College of Business Administration Award Recipients

Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award

Christopher G. Goller, Bus Ad ’90, Grad ’95
Franklin, Wis.

An unbridled energy and passion for commercial banking has propelled Chris’ success in the industry: He was just 44 when he was named Wisconsin regional president for PNC Bank. His passion stems from the way he views a banker’s role. “My No. 1 professional goal,” he says, “is to help people live and operate at their highest possible level.”

Looking at banking through such a lens, Chris places a high priority on PNC’s commitment to building the communities it serves, both through traditional business dealings and corporate responsibility initiatives. Not surprisingly, he is also personally involved with a number of community organizations in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and has an especially strong interest in helping children in economically challenged environments.

His family’s long history of attending Marquette played a role in Chris’ decision to do the same. His grandfather, father, twin brother and numerous cousins all hold Marquette degrees. Equally important, he says, was Marquette’s reputation for academic rigor and values that “align very much with my personal values. Making people around us better is the highest goal one can have.”

Chris says the Marquette mission tenets of excellence, faith, leadership and service have been important to his career advancement and the way he lives his life, specifically in giving 10 percent of his time to serving his community. He has served on local boards of organizations that work in the arts, education, health care and housing. He is involved with early childhood development-focused organizations such as the United Performing Arts Fund, United Community Center and Partners Advancing Values in Education.

For his alma mater, Chris has served on his 20-year reunion committee, as a past director on the Graduate School Alumni Association and most recently, a member of the College Leadership Council for the College of Business Administration. He graduated from the Marquette-affiliated Future Milwaukee community leadership training program in 2008.

Fun fact: Chris is a gourmet cook.