Thanks to a generous gift from Thomas Tippl and his wife, Laura, NYU Steinhardt is helping students with financial need experience the life-changing encounters that come from studying abroad.
Thomas Tippl
Tippl and his wife helped create the Undergraduate Travel Scholarships fund in June of 2019, which helps defray the costs of studying abroad for low-income students, from the obvious such as airplane tickets and housing, to giving up work-study jobs on campus in order to enable the trip.
Tippl, who was born and grew up in Austria, says that despite his family’s modest background, he was able to undertake internships abroad, thanks in part to the country’s system of free education.
“I was fortunate to study and work in other countries when I was young, which really opened my mind coming from a small and very homogenous country like Austria,” says Tippl, who spent time in London and New York City during his studies. “I gravitated toward career paths that presented international opportunities because I was ready to have more adventures than what I could find at home.”
After studying business administration and earning his master’s in economics and social sciences from the Wirtschaftuniversitaet Wien, Tippl began working in finance at American multinational Procter & Gamble (P&G). His nearly 15-year career with the company saw him working in Vienna, Brussels, Guangzhou (where he met his wife, Laura), Kobe (where his daughter Sophie, a Steinhardt summa cum laude alumna, was born), Geneva – and finally Cincinnati, Ohio, the location of P&G’s headquarters.
“It was quite a contrast,” laughs Tippl.
After a few years, a colleague of Tippl’s from his time in Japan had left P&G to become CEO of Activision Publishing, a prominent, California-based video game publisher. Tippl came on board as the company’s CFO in 2005. Activision merged with Vivendi Games and became Activision Blizzard a few years later, after which Tippl became the chief corporate officer overseeing all the company’s corporate functions.
After seven years of running the corporation as the chief operating officer, Tippl decided to step back his role and is now the vice chairman, advising the board and the current CEO.
“Now I’m savoring life and spending quality time with my family,” says Tippl, who is also an avid (and championship-winning) racecar driver.
While Tippl feels fortunate to have been able to give his own two children many wonderful opportunities, he also recognizes the deep disparity among American youth.
“Where I’m from, education is based on merit, but for a lot of kids in the United States, it’s very hard to get those chances to get ahead,” says Tippl. “Education is the big equalizer in life, and I feel strongly that kids in the States should gain a broader perspective and experience the world beyond US borders.”
In order to help facilitate that dream for a few students, Tippl has been funding students to go abroad through Undergraduate Travel Scholarships. The three fall 2021 recipients are currently studying in NYU Accra and NYU Madrid.
“I cannot think of a better way to use the rewards of my own hard work and luck I had along the way to give back to something meaningful like this.”
“I got to have a video meeting with students who are recipients of financial aid, and listening to what it took for them just to make it to NYU, and then how excited and grateful they were to go abroad was incredible,” says Tippl. “It was even more rewarding than I anticipated.”
Through Tippl’s generosity, students are able to gain professional development and study programs that aren’t even offered in the US. From his perspective, it’s been a great start of a continued relationship with Steinhardt.
“I’m happy to continue to sponsor students through the Undergraduate Travel Scholarships – it’s a very worthwhile endeavor,” says Tippl. “I cannot think of a better way to use the rewards of my own hard work and luck I had along the way to give back to something meaningful like this.”
To make your impact on students’ lives and perspectives, make a gift in support of undergraduate travel scholarships now.