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175 Forest Street Waltham, MA 02452 USA
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ABOVE AND BEYOND The Class of 2018 soared past its giving participation goal, showing students’ deep appreciation for their Bentley education.
2018
The Bentley Arena is the first stand-alone ice arena in the country to earn LEED Platinum certification — the highest possible rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. Read about its rise as a sustainability star, and much more, in our lead feature. Cover story: page 11
COVER AND PHOTO ABOVE BY WARREN PATTERSON, COURTESY OF ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES CAMBRIDGE
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Contents FALL 2018 3 | ON CAMPUS
COLUMNS 4 | From the President 5 | Five Things: A primer on Alison Davis-Blake 8 | Take Two: Family recipe yields sweet success 25 | Inside Job: When Andrew met Wally
FEATURES 11 | Built for Community: Step inside the Bentley Arena 16 | Team Players: Scoring on the business side of sports 20 | The PROfile: Alumnus decodes blockchain technology 22 | C LASS NOTES
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BETWEEN THE LINES
MAGAZINE
Editor Susan Simpson Director of Communications John McElhenny Writers Michael Blanding Deblina Chakraborty Jaimie Fritz Helen Henrichs Joanna Howarth Jen Miller Esther Shein Kristen Walsh Creative Director Greg Gonyea Senior Associate Director Creative Services Claire S. Anderson Art Direction & Design Juliana Freire
This issue’s cover story comes to you from Falcon spirit headquarters. The Bentley Arena, open since mid-February, is winning hearts and minds on campus and beyond. We caught up recently with some of its boosters among students, faculty, staff and alumni. Their energy-packed stories of planning and using the arena, which start on page 12, crisscross the university. While the arena builds professional skills that students can apply in any field, some will surely join fellow alumni in the sports industry. That roster includes former Marketing major Joanne Borzakian Ouellette ’85, P ’20. Her “dream career” had something of a slow start, as the business side of sports was less-than-friendly to women of her generation. Learn how things have played out for Joanne and four other grads featured inside.
We also welcome Alison Davis-Blake to the pages of Bentley Magazine. Her “From the President” column will appear in each issue. Topics this time include her path to academia and impressions of Bentley since assuming the leadership role on July 1. She was both a gracious writer and the patient subject of an hours-long photo shoot (see pages 4 and 5). Come October 19, the Bentley Arena trades Falcon jerseys for academic regalia. The inauguration of Dr. Davis-Blake caps a week of workshops, lectures, symposiums and more; all explore the future of work and its implications for business education in general and Bentley in particular. Look for details at president.bentley.edu. We’ll bring you the full pomp and circumstance in the next issue. Until then, stay well and stay in touch.
Susan Simpson Editor
Photography & Illustration Rebecca Bishop Chris Schluntz Associate Director Print & Production Judy Metz Project Manager Kristine Mickelson
We welcome your feedback. Send your compliments and critiques on the stories inside — or suggest one for the future. MAGAZINE@BENTLEY.EDU || @BENTLEYU || @BENTLEYALUMNI || 781.891.2076 175 FOREST STREET, WALTHAM, MA 02452
Executive Director Advancement Communications Terry Cronin
CONTRIBUTORS
Associate Director Advancement Communications Caroline Cruise Associate Director Content Development Kristin Livingston Communications Specialist Molly McKinnon President Alison Davis-Blake Vice President for University Advancement Maureen Flores Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Valerie Fox Interim Director Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Christopher Joyce
JULIANA FREIRE
MOLLY MCKINNON
CHRIS SCHLUNTZ
CLINTON, MASS.
FRAMINGHAM, MASS.
BELMONT, MASS.
The newest member of our creative team tried a few paths in college before the realization hit: “Art school is where I belong!” Juliana designed this issue’s Inside Job column, about an alumnus who moonlights as the Red Sox mascot. The task tapped her own monster-level enthusiasm for graphic design as a vehicle to “push my creativity, bring inspiration to life, never settle and always question.”
Compiling Class Notes dovetails with Molly’s passion for “getting to know people and the stories that make each of them unique.” The fun, she says, is in hearing directly from alumni about promotions, marriages, births, starting that dream job and more. “All the moments that bring excitement and joy to their lives put a smile on my face!”
A drive to draw and an eye for detail led Chris to a career in graphic design and illustration that spans video, print and web. His assignment for page 10 — put Coach on a baseball trading card — triggered an immediate visual memory. “I could see the dot pattern that’s around the player’s close-up,” says Chris, whose brothers were avid collectors. (His own taste ran to Star Wars.)
Bentley Magazine is published by Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts, and distributed without charge to alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff and friends of the university. Bentley University is one of the nation’s leading business schools, dedicated to preparing a new kind of business leader — one with the deep technical skills, broad global perspective, and high ethical standards required to make a difference in an ever-changing world. 72M8/18QD.MC.409.18
Congratulations, grads! See video highlights of Commencement 2018.
PHOTO BY BRIAN SMITH
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FROM THE
PRESIDENT
education, Bentley has continued to thrive. Our applications are increasing, our extraordinary placement rate demonstrates graduates’ success in finding rewarding careers, and our reputation has never been stronger. At a time when students and their families deserve the strongest possible return on their college investment, Bentley’s core business curriculum combined with an emphasis on the arts and sciences and the integration of technology, along with our many close partnerships with the business community, are exactly what higher education needs in 2018. In recent months, I’ve loved beginning to meet and get to know faculty, staff, students, trustees and alumni, listening and learning about the many factors that have helped Bentley climb from its founding a century ago as a local accounting school to become one of the top business schools in the country today. I know I speak for the entire Bentley community in thanking Gloria Cordes Larson for her impressive leadership as president for the past 11 years. Bentley today is a stronger, more vibrant university because of Gloria’s dynamic and visionary guidance and direction. Bentley’s mission of preparing students
“
for successful careers and lives that make a positive difference in the world is at the heart of why I became an educator. My father was a college professor and I grew up in the world of education. Over the course of my own academic career, I’ve seen that in helping students learn, grow and reach their full potential, we change the course of history for them, their families and their communities. I believe strongly in the transformative power of higher education to improve people’s lives and change the world. I look forward to keeping in touch and sharing updates, including through these messages in each upcoming issue of Bentley Magazine. The talented and dedicated people who make up our community, including alumni, students, parents, faculty and staff, are so important in helping Bentley continue to flourish and grow. It is an honor to join you as together we lead Bentley into its second century of success.
I believe strongly in the transformative power of higher education to improve people’s lives and change the world.
Fall is a time of beginnings in the world of education. New friendships, new opportunities, new challenges, new aspirations. For me, this fall is especially meaningful as I begin my first academic year as the president of Bentley — and I couldn’t be more excited. Bentley truly is a university on the rise. During this challenging period for higher
”
Yours,
Trustee Leadership Changes Hands Robert P. Badavas ’74 stepped into the role of trustee chair on July 1. The longtime vice chair of Bentley’s board has built an accomplished career in corporate management and venture capital. Four decades of professional experience and seven C-suite roles developed his expertise in succeeding in dynamic environments and applying innovation to capture new opportunities. Badavas’s most recent CEO assignments — working with Fortune 100 companies at both TAC Worldwide, a global workforce management company, and PlumChoice, a technology-enabled services company — reinforced the need to adapt as conventional wisdom about “how business is done” was constantly challenged. In many ways, Badavas personifies the preparedness for which Bentley has become nationally known. As an Accountancy major, he worked for a semester at what was then Price Waterhouse. He recalls how confident he was on day one thanks to his Bentley education. After graduation, the internship turned into a job as an
4 | FALL 2018
auditor at the professional services firm — and his career was launched. Most recently, Badavas led the search committee that selected President Alison Davis-Blake. “The pace of change in business and higher education makes the next 10 years as important to Bentley as our first 100,” says the alumnus, who succeeds Steven P. Manfredi ’73, P ’10 as board chair. “Bentley’s next leader must be ready for that historic challenge. Dr. Davis-Blake is the right leader at the right time for Bentley. She is focused on the future of work and understands the operation of positive, successful organizations in a changing world.”
