DePauw Stories

Andy Rieth ’80

Growing up in Goshen, Indiana, Andy Rieth had a plan in place since his earliest memories. He would follow his dad, uncles and grandfather in the family business of highway construction. His family wasn’t pushing it; it just felt like that was the path. Deposit paid and roommate selected – he was ready to enter the engineering program at the state university and, as many in his family had, become a civil engineer. Then something interrupted that inertia.

“DePauw kept tugging at me,” Rieth says. He was familiar with the school, and had applied and visited the campus, but he had to think it over.

What did it come down to? The choices. “As I contemplated getting a law degree, or another graduate degree or going into another endeavor, it felt like DePauw would keep all those doors open and maybe reveal some I hadn’t anticipated,” he says. “So literally at the last minute, I decided to come to DePauw. And it was a great choice for me.”

Rieth graduated magna cum laude from DePauw with a degree in economics. He went on to get an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and has enjoyed a successful career primarily as a corporate executive.

The DePauw Network

“The DePauw network is a remarkable thing,” says Rieth. He notes that his family is slightly amused at the breadth and enthusiasm of the DePauw network. “We were on the streets of Heidelberg, Germany, and I had a DPU hat on. A couple came up and said, ‘Are you from DePauw in Greencastle, Indiana?’ No matter where we go, it seems, there is a DePauw connection.”

Staying Plugged In

“The absolute best part of any involvement with DePauw is interacting with the students,” Rieth says. “That’s the primary constituency I want to support and why we do what we do.” Rieth notes that he had the good fortune of being one of the first student-graduate trustees. “That was a gift to me on several levels. I was immediately welcomed by the established trustees and got to see how invested they were in the success of DePauw students. And I was able to begin giving back to DePauw, a place where I had a fantastic undergrad experience.”

Rieth has served DePauw in a number of capacities, including recruiting students. “I love coming back,” he says. “In recent company recruiting efforts, what I’ve found has made it so successful is the engagement of faculty and staff – and coaches! I met some great candidates at DePauw.”

“In some respects, I feel like I’ve never left DePauw.”