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Credit: Cindy Chen

The Wharton School’s People Lab received a $2 million donation from 1988 Wharton graduate Robert Katz and Elana Amsterdam on Feb. 5.

The donation from the Katz Fund will help expand the program by improving assessment tools to help students, executive coaches, and organizational partners, as well as by advancing the quality of the People Lab's research and development plans.

The People Lab is a platform created by Wharton People Analytics and the McNulty Leadership Program to assist leadership and business skills through testing, surveys, and data analysis. The People Lab aims to translate research into practice and create a network for students, alumni, and faculty.

"In today’s ever-changing business landscape, the core driver of long-term success is the strength of the talent throughout an organization,” Katz said in the press release. “I feel fortunate to be able to provide early support towards the creation of the Wharton People Lab, to better use data and analytics to broaden our understanding of how to assess and develop great business leaders.”

Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett said Katz’s donation will help elevate the standard of research and evaluations in the People Lab, which allows Wharton students access to more personalized education, according to a press release.

Katz and Amsterdam have donated to Penn several times, including a $1 million gift to start the Katz Fund for Research on Leadership and Emotional Intelligence at Wharton in 2015. He has also provided monetary support for undergraduate financial aid for students in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. Katz currently sits on the Leadership Advisory Board of the McNulty Leadership Program.