Peter Nolan earned his Johnson MBA in 1982, after earning his BS from CALS in 1980. He is married to Stephanie Nolan, BS Hotel ’84, and their three children are also Cornellians: Michael (Dyson/CALS ’16), Robert (Dyson/CALS ’18), and Elizabeth (Hotel ’20, MPS ’21).
He leads Nolan Capital, the Nolan family office that makes control investments in a number of companies. Since 2014, he is also a senior advisor at Leonard Green & Partners (LGP), the largest private equity firm in southern California. After serving as a managing partner at the firm for 17 years, he continues to represent Leonard Green on several portfolio boards. He is also the majority owner of Ortega National Parks, Coastal Farm and Ranch Supply, and Diamond Wipes, among others.
He and his wife have provided transformational support for Cornell with their 2021 gift to name the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration. For Johnson, they have also established the Peter and Stephanie Nolan Veterans Professional Scholarship. And for the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, they have endowed the David J. Nolan Deanship (named for Peter’s father, Dyson ’49, MS ’51), the Peter and Stephanie Nolan Professorship, and the Nolan Family Scholarship.
Having served on the Cornell Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2016 and its Investment Committee until 2020, he is now a Presidential Councillor and a Trustee Emeritus. He also serves on the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Leadership Council and Ad-Hoc Campaign Committee. Mr. Nolan served as an ex-officio member of the Undergraduate Business Program Advisory Council and co-chaired the campaign for the Undergraduate Business Program in the Department of Applied Economics and Management (now the Dyson School) following its accreditation in 2002. He has lectured in classes in the Johnson and Dyson Schools.