Fortune 500 CEOs equally likely to attend public, private colleges.

Byline: Bernadette Starzee

Fortune 500 CEOs are just as likely to go to public colleges as private schools for their undergraduate degree, according to a report by Chicago-based Kittleman & Associates.

The group found that 213 of the chief executives at Fortune 500 companies attended a private college and 213 went to a public one. Another 56 CEOs were educated in a different country, while 18 did not go to college.

The University of Wisconsin, a public system, produced the most Fortune 500 CEOs 14 followed by private, Ivy League institutions Harvard University, with 12, and Cornell University, with 10. The University of Michigan, which is public, placed fourth with eight CEOs, followed by Stanford University, a private school that produced seven Fortune 500 leaders. The State University of New York system turned out five Fortune 500 CEOs tying it for 10th place with seven others.

In a related survey, SUNY schools produced two of the top executives in the nation's largest 100 nonprofit organizations, tying the system for fourth with several other universities, behind Yale, with four top 100 nonprofit leaders, Georgetown and Princeton universities, with three apiece.

Unlike Fortune 500 companies, the top executives at the largest nonprofits were significantly more likely 55 versus 32 to study at a private college, with 15 attending Ivy League institutions. Nine nonprofit leaders do not have an undergraduate degree, while four were educated internationally.

Kittleman & Associates is an executive recruitment firm serving nonprofit organizations.

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