PHOTOS BY JOEL BENJAMIN AND BRIAN SMITH
<< FIVE THINGS
Five Facts
About Our Eighth President
SHE GREW UP IN ACADEMIA The University of Minnesota campus in St. Paul was like a second home for Alison Davis and her siblings, Jennifer, Clark and Flint. Their father, Gordon Davis, spent more than 45 years teaching and conducting research at the Carlson School of Management. He is widely noted for pioneering the academic study of management information systems. Alison’s mother, LaNay (Flint) Davis, attended UMinn for master’s and doctoral degrees. A licensed psychologist, she built a busy practice around her specialties of marriage and family therapy.
PHOTO BY JOEL BENJAMIN
HER PASSPORT IS WELL-STAMPED Living in Belgium for a year with her family turned Alison, then 12, into a traveler for life. The lessons — welcome new experiences, adapt as needed, treasure far-flung friendships — took special hold in later years as she and her husband, Michael, raised two sons, Kent and Gordon. The family’s first of many international trips was to Vienna and London, in 2005, where a tradition was born: climbing to the top of a local landmark (in this case, St. Paul’s Cathedral) and sharing a wide-angle view of new surroundings.
HER ROLE MODELS CROSS SECTORS At age 27, teaching at Carnegie Mellon in the male-dominated field of industrial administration, Davis-Blake looked to Margaret Thatcher. Gender was no barrier for Britain’s longestserving prime minister. Reading about Abraham Lincoln illuminated a critical element of leadership: rallying very different people around common goals for the greater good. Role model Herb Kelleher co-founded Southwest Airlines, a high-performing company that values individuality and treats people well. Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Association of American Universities and former president of the University of Michigan, became an inspiration, mentor and friend during their years working together at Michigan.
SHE KNOWS ORGANIZATIONS Davis-Blake’s scholarship delves into organizational behavior, most recently examining the impact of outsourcing and temporary employees. What happens when firms outsource complex tasks like developing intellectual property? Can full-time, part-time, flex-time and contract workers collaborate to good effect? The questions that fuel her research are relevant to companies of all kinds. One personal takeaway: Successful leaders don’t leave workplace culture to chance. They create pathways so people in different roles can do their best work together. Davis-Blake believes in Positive Business Leadership, which generates economic value by creating a great place to work and being a good neighbor to the community, nation and world.
HER FAMILY IS CENTRAL Alison Davis and Michael Blake met in the early 1980s, at Stanford, as she pursued a PhD and he, postdoctoral studies. Their work in very different disciplines — respectively, organizational behavior and astrophysics — places common emphasis on academic theory that influences real-world practice. Married 35 years in 2018, they have also bonded around art, music, theater and travel. Their son Kent, 26, is a software engineer in Silicon Valley; 22-yearold Gordon is a senior studying computer science at Stanford.
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STUDENT HACKATHON YIELDS
FRESH IDEAS
BY JOANNA HOWARTH Access to fresh, healthy food is a missing ingredient in many low-income communities. The problem inspired Bentley graduate students to fire up their business and technology skills, in partnership with mobile food organization Fresh Truck. The nonprofit operates a retrofitted school bus that brings fresh produce to underserved neighborhoods. Student teams gathered on campus for a two-day “hackathon” to brainstorm strategies for
THE FALCON
FILES
BY JAIMIE FRITZ, UNIVERSITY ARCHIVIST
WOMEN OF OUR CENTURY Admitted during WWI, the first women to graduate were Mary Gallagher ’23, Josephine Mahoney ’22 and Frances Sargent ’22 (pictured). The latter was a longtime Bentley administrator whose name appeared on the school’s diplomas in the 1930s and 1940s.
making Fresh Truck more efficient, accessible and enjoyable for shoppers. “Because teams had members from various Bentley graduate programs, they were able to combine their different skills and strengths to come up with really creative ideas,” says event organizer Rivka Barrett, a candidate for the master’s degree in Human Factors in Information Design (HFID). Among the recommendations: Make the bus layout more efficient, add nutrition information and recipes to coupons, use
data to create customer profiles, and offer pre-packaged grab-and-go bags for sale outside the bus. “Hackathons are a great way to leverage students’ ideas to help solve real community problems,” says Bill Gribbons, director of the HFID program. Josh Trautwein, Fresh Truck’s co-founder, welcomed the students’ suggestions and noted plans to keep all ideas on the table, as the organization moves to add a second bus in the coming year.
day and evening female students. Members networked, performed community service, fundraised, and even went on beach vacations together.
female athlete of color; and Theresa Angell ’77, whose nine varsity letters made her the first woman inducted to Bentley’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Women’s Alumnae Chapter took shape in the 1950s to support and develop female accounting professionals. Early leaders Eleanor Morgan ’52 and Helen Queenan ’52 were two of the first three women hired in 1969 as Massachusetts state auditors.
Established in 1973, the Bentley Women’s Caucus (pictured) raised awareness of emerging social issues such as wage discrimination and sexual harassment. Its “Feminist Calendar,” published in the school newspaper, promoted career workshops, readings by female poets and more.
The English Department was home base for Bentley’s first female faculty members. Eva Anderson taught part time starting in 1960. Marion Graham Willis arrived in 1962 to teach full time and became the first woman to receive tenure. Title IX helped introduce women’s sports like basketball, softball and field hockey in the early 1970s. Standouts were basketball player Nanci Roundtree (pictured), the school’s first
The Women at Bentley Projects and its successor, the Gender Issues Council, expanded gender-focused programming, studied the campus climate for women’s issues and spearheaded academic initiatives — one being the Gender Studies minor, launched in 1991. LEARN MORE | bentley.edu/women
Delta Omega (1944) and Beta Sigma Alpha (1956) were the respective first sororities for
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PHOTOS BY DAVID PERRSON/SHUTTERSTOCK AND COURTESY OF BENTLEY ARCHIVES
<< ON CAMPUS
New Findings on Breakthrough Science BY JOANNA HOWARTH development,” says Fred Ledley, MD, How many new medicines rely on governthe study’s senior author and director ment funding? The short answer: all of them. of the Center for Integration of Science Research on the topic at Bentley, by the and Industry. Center for Integration of Science and His team reviewed more than 2 million Industry, brought government and biotechpublished research reports related to either nology industry leaders to campus in April. new FDA-approved Participants explored the essential role of public Findings of the Bentley medicines or their biological targets during the funding for basic biomedical center’s study were study’s six-year time frame. science and how the science published in the The analysis identified helps create medicines, jobs Proceedings of the National 600,000 reports as the and successful companies. Academy of Sciences. work product of NIHThe Bentley center’s study funded projects. More than shows that, in the past decade, 90 percent of this funding ties directly to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research on the biological targets for drug invested more than $100 billion in research action, rather than the drugs themselves, and that led to new medicines. NIH support represents basic biomedical research. contributed to the basic science underlying “Basic research can seem arcane,” every one of the 210 new drugs approved by says Ledley. “But reducing this funding the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would inevitably slow the pipeline of new between 2010 and 2016. treatments for diseases, which the public “Our data underscore the critical impact of so desperately needs.” government funding on drug discovery and
Predicting Addiction |
U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark and biotech executives were on campus to discuss government funding of biomedical science.
Watch a video on the topic featuring Bentley’s Fred Ledley, MD, and Rep. Clark.
