Two University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business International MBA students from South Carolina and underrepresented backgrounds received in 2022 the first gift from former financier Robert “Bob” Charles Pozen.

Pozen is a former president and vice chairman of Fidelity Investments, a multinational Fortune 500 financial services corporation. Currently, Pozen is a senior lecturer for the MIT Sloan School of Management.

To enhance the Moore School’s diversity and inclusion efforts within the two-year full-time International MBA program, Pozen agreed in 2022 to sponsor two full-tuition fellowships for students who are from underrepresented backgrounds. He specifically wants the students to be from South Carolina so they can earn their International MBAs and hopefully stay in the state after they earn their degree to positively contribute to South Carolina’s workforce.

The first recipients of Pozen’s fellowships include:

• Troy Etta Knox from Lake Wylie, South Carolina, ’24 expected graduation from the International MBA program
• Sajion Moore from Greenville, South Carolina, ’24 expected graduation from the International MBA program

Knox, a “proud” South Carolina native, expressed her gratitude to Pozen and the Moore School for the opportunity.  

“I prayed for this, and I am a witness that prayer works, and dreams do come true. Without the Pozen Scholar fellowship, I would not have been able to pursue my IMBA at this time because of finances,” she said. “As a first-generation college graduate, I will be the first one in my family to attain an MBA. The fellowship has not only provided me with the financial ability to pursue my MBA, it has also postured me to smash ceilings, re-imagine what is possible and create a new vision for success, access and wealth for my family.” 

Pozen has made similar gifts to other SEC schools, including the University of Alabama, University of Florida, University of Mississippi and the University of Georgia.

“I believe that helping in-state minorities obtain their MBA will lead to a more diverse business community in each of these states,” Pozen said. 

The Pozen Scholars program aligns well with the Moore School MBA’s commitment to encouraging a more diverse and inclusive culture, said Deborah Hazzard, the Moore School’s associate dean for diversity and inclusion. Currently, the International MBA program has a recruiter who is “laser-focused on trying to ensure we have a really robust representation of different identities” within the program.

The Moore School has already made recruiting underrepresented student groups a strategic priority and is ensuring strategic investments are made to help them be successful, Hazzard added.