2025 Northwestern Alumni Medal
T. Bondurant French ’75, ’76 MBA (’07, ’21 P)
Investment pioneer and University leader
Bon French is chairman of Adams Street Partners, one of the oldest and largest private equity firms in the US. He joined the company in 1980 and became CEO in 2001, executive chairman in 2015, and chairman in 2018. French was instrumental in the development of Adams Street’s private equity investment strategies, fund management, and investor relations. He has advised private equity firms, consultants, and investors and served as a guest lecturer to business schools, Wall Street firms, private equity conferences, and industry trade associations.
Since 1996, French has been a dedicated volunteer for Northwestern. He was appointed to the University’s Board of Trustees in 2004 and served as chair of the investment committee from 2014 to 2020. He became a life trustee in 2023. French is a member of both the Kellogg School of Management’s Full Circle Campaign Committee and Global Advisory Board and was co-chair of the “We Will” Campaign Steering Committee. Together with his late wife, Hollis “Holly” S. French, he has made significant gifts to Northwestern, including a transformational bequest commitment that will benefit Kellogg and other University programs, as well as additional gifts to Kellogg, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Athletics and Recreation, and other areas. He also has chaired several undergraduate and Kellogg class reunions and served on more than two dozen committees at the University.
French is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago Leadership Council, which serve chartered financial analysts and other investment professionals, as well as chairman of the board of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art. He is a former director of the National Venture Capital Association and a former chairman of the board of the Chicago History Museum, where he remains as a trustee.
French graduated with a BA in economics from Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and an MBA from Kellogg. His parents, Taylor ’51 and Joan Trenchard French ’51; brother, Penn French ’89 MBA; and daughter, Katheryn French Meagher ’07, ’21 MA, also attended the University.