The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School today announced a $50 million gift from the W. P. Carey Foundation, bringing the foundation’s cumulative support for the school to $125 million since its inaugural gift in 2007 and placing the W. P. Carey Foundation among the top 10 single contributors to a graduate business school.
“We are deeply honored by the W. P. Carey Foundation’s faith in Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and its ongoing support of the Baltimore area,” said Carey Dean Alex Triantis. “Together, we will continue to position Carey Business School as the premier school in the business of health, offering unique value for students.”
“This historic gift from the W. P. Carey Foundation helps ensure that the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is educating the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs who will drive continued economic growth in Maryland and across the country,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. “By strengthening programs in entrepreneurship and the business of health, this investment is creating pathways for innovation, job creation and long term prosperity—right here in Baltimore. It is a powerful example of how investment in education can strengthen communities, expand opportunity and build a more resilient economic future.”
Enhancing high-impact initiatives for student entrepreneurs
The foundation’s gift will provide startup funding and augment direct connections for full-time MBA students to Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures and The Pava Marie LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship. It’s the kind of support that can help students like Anika Mistry, MBA ’26, launch their innovative startups right here in Baltimore.
Mistry, who is finishing a 3+2 degree that pairs her BS in Computer Science and BA in Cognitive Science from Johns Hopkins University with her MBA from Carey Business School, founded DevMinds, an AI-powered social-emotional learning platform that delivers educational tools to help neurodiverse children practice important skills at home between therapy sessions. Mistry's product was initially heavy in virtual reality, but after doing some customer discovery through her MBA education, Mistry learned that many families, therapists, and learning centers in Baltimore had limited access to technology. So she pivoted to a more accessible, research-grounded platform that better aligns with local clinical practices and community resources.
“When I came into the MBA, my intention was, ‘How can I scale DevMinds, and how can I combine the technical with the strategic?’” Mistry said. “But the experiential learning that Carey has given me is going to be really helpful for me as I grow my business.”
That experiential learning includes work with the Pava Marie LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship, a Hopkins incubator and springboard for startups that offers non-dilutive funding, mentorship, accelerators, and a venture strategy program – all designed to give students the practical understandings for how to pitch their projects to investors, scale them to markets, and more. Through those new understandings, Mistry redeveloped DevMinds for the Baltimore market, where her business now serves hundreds of families and dozens of therapists. She has also acquired nearly $100,000 in startup funds.
“Carey helped me go from just a builder to a CEO and a founder,” she said.
Cream of the crop
It’s fairly easy to see the potential of the W. P. Carey Foundation’s gift for Carey Business School and for Baltimore; robustly enhancing the kind of interdisciplinary, collaborative, entrepreneurial engine that the school, combined with the Pava Center and the powerhouse Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures, will no doubt attract top students to Carey’s MBA program. The gift will also fund faculty professorships and invest in faculty support, including the connection of faculty with industry partners. And it will support ways to increase Carey Business School’s visibility as the premier school in the business of health—the fastest-growing field in the domestic economy.
“Our goal at the W. P. Carey Foundation is to prepare generations of professionals with a calling for leadership in business and civic life,” said William P. Carey II, the foundation’s chair and grand-nephew of its founder. “It’s inspiring to see how many of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s students and graduates want to use their energy and intellect as a force for good—not only in business, but in their communities. Baltimore has long been central to that mission, and we are proud to support educational pathways that foster opportunity, growth and lasting socioeconomic impact in the city and beyond. We are honored that our family name is part of their success stories, and enthusiastic about continuing that legacy for the next generation of Carey scholars.”
Why Baltimore matters
The Carey family has entrepreneurial roots in the city dating back to the 18th century, and connections to Johns Hopkins University dating back to the 19th century as part of the board of trustees. In 1996, W. P. Carey Foundation Founder William (Bill) Polk Carey endowed the W. P. Carey Programs in Entrepreneurship and Management at Johns Hopkins University, an innovative program preparing undergraduate engineers to manage businesses or to start their own companies. Born and raised in Baltimore, Bill Carey was passionate about business in the city. His foundation is intent on opportunities for Carey student entrepreneurs that further innovate the regional business landscape.
“Bill Carey often said that every great city must have a great business school, and this gift is rooted in that belief,” said Ben Griswold IV, a senior advisor at Brown Advisory and a member of the Carey Business School Dean’s Advisory Board. “The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is helping shape the next generation of leaders who will strengthen Baltimore’s economy, fuel entrepreneurship and drive meaningful impact across the city. By investing in the school’s growth, the W. P. Carey Foundation is investing in Baltimore’s future.”
That future is increasingly reliant on AI, which the school has integrated into its programs and courses, and on the business of health. In a state where healthcare is a driving economic force, Carey Business School and its graduates are uniquely positioned to make an impact.
“There has never been a more compelling moment to invest in Baltimore,” said David Rubenstein, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles and co-founder of Carlyle, where he is also board co-chair. “This commitment to the Carey Business School represents a meaningful investment in the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem—one that can generate long-term economic impact for Baltimore and the state of Maryland. By honoring the W. P. Carey Foundation’s historic commitment to Johns Hopkins, the foundation is not only recognizing a legacy of excellence, but also helping to build the next generation of innovative leaders and businesses.”
The newest round of support for students began nearly two years ago, following a $1 billion investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies in need-based financial aid for graduate programs in each of the university’s divisions, which made it possible, in part, for more talented students to earn a full-time MBA at Johns Hopkins. Together, the two philanthropic investments will vastly expand opportunities for future entrepreneurs from many backgrounds.
