Houston business and community leaders Farid and Asha Virani have made a generous philanthropic gift to Rice University’s business program igniting a new era of opportunity for students. In recognition of this historic contribution, the current undergraduate business program will be named the Virani Undergraduate School of Business.

Farid Virani is the founder and CEO of Prime Communications, the largest AT&T-authorized retailer in North America. He is deeply committed to giving back to the community through his active involvement in organizations such as Teach for America, SEARCH Homeless Services and Texas Children’s Hospital and is a longstanding member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.

Farid immigrated to the United States from Pakistan at the age of 19. After exploring various entrepreneurial ventures, he ultimately founded Prime Communications in 1999, starting with just a single store in Houston’s Baybrook Mall. Looking back on his journey, Farid credits his success to three guiding principles that have shaped both his personal and professional life: “stay humble,” “stay hungry” and “stay scrappy.” He believes these values will deeply resonate with Rice’s undergraduate business students as they embark on their paths and confront the challenges ahead, especially at a school that now proudly bears his family’s name.

Dr. Asha Virani ’89 is a Rice alumna, medical doctor and board member of The Kinkaid School and Asia Society Texas. She and Farid are also founders of The Faris Foundation, a nonprofit focused on bringing brighter days and better treatments to children with cancer, created in honor of their beloved son, Faris D. 

The couple’s son, Faraz Virani ’21, graduated from Rice with a bachelor’s degree in sport management and minors in business and entrepreneurship — the same year Rice Business launched its undergraduate business program. Their daughter, Zoya, graduated from Emory University in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology and currently works in the tech industry.

This extraordinary gift will support undergraduate curriculum development and delivery, co-curricular opportunities, a new associate dean position and other resources to support undergraduate career readiness and academic success.

“We are incredibly excited to support Rice Business, as we believe in the transformative power of education. This contribution will play a pivotal role in preparing the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs to tackle the challenges and seize the future opportunities — not just for our city, but for our state and our country,” Farid Virani said.

“Our vision is to foster a culture of curious and compassionate lifelong learners who will lead with a strong ethical orientation and intellectual humility,” Asha Virani said.

The Virani Undergraduate School of Business aims to provide students with a robust foundation in leadership and business fundamentals, including accounting, finance, marketing, organizational behavior, strategy and communications. An associate dean position will be created to lead the new school, and a national search will be conducted to fill this role.

“We are profoundly grateful to Farid and Asha Virani for their extraordinary gift, which will transform our undergraduate business education,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said. “Their success and commitment to excellence inspire our students, and their generosity will serve as a lasting testament to what can be accomplished through vision and determination.”

“This significant gift from the Virani family will advance undergraduate education, meeting a high demand for an undergraduate business major and providing unparalleled opportunities for student development. Rice is equipping graduates to become thoughtful and effective leaders in the business world and beyond,” said Amy Dittmar, the Howard R. Hughes Provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

Rice Business Dean Peter Rodriguez emphasized that this gift will significantly impact the nearly 300 students currently declared as business majors, fostering a new generation of leaders equipped to tackle pressing global challenges. This includes supporting ongoing growth in the number of business majors at Rice and advancing opportunities in areas like energy transition, artificial intelligence, nonprofits benefiting society at large, health care reform and the revitalization of urban communities.

“We extend our deepest gratitude to the Virani family for this remarkable gift, which will have a lasting impact on Rice Business students for years to come,” Rodriguez said. “This gift allows our undergraduate students not only to study with world-renowned faculty but to thrive in co-curricular endeavors and in their future careers.”

Rice University has launched the Center for Customer-Based Execution and Strategy (C-CUBES), housed within the Jones Graduate School of Business. The center is dedicated to researching, understanding and sharing customer-centered concepts and practices with for-profit and nonprofit organizations. It will serve as a hub for research scholars, business executives and nonprofit leaders to improve customer value, employee engagement and shareholder returns.

“In our mission to provide rigorous, research-backed academics and insights to our students, we are home to the best and brightest scholars. With strong relationships across key industries such as energy, health care, education and technology, C-CUBES is uniquely positioned to leverage its research advantage for the benefit of the larger community in greater Houston and beyond,” said Rice Business Dean Peter Rodriguez.

“This first-of-its-kind research center, offered through the business school, supports Rice’s strategic vision,” said Ramamoorthy Ramesh, executive vice president for research. “C-CUBES will amplify research at Rice focused on critical technologies such as quantitative analysis and AI.”

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Led by Vikas Mittal, the J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing, the center will touch all major business disciplines — accounting, finance, operations, organizational behavior, marketing and strategy. “Customers are the primary source of cash flow for any organization,” said Mittal. “Focusing organizational strategy on customer needs not only fosters customer value and employee engagement but also enables organizations to achieve their financial and nonfinancial goals.”

The Jones Graduate School of Business is nationally recognized for faculty scholarship as well as the faculty members’ focus on the real-world applications of their research. The new center’s advisory board includes Rodriguez; Isabelle Perrigne, the Reginald Henry Hargrove Professor of Economics; and Chris Jones, CEO of Swagelok-Southeast Texas. The center’s research affiliates draw on the expertise at the business school and include professors Jaeyeon Chung, Dhruv Grewal, Alessandro Piazza, Ashwin Malshe, Sonam Singh and Michael Tsiros. Through its research, the center’s ultimate goal is to reimagine strategy planning and execution in organizations by examining, informing and improving traditional methods.

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There is just something about a college campus in the fall that ranks among my top favorite things. Even when temperatures start to cool, there is so much life in these buildings. This year it feels even more exciting to think about new beginnings when I look at the courtyard and see construction for the new building or when I call students to talk with them about how they came to choose Rice Business. Seeing our graduate students and faculty mingling on campus in classes and at Partio is always a sign that another year — and some big ideas — are moving forward, whether through classroom discussions or faculty research or new partnerships.

We have had undergrads around McNair since we launched the undergraduate major in 2021, but the graduation of our first class last May is another big step in our growth. That milestone also means our new graduates deserve a proper welcome, so here is an open letter to the undergraduate class of 2024:

Dear undergrad alumni:
Welcome to the alumni ranks! We are so happy to have you as our first class of undergrad alumni. We know you just graduated a few short months ago, but we also know you’re already out there doing some very cool work and exploring deep passions. This is your magazine — a way to keep up with what’s happening at Rice Business, but also to stay connected to your classmates as you head out into the energy space of Houston, the tech space of Silicon Valley or the consulting world and beyond.

The Class Notes section of the magazine is for you to share your successes and life milestones. We know there are plenty of digital and social spaces out there, but we also know that this section of the magazine is well-loved, allowing our tight-knit community to stay close. Tell us about your cohorts, too. We’ll be on the lookout for undergraduate stories for the magazine.

Please share your updates with us by emailing me at maureen.harmon@rice.edu. I will also share updates with Rice Magazine, the magazine for the university at large. We would love to hear from you.

A few more to-dos for your list: Keep an eye on Rice Business Wisdom (business.rice.edu/wisdom), our online ideas magazine offering actionable insights based on faculty research, and subscribe to the Rice Business podcast, “Owl Have You Know” (business.rice.edu/owl-have-you-know), for more business knowledge and alumni stories.

As you set off into the world, know that you will always have a home at Rice Business. You belong here. —Maureen