John McCarter: Striving for "Profits"

Social Enterprise Newsletter, Spring 2000

From his vantage point as president of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, John McCarter (MBA '63), comments: "I think the three sectors [corporate, government, and nonprofit] are much more similar than dissimilar. Though the substance in which you're dealing is different, you are always thinking about how to create a strategic framework for your decisions, and you always struggle with resource allocation. We still want 'profits,' we just want them for different reasons - to reinvest in the museum rather than to distribute to shareholders. If you completely lose that for-profit mentality, you won't have money to reinvest in your mission."

After graduating from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1960, McCarter went to the London School of Economics, where he studied both law and economics. "And then I had to take a class in torts," he recalls, which convinced him to attend HBS rather than law school.

McCarter joined Booz·Allen & Hamilton's Chicago office after business school. Three years later he was selected to be a White House fellow. Returning to Booz·Allen a year later, he worked with public institutions such as hospitals and universities. During that time he got to know Illinois Governor Richard Ogilvie, and in 1969 he became state budget director. His next move was to DeKalb, an agricultural genetics firm. "At the time, the neo-Malthusian fear of massive shortages was prominent, and we worked hard to build our business." McCarter had responsibility for the seed business (soybeans, corn, etc.), and eventually became president of the company. After 13 years, he returned to the Booz·Allen partnership group, where he spent the next 10 years working primarily with agricultural, consumer-product, and food businesses. He also undertook several pro-bono projects for the Chamber of Commerce, the City of Chicago, and the Chicago Board of Education.

And then "out of the blue," a friend - the chair of the board of the Chicago Field Museum, Leo Mullin (MBA '67 and current CEO of Delta Airlines) - "made me a crazy proposition." And in October 1996, John McCarter became president of the Field Museum.

"My first step was to learn about the museum. We have over 72 Ph.D.'s on staff and a tremendous amount of knowledge." McCarter undertook a series of "deferred maintenance projects" to rebuild and restore the museum and to invest in its long-term sustainability. The museum opened seven new permanent and traveling exhibits and established a new store, two new restaurants, new benches, signs, a guide and map to the museum (close to a million square feet total) - about 47 projects in all. He also spends a significant amount of time on fund-raising from a wide variety of sources: foundations; government organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics Space Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Education; and several corporations.

The Field Museum has undertaken several partnerships with public and private organizations. "We are very involved in education and work very closely with the public schools," says McCarter. For example, the museum works with science teachers and organizes activities for inner-city schools. "The nice thing about museums is that you can learn at your own pace." Plus, "children learn in multiple ways, and the museum can tap into that more easily than the traditional classroom structure." McCarter notes that the impact of working with schools is "tremendous."

One of the museum's major undertakings is an exhibit on the Tyrannosaurus Rex using "Sue," a T-Rex fossil bought at an auction. Staff members are now restoring the fossil in a lab in full view of all visitors. The museum is also working with McDonald's, Disney, and other partners on the T-Rex project, developing a traveling exhibit and a curriculum for use in approximately 65,000 schools - leveraging the museum's knowledge and curriculum development skills, and McDonald's mailing list, packaging, and financial support.

The museum partners on many of its other projects as well. They have worked closely with Monsanto Company, ConAgra, the Board of Trade, and the Prince Charitable Trust (on an exhibit about biodiversity), and with public entities such as the Department of Education. The key to successful partnerships, according to McCarter, is "a confluence of interest. You have to have enough people who really care about an issue to get the level of involvement you need."

McCarter offers advice to other MBAs making career decisions: "Choose a job where you will be associated with bright, excited, ambitious people - whichever sector that may be. This is a pattern you want to establish for a successful and fulfilling career."