On September 28, 2022, the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley (“IGS”) will dedicate its graduate student research hub in honor of William A. Brandt, Jr.

July 26, 2022

All of us at DSI are honored to announce on September 28, 2022, the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley (“IGS”) will dedicate its graduate student research hub in honor of William A. Brandt, Jr.

The research space otherwise previously known as the “Hub” has long been the central research and collaboration center for the IGS student community and faculty, and will now be named the “Bill Brandt Graduate Student Carrels.”  This honor is being given to Mr. Brandt for his longtime support and leadership of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.

In addition to Bill’s long-standing leadership of the IGS program, he is joined by his wife Patrice Bugelas-Brandt in the creation and support of the Mike Synar Graduate Research Fellowship and the Charles H. Percy Undergraduate Grant for Public Affairs Research, which recognize and elevate some of UC Berkeley’s most promising students.  These fellowships were created to honor Congressman Mike Synar of Oklahoma who was Bill’s collaborator when he first became active in politics and public policy, and Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois for whom Patrice worked as a press secretary.

Mr. Brandt has been a dedicated advocate and supporter of higher education.  As a member and later chairman of IGS’s National Advisory Council (2006-2018), Mr. Brandt played an integral role in recruiting major supporters to the Institute and in spearheading its annual salon dinner, which brought in nationally-recognized figures to speak about American politics. From 2007-2016 he also served on the Board of Trustees at Loyola University Chicago. Simultaneously, Mr. Brandt served as Chair of the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA, 2008-2012) one of the nation’s largest state-sponsored self-financed entities principally engaged in issuing taxable and tax-exempt bonds, making loans and investing capital for business, nonprofit organizations and local governments. Under his guidance and with the support of the State Legislature and Governor, Mr. Brandt fostered a “first in the country” interest-free medical school education loans program to cover medical school tuitions for undocumented Illinois “dreamers.” In exchange, upon receiving their medical degrees from any certified medical school in the United States, these new doctors are committed to return to Illinois and spend four years practicing medicine in underserved communities.

Mr. Brandt holds a BA with honors in Sociology and Urban Affairs from Saint Louis University and an MA in Sociology from the University of Chicago where he also completed doctoral coursework, all but the dissertation. He served as a faculty member of at the College of DuPage and Thornton Community College as a well as a visiting research associate at Harvard University.

In addition to his political advocacy, public policy work and commitment to higher education, for more than 45 years, Mr. Brandt is the founder and Executive Chairman of Development Specialists, Inc., better known worldwide as DSI and widely recognized as one of the foremost firms in the corporate restructuring industry. He was recently informed that he is being named as the recipient of the 2022 Harvey R. Miller Outstanding Achievement Award presented by the Beard Group.