Successful Business Magnate Paul Riefenberg Believes In What Charlotte Can Become
By CHRISTY JACKSON
Paul Riefenberg isn’t one to seek the spotlight. However, mention UNC Charlotte, and it’s immediately clear: This proud Niner bleeds green.
A fixture in the stands at football and basketball games, a consistent donor since the day he graduated and now the architect of an estate gift with his wife, Terrie, to support both business scholarships and athletics, Riefenberg has built his life on loyalty — to his mentors, to his University and to the people and places that shaped him.
“We were NUTS,” he said, recalling the student group he was part of: Niners United Toward Success. The name was cheeky, but the intent was serious. They were the students who stayed on campus. Who built community. Who believed in what UNC Charlotte was and could become.
Decades later, Riefenberg still does.
Here, he shares memories of his time as a Niner, how Charlotte helped him chart a successful career in business and why he feels so strongly about giving back to his alma mater.
In the late 1980s, Charlotte was a far cry from the city it is today, and the same could be said of UNC Charlotte. They both were growing with possibility. Riefenberg chose the University over other schools in part because he could try out to be a walk-on for the soccer team, but also because he felt something different here.
“The campus felt unified, self-contained. You could walk everywhere. It felt modern,” he said. “It felt like home.”
Though he didn’t ultimately play soccer, Riefenberg immersed himself in student life, living in Scott Hall, staying on campus most weekends and forming lasting friendships. He stayed five years, co-oping while earning his degree in business administration with a focus in operations management and management information systems (MIS).
Charlotte didn’t just give Riefenberg a degree. It gave him his first job, and ultimately, his company.
A pivotal connection with Tim Kloppenberg, a professor who taught project management courses, led to an introduction at the Project Management Institute, where Riefenberg met the founder of CDP Inc., Al Padgett, the company he now leads. When Padgett was ready to retire, he asked Riefenberg to buy the company. The rest is history.
“It was all linked together,” he said. “Charlotte got me to CDP, and CDP became my career.”
The lessons he learned as a student through co-op placements at IBM and BellSouth were just as formative. Charlotte’s emerging cooperative education program allowed him to apply classroom lessons in real time, giving meaning and context to his business curriculum.
“A lot of times school is theory, but I was in meetings. I was doing the work. I saw how it all connected,” he said. “I think more students should have that opportunity.”
While Charlotte opened professional doors, what Riefenberg remembers most are the faculty who held them open.
He recalls Professor Martin Croy who invited him to become a teaching assistant and help lead outdoor VENTURE activities for his fellow students. John Gandar, an economics professor, hit tennis balls with him after classes. And Norm Schul and Margie Decker started the co-op program in the late 1980s that Riefenberg participated in.
“These professors took a personal interest. They got to know you. They engaged,” he said. “That played a large role in making my experience at Charlotte so memorable.”
Now, Riefenberg makes a point to pass that lesson on. When he speaks to students, he stresses that relationships will outlast résumés, and that being generous, respectful and reliable will open more doors than ambition alone.
“I always tell them, don’t burn bridges. You never know who’s going to be across the table from you five years from now,” he said. “Stay in touch with people. Show up for them. Invest in them. That’s where success really starts.”
The Riefenbergs’ $2 million estate gift is divided equally between the Belk College of Business and the Athletic Foundation — a reflection of where his Charlotte roots run deepest.
From his days as a diehard basketball fan, following the team on the road and writing letters to the local paper about its lack of front-page coverage of the 49ers, to today, cheering from the stands as a season ticket holder, Riefenberg has always seen athletics as a powerful connector.
“When Charlotte got football, everything changed. Students stayed on campus and the Charlotte community came to games. It created a buzz,” he said. “Athletics brings people in who might never set foot on campus otherwise. It builds spirit, and it builds connection.”
For Riefenberg, athletics doesn’t just unite current students, it extends a welcome mat to the entire Charlotte region.