Bentley and Gravity Diagnostics are partners in research
BY HELEN HENRICHS Today in the United States, 115 people will overdose on pain medication. The National Institute on Drug Abuse also finds that more than 20 percent of people misuse opioids they have been prescribed for chronic pain. What if doctors could know ahead of time a patient’s likelihood of becoming dependent on opioids? Or the kind of treatment that would work best for someone already addicted? A partnership between Bentley and Gravity Diagnostics aims to bring that information into practice and halt the slide from prescription opioid use into addiction. Researchers will examine individuals’ DNA to determine, first, their susceptibility to becoming dependent on opioids and, second, among people
PHOTO BY REBECCA BISHOP; ILLUSTRATION BY MERANDA19/SHUTTERSTOCK
already addicted, the likelihood of responding positively to certain therapies. Conducted over three years, the work will involve faculty from Natural and Applied Sciences, Sociology and Economics, as well as assistance by a public health geneticist. It is funded by a $360,000 grant from Kentucky-based lab Gravity Diagnostics. Company CEO Tony Remington ’92 proposed the collaboration after reading about Bentley’s Miriam Boeri, whose research on opioid use in the suburbs was funded by the National Institutes of Health. “Bentley is doing successful research that is relevant to the world today,” he says. “We hope that, by working together, we can reduce the number of people becoming addicted to opioids.”
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INTERVIEW BY KRISTEN WALSH
KIRSTYN PEARL ’10
was a senior Finance major at Bentley when she launched Seacoast Sweets. It stayed a side venture after graduation, while she built a career as a financial analyst in commercial real estate at CBRE. Pearl left that firm in January 2017 to run the chocolate company full time, and led it to a successful sale in May 2018. 8 | FALL 2018
JIM “POULI” POULIOPOULOS, MBA ’94 is a senior lecturer in marketing and director of Bentley’s Professional Sales program. His expertise centers on sales strategy, technology and new product development. He has presented at TEDxBentleyU on using selfdiscovery and life experience to spur personal growth and career satisfaction.
PHOTOS BY REBECCA BISHOP
<< TAKE TWO
You started Seacoast Sweets in a dorm room. How did it happen? Kirstyn Pearl: I never had this idea to build a chocolate empire. When I would go home for Christmas during college break, I remember my grandpa making peppermint patties to give as gifts to neighbors and family, and each year more and more people would ask where to get them. Since my grandfather was retired and headed to Florida to play golf after the holidays, I saw an opportunity to jump in. I just wanted to share his recipe and see what I could do with it. Jim Pouliopoulos: I love what Kirstyn said about not really having a plan. A lot of entrepreneurs who don’t succeed with their business are the ones who go in with too rigid a plan. Kirstyn did a lot of prototyping of products and business models in the beginning. She had a pretty well-defined target market and simply focused on serving them well. Her success early in the process opened doors to other segments of the market that generated more revenue and more margin, and allowed her to keep expanding.
What is the mindset of a successful entrepreneur? KP: Survival mode. Working seven days a week, 24 hours a day to create something from nothing. There’s no time to think, you just do. I love a quote by Randi Zuckerberg [former Facebook executive and sister of its CEO]: “The entrepreneur’s dilemma: Maintaining friendships. Building a great company. Spending time with family. Staying fit. Getting sleep. Pick three.” JP: The best entrepreneurs understand they need to build a predictable set of processes for running their company. Kirstyn was highly attuned to developing her business model and processes. She spent more time creating her business and the brand, rather than trying to continually perfect her product. With this approach, Kirstyn was able to build a company that could run without her constant presence. That, in turn, allowed her to sell an intact business and move on to the next opportunity.
What kind of resources do you need to start a business? JP: I tell my students all the time that we’re living in an age when you don’t need resources to start a business, and Kirstyn is proof of this. All you need is a product or service and a story around it. If you have those two things, you can find out how to sell it online, raise money and sell through distribution. You can go to Fiverr and get a logo designed. In the past, you would have had to hire people and raise money ahead of time. Today you can start small, use digital avenues to market your idea and get financial buy-in. KP: I totally agree. There’s no excuse for not starting a company other than fear. Social media is a platform for exposure to millions of people. Say it. Post it. Just move forward.
Research shows that women entrepreneurs have more challenges getting funded than men do. What was your secret? KP: It’s all about the story, and I had a lot to tell: starting a company out of my dorm room, leaving the corporate world to build Seacoast Sweets, using my grandfather’s recipe. Crowdfunding on Kickstarter was a way to share these stories, and it was amazing to get support from people I had never met. There was also a lot of behindthe-scenes pitching with local organizations that specifically support women — mother’s groups, the Boston Business Women Facebook group — where I could talk one-on-one. Small groups of women are a force to be reckoned with. JP: The first step in selling a product or idea is building a rapport with someone. And the easiest way is in these small networking environments where you might share something in common — golf or a grandparent’s recipe that was handed down. Suddenly it’s not friends and family funding you; in fact, those resources tend to dry up quickly. The people who can connect you to resources, money, clients and potential buyers are beyond your first-degree connections. More often than not, it’s friends of friends.
How did you know it was time to sell? KP: As the business grew and I worked full time in commercial real estate and got my MBA, 100-hour workweeks were normal for me. I would come home from work, sleep for two hours, then make chocolate. I was tying ribbons on my lunch break. Going back to Randi Zuckerberg’s “you pick three” quote, I found myself not spending enough time on things that were important to me. Still, I never wanted Seacoast Sweets to be a mom and pop shop. Part of the fun was seeing how big I could get it and I knew that selling was the right decision for the brand. JP: Some business owners identify with the business they’re in rather than thinking of themselves as owning the company. “I’m an electrician” versus “I own an electrical business.” That’s limiting because they never get to the point where someone can run it without them, so they can sell. Kirstyn is certainly a candy maker and remained focused on her story. But she never lost that entrepreneurial mindset of bringing an idea to life and watching it grow.
How did you find a buyer for Seacoast Sweets? KP: It was actually another fun, strategic challenge. I tapped into the Boston Business Women group and posted on buythisbusiness.com and similar websites. When I finally came across the couple who bought Seacoast Sweets, I felt like they really got the brand and they were willing to keep the story. That was important. Like me, they had never dreamed of owning a chocolate company — and here we are.
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 9
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YEARS OF COACH
BY KRISTIN LIVINGSTON
After five decades at Bentley, his story is well-known — his mentorship, beloved. “Bob DeFelice or ‘Coach,’ as he is affectionately known by so many, joined Bentley in 1968 as the men’s baseball coach. But his nickname doesn’t do justice to the legacy he built beyond the baseball diamond,” wrote President Gloria Larson in a message to the Bentley community last spring. “Over his 50-year tenure, he has mentored generations of student-athletes, transforming lives and shaping futures. And in more than 25 years as athletics director, Coach has played a vital role in bringing Bentley’s athletics program to the national stage.” Winning Ways Since DeFelice took the helm as AD in 1991, Falcon varsity teams have captured 112 conference championships (regular and
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postseason), made NCAA appearances in 10 team sports, and won two national championships (women’s basketball in 2014 and field hockey in 2001). What of academics? Bentley studentathletes have the highest graduation rate in the country at 98 percent, according to the NCAA. Sixty players have been named Academic All-Americans during DeFelice’s time as director of athletics.
Standing Tribute To honor and continue his legacy, the university commissioned a statue that now stands in the arena’s Coach DeFelice Plaza; indoors, you’ll find the Coach DeFelice Ice Rink. Both were made possible by a generous gift from a donor with great respect for the man and his half-century of impact. A number of alumni also stepped forward and made gifts totaling more than $500,000 to establish an endowed fund that will support coaching positions in the baseball program for generations to come.
