Darla Moore | Women Vision SC

The Darla Moore Foundation

When Darla Moore began business school at George Washington University, she said she “didn’t know what a balance sheet was.” After graduating with her MBA, she moved to New York City and began in banking.  She became one of the nation’s most successful business leaders. She was the first woman on the cover of Fortune magazine and was listed as one of Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.” University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business was the first business school in the nation to be named after a woman.  As part of what she calls a 30-year plan, Darla Moore is now helping to transform Lake City, her home town. Her latest investment is a regional education and training center through collaboration among The Darla Moore Foundation, Francis Marion University, Florence-Darlington Technical College and school districts. “It is a seamless, flexible doors-open to all high schools and adults to come in and not have to go to different places.” 

About the Honoree

Darla Moore, who until 2012 was Vice President of Rainwater, Inc., a private investment company, is Founder and Chair of the Palmetto Institute, a nonprofit think-tank aimed at bolstering per capita income in South Carolina. She is also the founder and chair of the Charleston Parks Conservancy, a foundation focused on enhancing the parks and public spaces of the City of Charleston.

She is the first woman to be profiled on the cover of Fortune magazine and named to the list of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business. She has served on numerous corporate and philanthropic boards, including Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, The South Financial Group, MPS Group, the National Advisory Board of JP Morgan, the National Teach for America Board of Directors, the Board of Trustees of the New York University Medical School and Hospital, the University of South Carolina and the Lebanese American University of Beirut. She was formerly a managing director of Chemical Bank, the predecessor of JP Morgan and currently serves on The Shed Board in New York City.

The University of South Carolina’s business school is named in her honor, the first business school in America named for a woman.

She received the Business Person of the Year Award from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame. She and Condoleezza Rice are the first women members of Augusta National Golf Club.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Moore holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University.

Currently, Darla serves as Chairman of the Darla Moore Foundation

About Women Vision SC

Women Vision SC is a program that focuses on issues affecting women throughout the state and the nation and a new generation of young people pursuing public service for their communities and the state at large. The program is produced and hosted by former SCETV president Linda O’Bryon.