he was recruited to Cornell with faculty colleague Ya-Ru Chen, Nicholas H. Noyes Professor of Management, to help build a stronger global presence in the business school. With impetus from Robert Staley ’57, BME ’58, MBA ’59, and support from faculty colleagues, they founded the center in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in 2010.
The 2025 conference brought together hundreds of alumni, practitioners, students, and global partners for sessions on financial markets, digital assets and currencies, and multinationals. It also featured the Mark Mobius Pitch Competition, the Corning Case Competition, and the release of the 10th Emerging Market Multinationals Report.
Members of the Emerging Markets Institute Club reflected on the influence of the center, describing it as fundamental to their Cornell experience.
“I’m completely confident that no other institute gives so much to undergrads as EMI does,” said Dimitrios Nerantzinis ’25, the club’s president.
Lourdes Casanova, the inaugural Gail and Rob Cañizares Director of the center and the coauthor of the annual Emerging Market Multinationals Report with faculty fellow Anne Miroux, arrived at Cornell in 2012 and became the center’s director in 2014. Since then, she has expanded the center’s involvement with graduate and undergraduate programs in the SC Johnson College, grown its reach across continents, and enhanced its reputation in a globally connected community.
“We built this together,” Casanova said. “What we have today is the result of many Cornell students and alumni volunteers believing in and continuing to highlight the importance of emerging markets. Rob has supported that vision from the beginning, not only financially, but most importantly with his personal involvement and mentorship to me. Gail’s and Rob’s trust, their encouragement, and their passion to support our students made this center possible.”
Gail Cañizares said the renaming carries personal meaning rooted in the couple’s shared Cornell story and their family’s life experience in emerging markets. In closing remarks, she said her husband likes to refer to the center as EMC², which subtly connects to his applied engineering physics undergraduate degree. “Don’t forget the square,” she told the audience, smiling.
After the event, Karolyi said, “When this center was founded, we recognized that by looking beyond our borders, our students and faculty could learn from — and contribute to — emerging markets. Business is an outward-facing endeavor, and we’re so grateful that Rob and Gail Cañizares are such strong supporters.”