The Perlmutter Institute for Global Business Leadership was established at the Brandeis International Business School through a $5 million gift from Louis ’56 and Barbara Perlmutter. The Perlmutters have long been generous supporters of the University. In addition to making gifts and taking leadership roles on Brandeis boards, they created the Ethel Z. Sondik Graduate Fellowship and the Kermit H. Perlmutter Fellowship Award for Teaching Excellence. The Perlmutters also support the Alumni Annual Fund and contributed to a visiting professorship in Women's and Gender Studies Program.

Barbara Perlmutter

Barbara Perlmutter recently retired after 27 years as senior vice president of public affairs for Marsh & McLennan Companies, a global professional services firm. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; serves on the Board of Overseers at the Brandeis International Business School; is a board member at the Jewish Museum in New York and the American Jewish Committee; is vice chair of Women In Need; and is co-chair of the New York Leadership Circle of Women for Women International. She is a Fellow of Brandeis, where she is a member and past chair of the board of the Women's and Gender Studies Program. Barbara is a graduate of Smith College, earned her master's degree in history from Columbia University, and received an MBA with distinction from New York University’s Stern Graduate School of Business.

Louis Perlmutter ’56

Louis Perlmutter, a retired senior partner of the international investment banking firm Lazard, currently is a senior advisor to Lazard Alternative Investments, which manages a series of private equity, venture capital, and real estate investment funds. He has been a member of the Brandeis Board of Trustees for more than 20 years and is the only alumnus to serve as its chair. He is chairman of the board of the Transatlantic Institute; is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; is on the board of Harvard Medical School, the Charles H. Revson Foundation, and the American Jewish Committee; serves as treasurer of Friends of the World Federation of the United Nations Association; is on the advisory board of Foreign Affairs; and is a trustee of the Blaustein Institute for Human Rights. He received his bachelor's degree and an honorary degree from Brandeis and earned a JD degree from the University of Michigan Law School.