Featured Alumnus

Ernest Schaub
B.S. '72, Industrial Engineering

Success has done little to change Ernest Schaub, '72 B.S., who is still hard-working, humble, and ready to credit others for his many achievements. A recipient of an honorary doctorate in engineering from UNH during the Winter Commencement Ceremonies, Schaub inspired graduates with the story of how he rose through the ranks of corporations to his present position as president and CEO of EnPro Industries, a $900 million provider of products to industrial and processing industries. "I was fortunate to have senior executives provide me with guidance that resulted in career and, therefore, life changes and advancement," he says.

But his back-story is even better.

One of five children, Schaub was born in New York City, and lived in government-subsidized (better-known as Section 8) housing until he was well into his teens. His father was an auto mechanic with a fifth grade education. His mother left her formal education behind after junior high school. Yet even though his parents did not have the benefit of formal educations, they had strong work ethics, and an intrinsic respect for the value of an education. They shared those values with their son, and they insisted he consider different points of view. To that end, they sent him to the Fresh Air program, in which inner-city children live with families in a rural area.

Schaub says this experience had a profound effect on him. It gave him, he says, precious insights into lives besides his own.

Schaub's father also advised his son carefully. "My father always encouraged me to work with my head, not my hands," he says. He listened.

"I was the first person in my family to attend and graduate from college, and subsequently I helped my brother attend and graduate from UNH," he says.

He progressed through UNH as an evening student, and earned his M.B.A from Case Western Reserve University, again as an evening student. His drive propelled him into jobs of increasing responsibility, from a factory position at AVCO Lycoming in Stratford, to jobs of increasing responsibility there. He left after 10 years, moving to BF Goodrich in Shelton, where he worked for 30 years, eventually becoming corporate executive vice president and president of Engineered Industrial Products.

Although Schaub embraces his work, he has not forgotten how education made a difference in his young life. He strives now to make a difference for others. He most recently established a scholarship for engineering students at UNH so they can obtain engineering skills that the United States so sorely needs. He also volunteers with Junior Achievement, the YMCA, the children's museum Discovery Place in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocates for Education in Charlotte and Queens University McColl School of Business, also in Charlotte. He does leave a little time for himself though: With golf as his passion, he has played in more than 15 pro am tournaments, and is checking golf courses off his list of 100 top courses to play in the world.

After climbing the corporate ladder and sharing the fruits of his success with so many others, he still has many more fairways to conquer