Estes family donates $15M for William & Mary accounting center

The family that owns Richmond trucking giant Estes Express Lines has made a $15 million donation to William & Mary to set up the Estes Center for Excellence in Accounting, the Williamsburg university announced Thursday.

Rob W. Estes and Jean Berger Estes, who graduated from W&M in 1974 and 1975 respectively, and their family made the gift as part of the university’s 2026 Strategic Plan’s Career Initiative, which aims to prepare students for the workforce, according to the announcement. The family has made other donations in the past, and the couple have both served on the university’s foundation board.

“We want to bring accounting out of the back room and into the boardroom,” said Rob Estes, a W&M Board of Visitors member. “The accountant should be guiding the conversation.”

Rob Estes’ grandfather founded the Estes trucking business, which is one of the nation’s largest privately owned freight carriers, and he serves as its chairman and CEO. According to the announcement, he learned the principles of accounting at W&M, and that education has influenced his leadership to this day.

Jean Estes, who became a teacher after majoring in elementary education at W&M, said the point of their gift is to spark more student interest in accounting. “We want them to experience the excitement that Rob did when he first saw how his accounting studies could be put to work in a business situation,” she said in a statement.

The Estes Center will be part of W&M’s Mason School of Business, and the funding will be used to hire more faculty and attract more students to the field of accounting.

“Rob and Jean live out the Mason School value of principled achievement. Their giving has touched every part of our campus,” W&M President Katherine Rowe said in a statement. “We are grateful for their latest gift to raise William & Mary’s global profile. Their message to aspiring leaders is clear: If you aim to sow prosperity in your organizations and communities, then William & Mary is the place for you.”

Rob Estes served on the business school’s foundation board for 16 years, and Estes Express Lines hosts a group of master’s students and faculty in business analytics each year for hands-on courses. Jean Estes serves on the alumni association board, and the Esteses’ son Webb, a 2006 graduate and the company’s president and chief operating officer, has also taken part in fundraising initiatives for W&M.

Previously, the Estes family has donated to W&M’s athletics programs and the Muscarelle Museum of Art, as well as the Estes Challenge, a fundraising matching campaign through the business school.