Ballplayers across the decades helped dedicate the statue on June 2. See video highlights and meet the sculptor, Bob Shure.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS SCHLUNTZ; GROUP PHOTO BY BRIAN SMITH
<< FEATURES
Gleaming walls of glass stretch skyward. A contoured concrete façade animated with flecks of mica simulates skate blades on ice. More than 400 linear feet of LED lights reflect off the soaring roofline, beacons of blue as night falls. The Bentley Arena makes a dramatic first impression. What happens inside eclipses even the sleek lines and grand physicality of the exterior. Designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, the arena is an MVP in building knowledge and skills, pride and community — and more.
TAKE A LOOK.
BY KRISTEN WALSH Photography by Rebecca Bishop and Brian Smith
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 11
CENTER
OF THE ACTION It was the first game held at the new arena: Bentley vs. Army West Point in Division I hockey. Jillian Offermann ’20 looked out from the control room. The game was going well, the jumbotron was cranking, the crowd was cheering. She turned quickly toward rows of green and red buttons and camera screens. “Camera 2, you’re on standby,” she said into the headset. Then, “Camera 2, live,” as she pressed a green button. Offermann, pictured below, was in her element: directing a student team that she helped recruit to run the arena’s control room and 10 high-definition cameras. Her mentor, John Mitchell ’89, was impressed. Offermann had worked with Mitchell in similar settings at UMass Amherst and Northeastern University, through an internship at his company, Digital Multimedia Solutions. The firm installs Newtek TriCaster HD control rooms for universities, radio and TV outlets, major and minor league sports teams, corporate clients and others. Mitchell is also director of audio/video at Boston’s TD Garden. “John and I were meeting at Bentley, in the office with all the new equipment for the arena. He showed me an Excel spreadsheet with different roles and said, ‘This is what I do at TD Garden and there’s no reason you can’t do it at Bentley,’” recounts Offermann, a Media and Culture major. “So that’s what I did.” She isn’t the only Bentley student putting on a good show. Reginald Fils ’21 was stage manager for a fashion show sponsored annually by the Black United Body. Since much of the planning for the March 16 event happened before the building opened, Fils relied on Arena Operations Manager Bo Stewart. “It’s challenging to create an environment if you have no idea what it will look like,” says Fils, who oversaw stage design, lighting, music and overall production of the show. “With Bo’s help, the show went off without a glitch. When the first models started walking out, cameras were flashing and people were smiling. Seeing people enjoy my work is why I do this.” Fils, who grew up in the fashion industry — his mother owns a fashion production company and he launched the clothing brand Urban Inspired in eighth grade — had high expectations. So did Stewart, who joined Bentley last October after more than a decade at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. “I knew we had the professional resources in our students, faculty, staff and alumni to pull off the high-quality productions that you find at some of the country’s top arenas,” says Stewart, who has been a resource for
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everything from ticket sales to branding to lighting to video graphics. Stewart was particularly impressed by what faculty member Mike Goldberg brought to the table in producing a video for the opening hockey game. The professor of information design and corporate communication, who has worked as design director for WBZ and videographic designer for Studio 5 Production at WCVB, had ambitious goals for the project. “All of the visuals had to match and reinforce the quality of the entire arena,” Goldberg says. “I owed it to our students and to the university to make ESPN-quality film and nothing less.” It was Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Wiley Davi who reached out to Goldberg to produce the video; she also introduced Offermann to Mitchell. A natural relationship builder, Davi welcomes the handson learning that the arena puts into play. “Think of a marketing student analyzing customer data, a natural and applied sciences student gathering energy usage information or a math student crunching player stats at a game. The arena is meant to be a live learning laboratory that consistently adds to students’ academic experience in addition to the social one.”
<< FEATURES
SPIRITED
CONNECTION The arena’s community-building mission traces back to the drawing board.
“If you look around and see the width of the concourse, for example, it’s all about making sure that the people who come here connect with each other,” says J. Andrew Shepardson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students. “Alumni may see someone they haven’t run across in a few years; students may bump into a professor.” He credits student focus groups for helping to develop the arena’s look and feel. One designated section, for example, has seating close to the ice (behind the opposing team’s goalie) so devoted student fans and the Bentley Pep Band can be part of the action. “Members of the Campus Activities Board provided insight into the kinds of events they would want to host,” adds Shepardson, who chaired the Building Committee. “The input helped ensure that lighting elements were in place, supports were available to host concerts, and the flooring system would go in easily to cover the ice.” Since opening in mid-February, the arena has hosted three hockey games, a lecture by actress Laverne Cox (pictured below), a dinner for admitted students, a concert during Spring Day and more. The venue pays tribute to Bentley’s founding year with 1,917 fixed seats for hockey, plus standing room for 400 to 500; it can welcome 3,400 for a concert and 750 to 1,000 people for lectures or other events. “We strongly believe that when students are engaged and attending various activities, their overall campus experience is that much better,” explains Shepardson. He points to findings from a Gallup survey of Bentley students and alumni. Students who attend five or more athletic events report higher levels of engagement, hope and well-being. “This makes sense. Being at a game with friends, feeling proud of their institution and cheering on a team brings students closer together and fosters a stronger connection with Bentley as a university.” The arena hasn’t lacked for school spirit so far — hockey tickets sold out in minutes and the Black United Body fashion show drew upward of 400 people — and initiatives are underway to sustain the momentum. Student Affairs staff members Stephanie Cohen, program coordinator, and Jessica Kenerson, director, took on a project with marketing professor Mike Tesler. “Falcon Tank” brought student teams from his Sports Marketing course before a panel of Bentley judges, to pitch ideas for promoting awareness, attendance and engagement at athletic events. “Engagement is the ultimate goal — creating the superfan,” says Cohen, who was one of five Falcon Tank judges. “At all colleges, students tend to get locked into their schedules, so it’s a challenge to change their way of life and get them to carve out time for sporting events,” Tesler says. “Student Affairs wanted to provide a way for students to take a break from academics to relax
and socialize. We challenged marketing students to think about diverse demographics, including international students and nonathletes.” One winning idea borrows from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street. Picture the movie’s main characters, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey, each beating his chest with a fist and humming the “money chant” to fire up employees at a Wall Street brokerage firm. “Our group’s idea was to use this chant at the start of the third period at hockey games, to pump up the team and get the crowd excited,” says Marketing major Emily DeMarinis ’18. “We knew that we needed only a few students to start it and everyone else would chime in, because it’s a familiar chant among our generation. With the opening of the arena, it is a perfect time to start a new tradition that will continue at Bentley for many years to come.” BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 13
FEATURES >>
ENERGY
AGGREGATOR Listening to the volume of cheers and applause coming from the arena so far, there’s no question that the venue is an energy builder. But it’s also an energy saver, thanks to a Building Committee dedicated to sustainability from the start. In April, it became the first stand-alone ice arena in the country to earn the LEED Platinum certification — the highest possible rating awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. “Under President Gloria Larson, Bentley was already committed to aggressive, campus-wide greenhouse gas reduction goals,” says Amanda King, the university’s executive director of sustainability. “So it was critical that, in early planning, we consider the impact of the added building on Bentley’s carbon footprint.” Where hockey is concerned, that impact can be significant. “A hockey rink is known as ‘a building at war with itself’ because you’re keeping the ice cool while keeping fans warm in the stands. There’s also a substantial amount of evaporation from the ice, which necessitates a dehumidification system. Controlling that environment takes a lot of energy.” A non-negotiable requirement for architect proposals was to make “good ice for D-I hockey” and achieve at least a LEED Silver rating. Due diligence by various constituents was essential, says King. For example, the Building Committee did a careful evaluation of environmental impact, upfront and long-term costs and savings, and maintenance requirements. Such cost-benefit analysis helped the design team home in on the right mix of sustainable features. The building has what King calls “the perfect orientation for solar power,” that is, a roof sloped to the south/southeast with no obstructions. “The solar installation produces almost half of the arena’s electricity — a huge deal for a building that houses an ice sheet. This was critical
in achieving the LEED Platinum certification.” Another major conduit for energy conservation is a heat reclamation system. This technology captures and uses “waste heat” — a byproduct of running chillers to keep the ice cold — to heat hot water for faucets and showers; doing so reduces the amount of natural gas the arena needs. Committee members also considered wetland areas adjacent to the building. Wetlands are a protected habitat for plants and animals; they also act like a giant sponge during major rain events and, as such, reduce flooding during storms. To help safeguard wetlands, the outdoor plaza uses permeable pavers, which allow rain and storm water to absorb into the ground and recharge the water table. Though King herself is a LEED Accredited Professional, she cites the special expertise of the architects, mechanical engineers, builders and LEED consultants. Broad-based support was also essential to the green building process. “None of this would have been possible if the whole team — the president, the Building Committee, trustees, faculty, staff and students — wasn’t on board,” says King. “We could have just built the arena to code and walked away, but people took that extra hour or day to consider something different. It was a community process, and that’s what feels so good to me.”
