Birkestrands give $1.5 million to Luther College to endow chair

Luther College President Paula Carlson and Dennis and Suzanne Birkestrand

Dennis and Suzanne Birkestrand of Las Vegas, Nevada, have gifted $1.5 million to Luther College to establish an endowed chair in economics and management at the school.

Dennis Birkestrand graduated from Luther in 1966 with a degree in economics and business administration.  He spent 22 years with the Maytag Corporation, serving in multiple marketing and sales positions. In 1988, Dennis and Suzanne started a distribution business for the Jenn-Air brand of appliances, headquartered in Kansas City. Leveraging their experience in the appliance industry, they co-founded Factory Direct Appliance in 1993 and for 21 years, offered a broad range of appliances to homebuilders and remodelers. They retired in 2014, after selling the business to Ferguson Enterprises.
 
Appointments to Luther's "Birkestrand Economics and Management Chair" will be for three years and may be renewed at the discretion of the academic dean and the president. The first chair will be named September 1st at Luther's Opening Convocation for the 2016-17 academic year.