Robert R. Dyson

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management Hall of Honor

Robert R. Dyson, MBA ’74

Inducted into the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management Hall of Honor April 19, 2007

Robert “Rob” R. Dyson, is the 14th member of the Hall of Honor, the highest form of recognition rendered by the dean in the name of the Johnson community.

Dyson has a wide range of business interests and responsibilities. He is the chairman and CEO of The Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp., a privately owned, diversified holding company that was founded by his father Charles H. Dyson in 1954. Rob also owns and managers a diverse array of private investments, and was the founder and owner of a regional radio broadcasting group of radio stations in the Hudson Valley of Upstate New York.

Since the 1950s, many members of the Dyson family have called Dutchess County, New York, home. Rob and his wife Emilie live in Millbrook, New York, and raised their two children, Christopher and Molly, in nearby Pleasant Valley. Christopher received his BA in history from Washington & Lee University, and Molly received her BA in Spanish and Psychology from Skidmore College. Emelie is an educator and founder of an innovative after-school program in the public schools, and has degrees from Elmira (BA) and the State University of New York at New Paltz (master’s in education). Rob’s own degrees are from Marietta College (BA in economics) and Johnson at Cornell University (MBA).

The role of a community leader is one that comes naturally to Rob. He is currently the chairman of the board of Marist College, a life member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University, and a board member of Health Quest Systems, Inc., the parent board of Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Northern Dutchess Hospital. He has previously served on boards of many other voluntary organizations on the national and regional levels.

Rob has carried the Dyson family tradition both in his personal philanthropy and through the work of the Dyson Foundation. The foundation, which Rob has led as president since 2000, awarded grants of approximately $16.8 million in 2006. In a regional level, the Dyson Foundation supports a very diverse array of organizations throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley of Upstate New York, from the colleges and hospitals, to community centers and arts programs. Nationally, the foundation is involved in making grants primarily in training in community pediatrics.

Yet another interest and passion of Rob’s is Dyson Racing, one of the top-rated sports car racing teams in the country. Dyson Racing has won almost all of the major professional International Motor Sports Association’s sanctioned races in the country, and has twice garnered overall wins in the prestigious Daytona 24 Hour competition. Rob continues to drive for the race team.