ENERGY-EFFICIENT
LIGHTING
is installed throughout the building. Water-saving bathroom fixtures help the arena use
48% LESS WATER
than similar-sized buildings. INNOVATIVE
HEAT-CAPTURE
TECHNOLOGY enables the building to use energy generated from creating rink ice to heat water throughout the building.
14 | FALL 2018
See a collection of videos about the Bentley Arena.
<< FEATURES
GROWING
PRIDE
When Chris Wheeler ’94 heard about the arena, texts and emails started flying. “All of us were so proud,” he says of fellow former hockey players. “We were constantly checking Facebook for updates on the construction.” At opening weekend, Wheeler and his Falcon buddies took to the ice for an alumni hockey game. High turnout allowed for four different alumni teams. “We had enough players to divide up the older and younger guys, so I wasn’t playing against newly graduated students,” Wheeler says with a laugh. His parents were among the alumni families who attended, and they stayed for the varsity hockey game against Army West Point. Wheeler’s father is a West Point alumnus and served as team doctor for the Army hockey team. “I grew up learning to skate with the cadets. For them to play Bentley at the opening of the arena was fantastic,” says Wheeler, pictured with his family on the facing page. “My mother wore her West Point pin but also had a Bentley scarf on.” Wheeler says that alumni players, who have remained close, have dreamed about an on-campus arena for years. He remembers waking up for 5:00 a.m. hockey practices at the Watertown rink, when off-campus logistics made it hard to get fans to the games.
“A lot of us had parents at the alumni game; we were waving to them and they were waving back like we were little kids,” he says. “It was unbelievable.” A similar scene unfolded outside the arena, as head hockey coach Ryan Soderquist ’00 (at left) lined up Bentley players before bringing them in for the first time as a team. “To see their faces and the sheer excitement in their eyes was much like Christmas morning for a child,” Soderquist recalls. After taking in the locker room, which incorporates features from some of the top collegiate arenas, players wasted no time taking to the ice. Soderquist, who has been a part of the Bentley hockey program for more than two decades — 16 years as head coach, two years as assistant coach and four years as a player — admits that it wasn’t until the steel beam raising ceremony that the arena became a reality for him. He stood alongside players, alumni, students, faculty and staff on that April day in 2017. “I could tell they were proud that they play for the university and that they’d now have a physical presence on campus in the Bentley community.” From a recruitment perspective, the arena has already “created quite a buzz in college and youth hockey” in its first few months, he adds. “Not only is the building beautiful, but it shows Bentley’s strong commitment for the hockey program, which is important to recruits and their families.” Though coaching duties kept Soderquist from the alumni game, he was just as proud as Wheeler and the nearly 300 other graduates who did play. “The magnitude of what the building means to so many people really set in,” he says of greeting former players through the decades and surveying the sold-out crowd of students, faculty, staff, alumni, families and members of the Waltham community. “Seeing the pride on their faces was a special moment.”
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 15
FEATURES >>
TEAM
PLAYERS Inside the business of sports It’s probably no surprise that sports is big business, but do you know just how big? Including media rights, gate revenues, sponsorship and merchandising, the sports industry in North America was worth $69.3 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $75.8 billion by 2021, according to a report by PwC. Here, five Bentley alumni take us behind the action on the field and court.
BY JEN MILLER
16 | FALL 2018
PHOTO COURTESY OF ROB GEOFFROY
Y
es, Rob Geoffroy is a numbers guy. But it’s people who drive his work at AMB Sports + Entertainment, which comprises the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons; Major League Soccer team Atlanta United FC; and the year-old Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where both teams play. “Hearing 70,000 fans cheer after a touchdown or goal; seeing the joy of someone attending their first game, concert or dirt-bike show; helping those outside the organization who are in need — this is why I love working in sports,” says the former Finance major, who oversees business strategy, financial review, and controls and operations for the teams and their venue. The company’s bundling of sports and entertainment properties is an emerging trend, according to Geoffroy. “You’re going to see lesssiloed clubs and more of the entertainment component added to the business venture.”
SHARING SERVICES, RESPECT
In fact, concerts and other nonsporting events account for almost half the business at
Mercedes-Benz Stadium. From a numbers standpoint, it makes sense to share services like finance, human resources, information technology, ticket sales, security and digital brand strategies across multiple properties instead of repeating them for each business unit. The work can take Geoffroy to two or three locations in a given day. He often meets with teams in sales, sponsorship and event operations, along with coaches and presidents of each entity, to discuss finance-related issues with a larger impact on the company. “I have respect for our revenue officer, for our chief of human resources, for IT — all those components make us successful,” he says, crediting Bentley academics for his wide-angle perspective on business. Moreover, he ran cross country and indoor and outdoor track. “To manage doing three sports a year, while also being in a fraternity and part of the school itself, and working all the time, prepared me for what I do today.”
FINANCE
ROB GEOFFROY ’94 Senior Vice President and CFO, AMB Sports + Entertainment
MARKETING JOANNE BORZAKIAN OUELLETTE ’85, P ’20 Owner, JBO Marketing LLC
T
he Boston Celtics and the NBA were go-to inspirations for Joanne Borzakian Ouellette in her Bentley marketing courses. “I would develop campaigns to market a player, a team, a promotion, something like that,” says the alumna, whose family has had courtside seats at the Garden since 1974. Her passion for basketball hasn’t changed a bit. But marketing is a very different game. “Everyone has a cellphone and marketing is instantaneous,” Ouellette says of social media having edged out traditional tools like advertising, paid media, news outlets and word of mouth. Athletes or celebrities can PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ALUMNI
promote products on their own social platform, attracting followers — and sales — almost immediately.
the Dee Brown pump moment. “Today, though, the consumer sees the product, wants it and can buy it online immediately. No need to drive to a retailer during store hours.”
