Dudley Pratt fondly remembers the challenges he endured while attending MBA classes and working full time. So it came as no surprise when he chose to establish the C. Dudley Pratt, Jr. Endowed Scholarship for $35,000 for graduate students in the Evening MBA program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Shidler College of Business.

According to Pratt, this endowed scholarship for evening MBA students is being established to commemorate his graduation in 1971. “I saw a need to enroll in the MBA program,” said Pratt. “As I was moving up in management, I realized that my bachelors and master’s degree in civil engineering from Yale University did not fully prepare me for the financial expertise required at higher management levels. The graduate program prepared me to lead HECO and later HEI.”

Pratt enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i in 1967, at 40 years of age, while working full time at Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO). Despite two, one-year neighbor island work assignments on Maui and the Big Island in 1969 and 1970, he was able to graduate in May 1971 with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Pratt was promoted to vice president of HECO in 1971, and president & CEO in 1981. He retired from Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HEI) in 1989 to become a trustee of The Estate of James Campbell until 1997.

“Dudley has been a huge supporter of the College for many years,” said V. Vance Roley, dean of the Shidler College of Business. “I can’t think of a better way for Dudley to honor his own accomplishments than by providing graduate students with the same enriching education and experience that has served him well in his own career.”

“We are grateful to Dudley Pratt for his contribution and commitment to our graduate business students,” said UH Mānoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw. “The C. Dudley Pratt, Jr. Endowed Scholarship will provide working students with a unique opportunity to apply classroom learning with real business issues cultivating a new generation of leaders for Hawai‘i.”