“My parents raised me on two core tenets: kindness and honesty. I didn’t earn this money, so I decided the best way to use it was to somehow give it to higher education,” he said. “At the end of the day, I wanted to see it create opportunities like the ones I’ve had.”
Moore’s gift will support two programs that he said transformed his college experience: Smeal’s Sapphire Academic Leadership Program and the Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.
The Sapphire Academic Leadership Program is a selective Smeal experience combining rigorous coursework, leadership development, professional engagement and community service to prepare high-achieving students to make an impact on business and society.
Among his leadership roles at Penn State, Moore served as the Sapphire program’s co-president and, most recently, as vice president for first-year experience.
Moore received the Sapphire Program’s 2026 Neil Strong Award at the Sapphire Pinning Ceremony on May 8. The award recognizes a student whose experiences and contributions at Penn State reflect a depth of character, a commitment to excellence, and a strong sense of purpose across their four years.
Reflecting on his Sapphire experience, Moore said the goal of the program isn’t to get you a job, it’s to prepare you for success.
“The opportunities that I’ve had both experientially through leadership positions within the program and academically through our cohort classes or Sapphire events have really helped me find my leadership style and apply it and feel comfortable doing that in the real world. I want others to have that same experience,” he said.
Sapphire Program Faculty Director Chris Solo said that Moore’s contribution to the program embodied the servant-leadership they try to instill in every Sapphire student.
“When alumni and graduating seniors invest their time, talent or resources, they turn their own leadership journey into someone else’s opportunity,” Solo said. “Palmer’s gift is a bold vote of confidence in the next generation of Sapphire scholars and will help ensure they can fully engage in transformational, experiential learning opportunities.”
Moore called the Business Ethics Team, sponsored through Smeal’s Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, an eye-opening experience.
“I heard (Tarriff Family Director) Michelle Darnell speak at a Sapphire event during my first semester at Penn State about how the trust rates in government, institutions and businesses are continually declining. As a freshman, I was already beginning to question what’s right in the world. The Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility and its case competition team gave me a place where I could focus on how business can create wealth for people but do so in an ethical and responsible manner,” he said.
Moore said he participated in several case competitions during his time at Smeal, including a recent competition focused on how to help reduce plastic waste across Coca-Cola’s global supply chain.
From his first year as a member of the Business Ethics Team to his final year when he was selected to be team captain, Darnell said she has seen tremendous growth in Moore’s leadership skills. Moore helped develop and run a pilot of a business ethics bootcamp last fall, led the “Ace the Case” workshop for first-year business students, and wrote the case study on social loafing that was used with students enrolled in PSU 6, Smeal’s first-year seminar.
“The leadership development I’ve witnessed is reflected in Palmer’s decision to give this gift. With it, he is creating more opportunities for students to develop the skills we work on the at the Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility by enabling students to ‘shadow’ more experienced team members at case competitions. Looking ahead, I hope this gift will allow us to add additional competitions to our schedule given our teams’ consistently high performance,” Darnell said.
Moore, who also earned minors in international business and information systems management, will be joining the strategy consulting practice at Capital One.
“Their motto is ‘change banking for good,’ so I am excited to see what that means and how I can leverage my Smeal experience,” he said. “I am also excited as I become a young alumnus to give back to the University, whether that’s mentoring or recruiting Smeal students or creating a bridge between new graduates and early career professionals.”
Reflecting on his gift to Penn State, Moore said that he hopes it reminds other alumni that Smeal is a community that gives back to each other.
“Philanthropy can be your time, talent or treasure. You don’t have to give all three, but whatever one you can give is how we’ll further strengthen the school for the students who come after us,” he said. “Creating experiential learning opportunities for other students so they can thrive at Penn State means so much to me.”
Donors like Palmer Moore 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.