TOWERING TALENTS
FULL CIRCLE
Her first stop after Bentley was Reebok, initially as marketing and promotions manager, then as the company’s global marketing director for the NBA. The 5-foot, 3-inch alumna worked with hundreds of towering talents like Shaq, Dee Brown, Dominique Wilkins, Steve Smith, Greg Anthony, Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers. For one promotion, Ouellette convinced the Orlando Magic to hold a between-quarters challenge for kids: dribble a ball the length of the court wearing Shaq’s size 22EEE shoe. Another was having Dee Brown inflate his Reebok Pump shoes on camera, before his iconic dunk that won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Moments like these still have a place in the marketing mix; everything just happens faster. “The approach to marketing had to be unique and catch the consumer’s eye, make them want the product, talk about it and physically go to a store to buy it,” she says of
Ouellette’s 15-year-old company, JBO Marketing, does everything from professional player marketing to product launches to private parties to fundraisers. For example, she works with NBA analyst Dennis Scott on basketball instructional company Shooters Paradise; runs local events for Mark, Donnie and Paul Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy; and represents multiple Wahlburgers franchises in creating special events to market new restaurant locations. “Often I’m working with the same players I worked with at Reebok, who are now broadcasters and Hall of Famers. For 30 years, my marketing career has allowed me to bring happiness around the world and given me lifelong friends. Thinking about it brings tears of joy to my eyes.” The full circle nature of work and life continues to hit home. As of September, Ouellette’s son Kyle is a junior at Bentley. Meanwhile, JBO Marketing is working with a new client: Lexie Brown of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, the daughter of Dee Brown. BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 17
FEATURES >>
I
n 2015, LeBron James debuted the KITH LeBron, his eponymous shoe line, at New York Fashion Week. It wasn’t the first time sneakers had landed on the runway, but “it was a first for a Nike Basketball Signature athlete,” says Angela Manfredi, then a footwear developer at the company. “It was a bridge, showing the ever-growing importance of sneakers and street-wear culture in fashion.” The KITH LeBron was the most popular shoe in her portfolio at Nike. Manfredi was charged with bringing design concepts into physical form, which included building product specifications such as materials, color and performance/testing standards. She worked with marketing, design and the athletes themselves. “It is extremely collaborative,” says Manfredi. “Teamwork and communication are crucial throughout the creative process. “Being from the Cleveland area, I grew up with LeBron. I’ve watched him since he was 15,” adds the native of Burton, Ohio. “Working on that product was a dream come true for a small-town kid.” Testing a shoe like the KITH LeBron is a rigorous exercise. “It needs to perform at the highest level and contain the 6-foot-8-inch, 260-pound force of an elite NBA player,” she explains, noting that products are put through their paces by athletes and in labs with “state-of-the-art equipment that can
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ANGELA MANFREDI ’09 Merchandising Manager, Brand Jordan at Nike
test anything and everything you can imagine when it comes to a sneaker.” SHOOTING OUTSIDE HER COMFORT ZONE
Earlier this year, Manfredi transitioned into a different role at Nike: merchandising for the Brand Jordan line. She’s working in another part of the organization to “understand business metrics and how the company operates downstream. It’s critical to have different roles at a company that allows you to do so, given its size.” She credits Bentley for “giving me a leg up to make that jump from product to merchandising.”
Of particular note: four years playing Falcon basketball under the school’s legendary head coach. “The campus was beautiful, the education was incredible and Barbara Stevens is enough to convince anyone to go to Bentley,” remembers Manfredi, who serves on the Women’s Basketball Advisory Board. On the court and in numerous small-group projects for academic courses, she developed a “team over self” mindset that has served her well. “Sports are woven into this place,” she says of Nike. “It’s such a blessing to be supported in your workplace to watch sports and talk about sports.”
INFORMATION rofessional baseball has long applied
TECHNOLOGY P
BRIAN SHIELD ’85 Vice President of Information Technology, Boston Red Sox
18 | FALL 2018
data and analytics to determine value where players are concerned. The IT infrastructure is less robust around understanding fans. Being on the cutting edge of IT is a “requirement now for a sports franchise to remain competitive, drive revenue and ultimately make the ownership group more successful,” says Brian Shield, who joined the Boston Red Sox in 2013 as its first vice president of information technology. He notes that baseball had historically lagged behind other industries technology wise, but “a lot of that has changed over the last five years. There’s a renewed emphasis on leveraging technology as a competitive advantage.”
PHOTOS BY FRITZ PHOTO AND CHELSEA RUSCIO
<< FEATURES
TURNING DATA INTO ENGAGEMENT
The Sox organization has taken on two bigdata-driven initiatives under Shield. The first was building an enterprise data warehouse to capture transactions from their primary sales channels as well as from secondary market sellers, loyalty programs, turnstile data, digital ticketing, surveys and more. The data have helped in projecting sales, setting staffing levels, informing promotions and, he says, “understanding fan behavior with the goal of improving the fan experience” at Fenway Park. The other large-scale initiative implemented customer relationship management tools that let sales team members reach fans — current and future — more effectively.
F
or Remy Cofield, identifying basketball players with NBA potential is part art, part science and wholly consuming. That’s especially true when the NCAA and minor league seasons overlap. “I’m traveling to different places, watching film of college and minor G-League players, and communicating what I’ve seen and learned about certain NBA prospects,” Cofield says of his dual roles: college scout for the Boston Celtics and general manager of the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ minor league team. Scouting has changed considerably over time. “When I was a player at the University of Pennsylvania, everybody wanted to talk about basic box score stats like points, rebounds and assists,” he explains. “I’ve learned over time that evaluating talent is more complex than that. What we have now in the NBA are companies that give us information, which our analytics department can go through. They put together reports for coaches and players, and for front-office staff who are looking at players they might want to acquire.” Still, the decision doesn’t turn on analytics alone. “Experience evaluating multiple players over the years and understanding what has been successful is just as important when coming to conclusions,” says Cofield, who estimates that 25 percent of scouting
PHOTO BY REBECCA BISHOP
“We can now leverage data to make fans aware of ticket programs and events and to build a more holistic relationship with fans.” Shield’s recent work focuses on the next generation of fans. He oversees a digital strategy that includes creating a BINGO app that helps kids learn more about baseball, support for the Red Sox virtual reality dugout (a simulated batting experience) and augmented reality capabilities to drive promotions and engagement; several more apps are on the horizon. ENTICING OFFER
Shield arrived at the Red Sox by way of CIO/ CTO roles in the investment industry, at flower delivery company FTD and at the
involves “talking to people, meeting new people, and getting information from people I’ve built relationships with over time.”
Weather Channel, as well as serving as a technology consultant to clients such as the Fenway Sports Group. The latter signed him for the vice president position that had not existed until 2013. “It was an opportunity to apply a lot of things I had learned over the years to one of my favorite pastimes,” he says. “It’s hard to refuse a chance to combine technology with something you’re passionate about.” He credits Bentley for developing “the ability to combine solid technical knowledge problem-solving with good business acumen. The best technology leaders are business people first and technologists second, and Bentley did an exceptional job in preparing me for both.”
OPERATIONS
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD
As Red Claws GM, he contributes across the organization. “There are people I talk with on a daily basis,” he says of colleagues in operations, on the coaching staff and players themselves. “The Celtics’ front office is always involved in what the Red Claws are doing, given the potential to sign talented players from our team or others around the G-League.” The business side of the sports industry has become more inclusive, according to Cofield. “There used to be this idea that you had to play a sport at the highest levels in order to understand and contribute to the front office or coaching staff,” he says, noting a rise in people with analytics or sports science expertise. “I believe that intelligent people, regardless of their background, can be impactful for a team.” He credits the NBA for growing diversity with respect to ethnicity and gender. “When young adults see someone in a role they hope to hold, it’s motivating and inspires a feeling they can do the same.”
REMY COFIELD, MBA ’14 College Scout, Boston Celtics and General Manager, Maine Red Claws
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 19
FEATURES >>
THE PROFile
A NEW CURRENCY ON THE BLOCK
As told to Esther Shein Photography by Taslim Sidi Urnek
20 | FALL 2018
<< FEATURES
What's a Blockchain? A blockchain is a digital ledger that records transactions across computer systems and cannot be changed retroactively. It was invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym) to deploy cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The technology converts data into encrypted blocks, which makes a blockchain secure. As the data are created, they are confirmed by a distributed network of computers; each block is linked with the prior entry, thus creating a chain. No one person has control over a blockchain. It lowers costs by removing the need for banks or other trusted third parties to execute transactions. It reduces the cost of networking as well, enabling applications such as trade processing and settlement, insurance claims processing, and cross-border payments. Other uses include operating like a notary to validate a contract or securing votes cast online since they would be impossible to alter.
