Erb Institute
The Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise is a partnership between the Ross School of Business and the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan. The institute was founded 20 years ago as a dual-degree program in which graduate students receive their MBA from Ross and their MS from SEAS. The Institute draws on faculty throughout the University and has a Faculty Director, Joseph Arvai,[1] and three core professors Thomas P. Lyon, Sara Soderstrom and Andrew Hoffman.
The Erb Institute was created in 1996 via donations from Frederick A. Erb (BBA ’47) and his wife, Barbara, and is a partnership between the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan.
Founders
Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb founded the Institute in 1996 with an endowment gift of $5 million. To date, they along with many other sponsors have made cumulative gifts totaling $30 million in support of the Institute.
Both Fred and Barbara were born and raised in the Detroit area. After graduating in 1941 from the Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Fred Erb attended Cornell University to study engineering. Having decided that he wanted to be an entrepreneur and "control his own destiny," Fred switched from engineering to business and achieved his BBA degree with honors in August 1947.
Fred undertook his first entrepreneurial opportunity through the acquisition of his uncle's lumber and coal business in Royal Oak, Michigan. At that time, the Erb Lumber Company had one store, seven employees, and revenues approaching $200,000, one third of which were generated from the sale of coal. Fred developed and expanded the enterprise and when he sold it to Carolina Builders in 1993 the Erb Lumber Company had 45 locations and approximately $300 million in sales. Fred continues to be active in real estate development and management, and in many other businesses including Edgemere Enterprises in Birmingham. His wife Barbara was active in numerous community service organizations and served on the boards of The Music Hall of Detroit and the Michigan Art Train. She was a member of the Women’s Committee of the Cranbrook Academy of Art and the local chapter of the National Farm and Garden Club.