Having celebrated his 84th birthday this year, Best Buy founder Richard “Dick” Schulze is living his best life. The former retail CEO and now chairman emeritus spends about a week each month at his 380-acre Caribbean resort on the island of Anguilla. But he is not there to vacation with white sugar sand between his toes, he is there to work.
“I stop and talk with guests on the beach, at the restaurants … I want to know what they think about the food quality, the menu, the service. I also speak with our employees; the ones who are mowing the grass and waiting on our customers. I like to engage with the people who engage with our guests,” he said.
Some may call his approach perfection; he calls it managing from the bottom up. “Because that's the best way you're going to know how you're doing and what to improve,” Schulze said.
And this self-made man is intent on pursuing excellence. “I designed this place to be the best in the world, not just in the Caribbean.”
The lifelong entrepreneur lights up as he talks about his investment in the Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club that is surrounded by azure blue water. But he also lights up when he speaks about the legacy he has created 2,500 miles away in Minnesota at the University of St. Thomas.
On the outskirts of downtown Minneapolis, a half mile south of Target Center and a half-mile northwest of Orchestra Hall, sits Schulze Hall, the home to his namesake Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.
“Entrepreneurship has been the fifth-largest major at the University of St. Thomas, but I won’t rest until it’s number one,” he said.
It’s obvious that Schulze strives for the best, never settling for anything less than excellence in all that he does, whether the industry is hospitality, retail or education.
Commitment to excellence
“Dick is the ultimate entrepreneur,” said Laura Dunham, dean of the Opus College of Business, which houses the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at St. Thomas. “He is someone who really drives toward excellence.”
Wanting everything he touches to be the best is how the St. Paul, Minnesota, native built Best Buy into a multibillion-dollar global retail chain from the local audio electronics store he founded in 1966 as Sound of Music.
Schulze’s success at Best Buy was largely due to his ability to understand customer needs and adapt the company’s strategy accordingly, even amid failure.
For example, when a devastating tornado cut through suburban Minneapolis in June 1981, toppling one of his Sound of Music stores, he moved the damaged and not damaged audio merchandise to the Roseville store’s parking lot and held a “tornado sale” with discounted prices. Customers swarmed to take advantage of these best buys. So, in 1983, Schulze renamed his enterprise to Best Buy, supersized the floor space and merchandise offerings, and allowed people to shop at lower price tags without the pressure of commissioned sales representatives.
“I just simply said, let the customer be in control. Let’s just give them the information so they can make a good decision,” he said.
Whether it’s the customer experience or the student experience, his philosophy hasn’t changed.
“If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it better than anywhere else,” he said about his various business and philanthropic endeavors. His aspirations for having a top entrepreneurship program at St. Thomas is no exception. And the program delivers.
The Schulze School ranked No. 2 in 2024 among the nation’s Catholic universities and colleges for students studying entrepreneurship, according to survey results from The Princeton Review. Since 2020, it has ranked first among Minnesota’s top entrepreneurship schools and is ranked in the top 20 nationally.
It’s been 25 years since Schulze and his late wife Sandra, the mother of his four children, gifted $50 million to fund the construction of Schulze Hall. At the time, it was the largest donation ever reported by a Minnesota university or college.
The St. Thomas gift came ahead of him establishing the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation (RMSFF) in 2004 after stepping down as CEO of Best Buy in 2002. As trustee and chair of the foundation, he has pledged to gift $1 billion during his lifetime, primarily in the areas of education, health and medicine, and human and social services in his home state of Minnesota and in Florida, where he currently resides. Through his foundation and other giving, Schulze is more than halfway to his goal.
Schulze believes that financial success comes with a responsibility to invest in others. “I’m trying to teach them a little bit more about philanthropy and why it’s important to give back,” Schulze said, referring to his children’s and grandchildren’s growing philanthropic mindset.
Daughter Debra Schulze ’92, a Tommie alum, added, “At our family foundation, we aim to do more than just write a check. We actively collaborate with boards and staff at various organizations to create lasting, impactful changes in the community.”
For someone who never earned a college degree, Dick Schulze’s generous philanthropy has left an indelible mark on higher education.
“His vision and dedication to supporting student excellence has allowed us to unlock the entrepreneurial potential of all our students,” said Dunham, who was a fairly new faculty member when Schulze Hall’s construction was completed in 2005. “It has been inspiring to see how his unwavering commitment over the years continues to fuel innovation, empower students, and shape the future of entrepreneurship education.”