The way Bruce Fenton ’06 sees it, blockchain technology and its best-known application, Bitcoin, will revolutionize the future of money. The 26-year veteran of capital markets, who attended Bentley as an evening student, is founder and CEO of Atlantic Financial and Chainstone Labs, host of the Satoshi Roundtable, former executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, and a board member at Medici Ventures and tZero. Here, he discusses the promise and pitfalls awaiting organizations of all kinds. UNDERSTAND THE HISTORY. Bitcoin was the first application of blockchain technology. Its invention proved you could conduct transactions without needing a trusted third party like a bank. A blockchain works great for money and in other cases where you want to transfer something of value from one person to another. There is a ledger of who owns what asset, shared across a computer network and verified by peers, which gives you a lot of power to move anything — in my case, securities. I was a stockbroker for 20 years and, even today, it can take two to three weeks to move a security from one broker to another. Instead, you could convert the security into a digital token, issued on a blockchain, that can move the same way Bitcoin does. Then the transaction can be completed in 10 minutes or less. CONSIDER THE CONCEPT OF MONEY. If you ask people “What is money?” or “What makes it valuable?” they generally don’t have a good answer and haven’t thought about it. Most people are told by their government what money to use, so they never really question it — and until very recently, they didn’t have a choice. The characteristics of money are durability, portability and divisibility. It has to be
fungible, it has to have limited supply, and it has to be acceptable among the parties you want to trade with. The latter is lacking for Bitcoin. But in every other category that defines money, Bitcoin is superior. Right now, you can’t send $100,000 overseas without all kinds of paperwork. But using Bitcoin, I could send the funds nearly instantly. I don’t need to know your bank account number or your situation — you could even be a felon for all I know — and that makes moving capital much more frictionless. LISTEN TO EXPERTS. There’s so much noise about blockchain and Bitcoin, it makes sense to spend a lot of time making sure you’re picking the right path. It’s a bit of a Wild West world. I see large companies that don’t have a clue about how the technology actually works. You have people promoting themselves at conferences and, typically, the ones making the most noise know the least and spread bad information. Then CEOs say, “OK, private blockchain is a great idea” and give it a $2 million budget. Listen to security experts and top scientists instead of rushing in. KNOW THE RISKS. Although very secure, a blockchain is not impossible to hack. One big weakness is that a transaction is permanent
and control is not by a third party, but by “private keys” like a password. That makes it very appealing to criminals and makes theft irreversible. With assets on a blockchain, if someone steals the key, they’ve got the assets. If your digital wallet or computer gets hacked, or you get conned, there is no mechanism to get Bitcoin back. MANAGE EXPECTATIONS. Every industry will likely have some application for blockchain technology. It is already being adopted in finance, pharmaceuticals and insurance, among others. Its use is best decided by experts in those fields who have big transaction problems they’re looking to solve. I personally believe Bitcoin will become either the major global currency or global reserve currency. Blockchain technology as whole, including Bitcoin, won’t solve every problem; there are a lot of bad ideas and bad applications. Certainly, there may be — and I hope will be — some useful apps that come out. But to say you’re going to put everything on a blockchain, like health care for example, doesn’t make sense. Blockchain can be globally transformative, but it’s not the be-all, endall of every problem. BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 21
PHOTO BY BRIAN SMITH
Reunion Weekend 2018 brought out the shades and smiles. See video highlights.
22 | FALL 2018
<< CLASS NOTES
1968 Dianne (Bordage) Gillis and husband John, MST ’77, Wakefield, Mass., recounted their story at the Bentley Lovebirds ceremony held during Reunion Weekend. The two met as first-year students, in an accounting course on the Boylston Street campus. After hitting it off, John left a box of chocolates on Dianne’s desk for Valentine’s Day. They became engaged junior year and married the fall after graduation — making 2018 a celebration of their 50th reunion and their 50th wedding anniversary.
1979
40th Reunion May 31 to June 2 On January 14, 2018, Randy Allen married Elizabeth Ingram in Falls Church, Va. The bride is a K-8 math teacher and the groom is retired from the public utility industry. Dallas Coffman, North Reading, Mass., has been appointed to the CFP Board Council on Examinations. Korn Ferry announced that David Satler, New York, N.Y., has joined the firm as a senior client partner in the Financial Services practice.
Paula Hunter, Francestown, N.H., was named Business Leader of the Year at the Women in IT Awards, held in New York City. She is executive director of the NFC Forum.
1985 Andrew Abu, Southborough, Mass., has received the 2018 REALTORS® Choice Award from the REALTOR® Association of Central Massachusetts. He owns Andrew Abu Realtors.
1986 Stephen Ingram, Andover, Mass., has been named national technology and life sciences industry leader at RSM. He writes of beginning his public accounting career upon graduation with Arthur Andersen, which he left as a partner in 2002. He joined Deloitte’s Tech Venture Center and, in 2017, moved into semi-retirement. He and his wife, Suzanne (Balog), are the proud parents of three children.
1987 The Provident Bank has welcomed Joe Varraso, Hanover, Mass., to its team as vice president, Commercial Lending.
1989
1993
1998
Katz, Nannis + Solomon PC has appointed Gary Weinman, Natick, Mass., as a partner of the firm.
Marcelo Claure, Miami, Fla., has launched a Major League Soccer team. He reports: “The dream of an MLS team in Miami started for me over 10 years ago. I am so thrilled and excited to be able to say this has finally happened!
John Ioakimidis, Arlington, Mass., has co-launched the first Greek-based radio station in Boston. He writes: “KefiFM allows people to stay in touch with the Greek culture and with what’s going on with the Hellenic community in Greater Boston, as well as news from Greece.” Stream at kefifm.com.
30th Reunion May 31 to June 2
1991 Lisa Piscatelli, Mansfield, Mass., is the new executive director of the Attleboro Area Interfaith Collaborative. Piscatelli says that she is looking forward to meeting with businesses and faith-based/human service organizations, nurturing existing relationships and developing new partnerships.
1992 After 17 years as a computer science professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Lisa MacLean, MSCIS, Dedham, Mass., has left academia to develop courseware for the Cyber Security Academy of DarkMatter, a firm based in the United Arab Emirates. Her book, Cracking the Code: How to Get Women and Minorities into STEM Disciplines and Why We Must, has garnered five-star reviews on Amazon.
1980 Rick Miller, Morristown, N.J., has published the book Be Chief: It’s a Choice, Not a Title, which is available from Amazon.
1983 Barry Gropman, Silver Spring, Md., has accepted a position at Thycotic Software in Washington, D.C., as director of software quality assurance.
1994
25th Reunion May 31 to June 2 Paul DuBois, Norfolk, Mass.; Ned Khoury, Westwood, Mass.; and Joe Sergi, MBA ’96, Pepperell, Mass., reunited in Dubai for five days to discuss business and reminisce about their alma mater. DuBois writes: “As Ned is looking to possibly expand in the United States, and Joe and I are looking at opportunities internationally, Dubai was the perfect place to meet and discuss our options. Our days at Bentley College were remembered fondly for enhancing our future both personally and professionally.”
1995 Bruker has named Gerald Herman, MST, Boston, Mass., to serve as the company’s interim chief financial officer.
1999
20th Reunion May 31 to June 2 Gregory McLaughlin, Marblehead, Mass., was named a 2018 Five Star Wealth Manager based on an independent survey conducted by Five Star Professional.
