Edward ’90 and Julie Hoofnagle Continue Support of Student Scholarships as Part of Whitman Leadership Circle

Edward G. Hoofnagle ’90 has fond memories of his time at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management. As an accounting student in the University’s Honors Program, he worked diligently, challenging himself to achieve. Now, after more than 30 years in business, he looks back at his success with a perspective that knows that the roots of his achievement were thanks, in part, to the Junior Achievement-based scholarship he received to attend Syracuse University. Today, he and his wife, Julie, are happy to pay it forward as part of the Whitman Leadership Circle.

Starting out at PwC, Hoofnagle’s career led to forming and ultimately selling several private companies focused on technology and consulting. He has been managing Private Capital Investment in St. Petersburg, Florida, since 2012.

Hoofnagle recalls not only the financial support he received at Whitman but also several professors who took the time “to impart information or lessons learned that I’ve taken with me throughout my career,” he says. He recalls how Whitman Professor of Law and Public Policy and past Interim Dean Sandra Hurd encouraged him to be a more creative thinker and get a more well-rounded understanding of business, as well as Professor Emeritus Robert D. McClure of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Policy, who encouraged him to take Spanish classes, something that gave Hoofnagle an advantage when he later worked at Santander Bank in Madrid.

In 2022, the Hoofnagles decided to pay forward the current value of the scholarship that Ed received in the late 1980s. They pledged a current gift to the Whitman School, creating the Edward G. Hoofnagle ’90 and Julie Hoofnagle Scholarship for financial assistance to undergraduate Whitman students and then signed a second pledge to create an endowed scholarship. Three Whitman students each received a $10,000 scholarship this year through their generosity.

“Earning this scholarship has opened doors and provided opportunities for experiences I might not otherwise have been able to take advantage of. Thanks to the kindness of the Hoofnagle family, I can continue to be a pioneer for academic excellence and hopefully impact future generations of students, as well, and I will continue paying it forward to other students who might be in the same boat as I was,” says John Spina ’27 (WSM/NEW), one of the 2024-25 recipients of the Hoofnagle Scholarship and a dual major in entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises (EEE) at Whitman and advertising at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Hoofnagle is pleased to hear that the scholarship is making an impression in the lives of students like Spina. “I think as you get older, you have a greater perspective for what something like a scholarship can do to set you on a path for success. I wanted to make sure to express gratitude to Whitman and to Junior Achievement.  As we got in a position to give, Julie and I decided to fund this scholarship to express our appreciation.”

“With any achievement comes a set of challenges, and most people talk about how somebody was there along the way to help,” adds Julie. “To be a part of providing that help is very rewarding for us.”

The Hoofnagles are also members of the Whitman School Honor Roll and the Vice Chancellor’s Circle of the Syracuse University Hill Society.

By Caroline K. Reff