UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ten years ago, Jim Brandau became one of the youngest Penn State Smeal College of Business alumni to create a scholarship when he and his wife, Micaela, endowed the Brandau Family Trustee Scholarship in their mid-30s.
Now, the couple has made plans to grow their philanthropic legacy with a $1.5 million estate commitment. The gift will be split equally between their Trustee Scholarship and the Brandau Family Open Doors Scholarship, which the couple established in 2018.
"We are deeply grateful for Jim and Micaela’s extraordinary commitment,” said Corey Phelps, John and Karen Arnold Dean of Smeal.
“As a second-generation Penn State graduate and a long-standing volunteer, Jim embodies the spirit of giving that defines Penn Staters," Phelps said. "The Brandaus’ gift will help ensure that future generations of Smeal students have access to the same world-class business education that helped prepare Jim for success.”
Brandau earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Smeal in 2003 and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010.
He began his career in 2003 as an analyst at J.P. Morgan Private Bank and later worked at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management where he and his partners managed assets for foundations and high-net-worth families. In 2014, he joined Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. as a managing director, and in 2022, he joined William Blair & Company as a managing director. In his current role, he and his team manage assets for private business owners, executives, endowments, foundations and high-net-worth investors.
Brandau said he always believed that graduation was just one step in a lifelong relationship with Penn State.
“As a student, I met a few finance alums through Smeal’s mentoring program, and that helped me really understand the different avenues available within finance, like investment banking or sales and trading or private wealth. These conversations were so helpful to me that I immediately signed on to mentor other students after I had graduated,” he said.
Today, Brandau serves on multiple University boards, including the Smeal Board of Visitors, the Nittany Lion Fund (where he is board chair) and the Penn State Investment Council. He is also a past president of the Smeal Alumni Society Board.
Outside of Penn State, he serves on the board for organizations such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
Brandau said he credits his father and uncle for inspiring his lifelong love of Penn State.
“I’ve been coming to Penn State games with them since I was little, and Penn State is the only college I ever wanted to attend. So much so that I hand delivered my application and high school transcript when I attended their Spend a Summer Day program before starting my senior year of high school. I didn’t even tell my parents until after I had turned it in,” he said with a laugh.
Now, the Brandaus are hoping to instill that same love of Penn State in their three boys.
“We spend a lot of time in State College with our extended family, and there is a lot of similarity between how I grew up and how we are raising the boys,” Brandau said. “Sports is a part of that, but they also see how much time I give to the University and how much Penn State and Smeal mean to me. I hope that it translates into some third-generation Penn Staters.”
Micaela Brandau graduated with a degree in economics from Boston College in 2001 and started her career as an analyst with Bank of America. She also earned an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010.
Following graduation, she joined the MBA Leadership Development Program at Johnson and Johnson and held several positions of increasing responsibility across finance, marketing and supply chain strategy over nearly 12 years with the firm. She currently serves as a vice president, global products and solutions, at Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen), where she focuses on advancing healthcare solutions on a global scale.
Not long after the couple established their first scholarship at Smeal, Jim said he started to frame the letters they were receiving from their scholarship recipients and hang them on their bedroom wall.
Micaela said she will sometimes point out that the letters don’t match the décor. Yet they remain.
“It’s not the ‘thank you’ that makes us hold on to them,” Micaela said. “It’s knowing how each scholarship changed a student’s life — what they want to do after college, the internship or formal job offers they’ve accepted. It’s such a powerful reminder of why we give.”
Jim said following the career arcs of scholarship recipients is inspiring.
“Penn State is a big part of our lives,” Jim Brandau added. “The interactions we’ve had with our scholarship recipients, whether it’s receiving a letter or sitting down for lunch to learn more about them and then following their careers after graduation, that’s been so rewarding for us.”
The Brandaus said they recognize that, in their mid-40s, they might be considered young to document an estate gift, but they both agree that it’s never too early to share your intention to leave a legacy at Penn State.
“Families often start thinking about estate planning when they have kids,” Jim said. “Micaela and I are no different. It’s also important to us that we be intentional with our philanthropy. As we started to consider what we’ve been building as a family, what matters to us and what sort of legacy we hope to leave behind, we both agreed that Penn State would be a priority.”
Micaela agreed.
“To know we can help students receive a great Smeal education long after we are gone means everything,” she added.
Donors like the Brandaus advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development; and increasing the University’s impact for students, families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.