In 1962, a $1,000,000 gift from an anonymous donor established the Tayloe Murphy Center at the Darden School of Business. The gift honored prominent banker and legislator W. Tayloe Murphy in "recognition and appreciation of his unfaltering support of the Graduate School of Business Administration." Currently, half the center's resources are committed exclusively to Virginia business (the Tayloe Murphy Center), while the other half supports the School's globalization efforts (the Darden Center for Global Initiatives).

In 2010, a Global Advisory Council was formed to further advance Darden's global positioning. Board members are Darden alumni with international experience in areas of finance, marketing, real estate and entrepreneurship, just to name a few.