His initial commitment was not out of the blue. From 1995 to 2015, Schulze served St. Thomas as a university trustee. He also was chair of the Opus College of Business Strategic Board of Governors.
One day, Father Dennis Dease, then president of St. Thomas, approached him with a request to make a larger investment in St. Thomas. Schulze agreed, but with the condition that an entrepreneurship school would be established.
“Entrepreneurship empowers students to be a whole lot more for themselves than they ever thought they could be,” Schulze said.
Dease remains grateful for Schulze’s generosity. “Dick’s involvement with the University of St. Thomas has been transformative,” he said. “His strategic insights and untiring dedication have significantly advanced our mission and enhanced the lives of countless students.”
An honorary Tommie
Though Schulze was never a St. Thomas student, he had applied and was accepted, but he ended up joining the Air National Guard. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, he entered the workforce instead.
“The reason I had picked St. Thomas to begin with was the fact that I either walked or hitchhiked past the university on my way to high school,” said Schulze, who graduated in 1958 from St. Paul Central at age 17. “What I had known about St. Thomas was tied in many ways to how the school actually paid real close attention to the students who chose to go there for their college degree.”
St. Thomas awarded Schulze an honorary Doctor of Laws on Dec. 18, 1998, during its undergraduate winter commencement.
Two of his children obtained degrees from St. Thomas. Debra Schulze graduated in 1992 with a bachelor’s in speech communication and Nancy Tellor received an MBA in 2006. All four children, including son Rick Schulze and daughter Susan Hoff, are involved with the family foundation.
“My father has always been dedicated to helping others learn and succeed,” said alumna Debra, who is also an entrepreneur. “He takes great pride in the new generations of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs coming out of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.”
The grand dedication of Schulze Hall set the stage for his vision.
On Oct. 20, 2005, about six weeks after students started their first classes in the building, there was a well-publicized appearance by Schulze and fellow entrepreneur Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft. They joined for a discussion facilitated by then-Opus College Dean Christopher Puto and trustee Ann Winblad, a longtime friend of both. The room was packed with so many student and alumni attendees that Dunham said even some faculty, like herself, couldn’t get in the auditorium and had to watch the program on screens in an overflow room.
Schulze visits campus at least twice a year to engage with faculty and mentor students who participate in the school-sponsored scholarships, challenges and business competitions like the Schulze Innovation Scholarship program and e-Fest, the latter of which takes place each spring and awards over $220,000 across four competitions.
“Dick will not leave until every student that has lined up and down the aisles has shaken his hand, asked him what they wanted, and taken pictures with him,” said Dunham, who pointed out that the competitions are open to any student from any discipline across campus. “He loves hearing what they're working on. He loves hearing when the students are pushing themselves really hard to learn and be excellent. He's so generous with his time.”
Schulze sees entrepreneurship as a tool that empowers students to believe they can be successful in any career path.
“Whether you pursue engineering, or you pursue philosophy, or you pursue a law degree, or a teaching degree, or an accounting or finance degree … it doesn’t matter,” he said. “If you have the self-confidence in yourself to know that you can be that value-added special employee or business owner, you’re going to be a lot more successful.”
The university is aligned with Schulze in wanting to see an entrepreneurial spirit infused throughout every St. Thomas major, as well as in other academic programs and student experiences, and university operations.
“There has been a lot of effort in the past few years to communicate across campus to inspire all students to see their innovative potential,” said Danielle Ailts Campeau, the associate dean and Best Buy Chair of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.
In fact, 51% of 2024 graduating seniors at St. Thomas took at least one course through the School of Entrepreneurship during their pursuit of an undergraduate degree.
“We're really encouraging faculty to collaborate across different disciplines to attract and reach a number of students who all can see in themselves their innovative potential,” Campeau said.
Schulze firmly believes that even if a student doesn’t end up launching a business, the skills gained from business competitions and entrepreneurship courses will benefit them in any career path.
“Entrepreneurship isn't just about starting businesses; it’s about understanding trends, networking, and adapting to change,” he said.
As a result, he added, “The Schulze School, in my opinion, does so much for all students at the University of St. Thomas. It enables them to think more confidently about their own behaviors, their own self-worth, their own opportunities to grow and become something more. I genuinely believe we have a shot at making entrepreneurship the reason people come to St. Thomas.”