A $500,000 gift from Steve and Polly Percy to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law will create a named professorship to support scholarly work in environmental or energy law. The Steven W. Percy Endowed Professorship, law’s fifth endowed professorship, will be held by a member of the faculty appointed by the dean, based on exemplary research, scholarship, and commitment to teaching.
Long-time supporters of C|M|LAW, the Percys are now members of the President’s Cabinet donor recognition society for lifetime gifts to CSU of more than $1 million. Alumnus Percy, JD ’79, is the former chairman and CEO of BP America, Inc. He joined the Standard Oil Company, predecessor to BP America, in 1976 and spent significant time working in London, where he served as group treasurer of The British Petroleum Company PLC and chief executive of BP Finance International. Prior to his promotion to chairman and CEO of BP America in 1996, he served as president of BP Oil’s U.S. Division and executive vice president of BP America.
He currently serves on the Leadership Cabinet for ENGAGE: The Campaign for Cleveland State University and is a member and past chair of both the CSU Foundation Board of Directors and Cleveland-Marshall’s National Advisory Council. During the 2012-13 academic year he served as interim dean of the Monte Ahuja College of Business.
“We are extremely grateful for Steve and Polly’s generous support of the law school over the years. Steve has had an outstanding career as a businessman in multiple roles, and we are proud to name this professorship after an alumnus who serves as an example of the unlimited opportunities accessible to our graduates,” said Dean Craig Boise.
Since retiring from BP, Percy has held positions as the head of Phillips Petroleum’s Refining, Marketing and Transportation Company, and conducted workshops on corporate governance for the AHC Group, a strategic consultant in the areas of environment, energy and materials. He served as a member of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development as Co-Chair of the Climate Change Task Force, and is active with several organizations pertaining to environmental and economic research.