The Benjamin Botwinick Prize in Business Ethics is presented annually to an individual or representative of a business organization exemplifying the highest standard of professional and ethical conduct. The award was founded by the late Benjamin Botwinick, BS ’26. We are honored to present this year's award to Russell L. Carson, MBA '67, General Partner, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.

Since 1978, Russell Carson has been a General Partner of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), which he cofounded. One of the country's largest private investment firms, WCAS has evolved into the leading specialist in acquiring and building established businesses in the information services, communications and health care industries.

Mr. Carson devotes considerable time and energy to philanthropic activities in New York City. His main areas of interest lie in promoting education, economic and social development and the arts.

In the education arena, Mr. Carson is particularly focused on improving the quality of and access to early childhood education, supporting projects to improve public, parochial and charter schools. He helped establish the $70 million Inner-City Scholarship endowment fund, which distributes $2.5 million annually to support New York inner-city Catholic schools. He is also chairman of the Columbia Business School Board of Overseers, vice chairman of the Rockefeller University Board of Trustees and a trustee of Dartmouth College.

Mr. Carson's social and economic development activities include serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the New York City Investment Fund as well as chairman of the fund's Health and Sciences Committee. He also cochairs the New York City Biotechnology Development Corporation, which is working to develop property around the site of the World Trade Center that will house a pharmaceutical firm and start-up biotechnology companies.

As a patron of the arts in New York City, Mr. Carson serves as trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Born in 1943, Mr. Carson attended public high school in Toledo, Ohio, prior to receiving a BA degree in economics from Dartmouth College in 1965 and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1967.