2001 Kimberly Federico married James Hamel on July 29, 2017, on Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith, N.H. Fellow Falcons in attendance included Andy Cavanagh, Maura (Lodge) Cavanagh, Nikki (Menneto) Roadman, Ann Marie Sheridan and George Roadman ’00.
For her 70th Bentley reunion, Mary (Durgin) Kline ’48 traveled from Midlothian, Va., to join other members of the Blue and Gold Society (graduates of 50 or more years ago). She shared favorite Bentley stories such as having met her future husband, Harry ’48, in class. Later, the couple introduced their first child to the school’s founder. Mary remembers: “Mr. Bentley held our son and said, ‘I finally have a product!’” Full of vim and vigor, Mary says that she enjoyed Reunion Weekend very much, especially seeing the Boston Pops perform at Symphony Hall; she hopes more alumni from her generation can attend next year. At right, Mary among Class of 1988 reunion attendees.
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 23
CLASS NOTES >>
2002 Brian Kindorf, Sterling, Mass., is now the sole owner and managing director of Non Profit Capital Management LLC, which he co-founded in 2003.
2003 Mike Carlson married Alicia Strom on May 1, 2017, in Kauai, Hawaii. The couple lives in San Diego. Jennifer (Gentile) Martin and husband James, Dracut, Mass., welcomed their second son, Lorenzo, on November 19, 2017.
2004
15th Reunion May 31 to June 2 News from Emily DiBlasi: “I moved to Wyoming right after graduation and have been living in Pinedale for about 11 years. I was a high school business teacher and
am now an education consultant for the Curriculum Leadership Institute. I love my job because I can integrate my business background with education, a more recent passion. The big news is that I got married this summer to Eric Makelky, a Montana man.” Dominic Suszanski, New York, N.Y., is moving to London for his new role as director of the Internal Audit group at Apollo Global Management LLC. He writes that he looks forward to reconnecting with local family and friends and networking with Bentley’s European alumni.
2005 Two Double Falcons have been named partner at Waldron H. Rand & Company PC: Matt Dlugash, MST ’06, Millis, Mass., and Nicole Barrick ’06, MSA ’09.
Kristen (Berglund) Menslage and husband Keith, Tewksbury, Mass., welcomed John Kenneth on June 28, 2017. He joins big sister Lillian.
2006 Two Double Falcons have been named partner at Waldron H. Rand & Company PC: Nicole Barrick, MSA ’09, Mansfield, Mass., and Matt Dlugasch ’05, MST, Millis, Mass. Dan Schawbel, New York, N.Y., has written Back to Human: How Great Leaders Create Connection in the Age of Isolation, set to release on November 13. “The book argues that technology has created the illusion that today’s workers feel ‘highly connected’ to one another, when in reality most feel isolated from their colleagues,” he writes. “What they crave most —
and what research increasingly shows to be the hallmark of the highest-performing workplace cultures — is a sense of authentic connection with others.” The book includes interviews with Bill Connolly ’10 and Amanda Healy ’10.
2008
2007
2009
Blake Reynolds and Andrew Martorano were married at the Providence Public Library in Providence, R.I., on January 13, 2018. Fellow Falcons marking the occasion: Lisa (Wasylczak) Avvocato, Lynn Gallagher, Hunter Jones, Mark Mancini, Tan Pham, Nicole (Patanian) Simonian and Gretchen (Stelzer) Valente.
10th Reunion May 31 to June 2 Danielle (Millerick) Dougan and husband Jared, Wakefield, Mass., welcomed son Andrew Robert on January 21, 2018. Mom and Dad write: “He was the Patriots’ good luck charm, born during the AFC Championship game!”
Robert Susi and wife Jenna, Milton, Mass., welcomed Rocco Dante on January 25, 2018. He joins big brother Anthony.
Continued on page 26
The Ameriprise Private Wealth Advisory practice of Richard Miller ’90, in Wellesley, Mass., hosted its annual Intern Appreciation Night. Over the years, the team has employed nearly 200 talented college students, the majority from Bentley; seven current staff members are alumni. “Our office is committed to providing experiential learning opportunities that allow our interns to gain valuable work experience,” says Miller. “I’m very pleased to hear about all the success our intern alumni are having.”
SAVE THE DATE
24 | FALL 2018
Ben O’Sullivan-Pierce, Medford, Mass., is co-owner of Fresh Start Contracting Company, which donated a kitchen renovation to Somerville Community Baptist Church.
<< INSIDE JOB
YOU
IF THE SUIT FITS The summer after my first year at Bentley, I was an orientation leader, and they wanted to have Flex there when all the parents arrived dropping off their kids. They said, you need to be a certain height — and everyone looked at me. I’ve always been super passionate about Bentley and had a lot of school pride; this was a unique way to show it.
GAVE SO WE CAN SOAR
WINGS OF STEEL Flex used to do a push-up for every point scored — and it was cumulative. So if the team made a touchdown you would do seven push-ups, and then if they scored another one you’d do 14. There was one game where Bentley scored over 60 points. By the end, my arms were rubber.
NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU SWEAT To be a good mascot, you need to be passionate and have the ability to function in a very hot environment. You sweat out a good amount of body weight. But at the end of the day, the excitement and passion for what you are Subhead will go hear once subhead is decided. doing are definitely worth the wet, smelly suit.
The Man Inside the Monster hen most alumni “suit up” for work, they button up their blazer — Andrew Blum ’06 included. But a few times a month, the former Marketing major turned director of physician recruiting for Iora Health trades his dress shoes for furry feet as Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster. Entertaining at football and basketball games as Flex the Falcon gave Blum a wing up in postgraduation tryouts to be an alternate for Boston’s favorite baseball cheerleader.
W
GREAT RECEPTION Wally is never going to get traded or sign a bigger contract, so there’s a consistency to him being there. Everyone loves Wally, and wants to see Wally, so it’s great to make a fan entrance when people aren’t expecting it — and have your energy be as big as he is. Win or lose, Wally brings a smile to fans’ faces. MONSTER FANS People always want Wally’s autograph. At one of my first events, somebody even wanted me to sign their baby’s leg. Another time, I was at a wedding where the groom had me surprise the bride when the DJ started playing “Sweet Caroline.” She started swinging me around the dance floor. I was like, “Let’s slow this down!” I don’t want this showing up on America’s Funniest Home Videos because Wally got overheated. Some of the best times are visiting kids at events for the Jimmy Fund. The happiness that Wally brings to them is truly special. THRILL OF VICTORY I was escorting Wally at the World Series in 2013 and got to run on the field with him as we won. After the Boston Marathon bombings that year, the whole team came together with the city to support the victims. It was just magical being out there with Wally, waving the Boston Strong flag and celebrating in front of the crowd with the team. As told to Michael Blanding
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ALUMNUS
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 25
CLASS NOTES >> 2009, continued Nicholas Jasilli and wife Jennifer (Groipen) ’10, Marblehead, Mass., welcomed Zachary Edward, “our second future Falcon,” on September 21, 2017. He joins big brother A.J.
Jennifer (Groipen) Jasilli and husband Nicholas ’09, Marblehead, Mass., welcomed Zachary Edward, “our second future Falcon,” on September 21, 2017. He joins big brother A.J.
Tatiana (Casale) Mullaney, MBA ’17 and husband Mike welcomed Mia Rose on February 15, 2018. The family, including “big sister” pup Lulu, lives in Auburndale, Mass.
Kaitlin (McGrane) Michaud and husband Jonathan, MBA ’11, Avon, Conn., are proud parents of Ariana Grace, born on June 27, 2017.
2010 Robert Bondy II, MBA ’14, Queensbury, N.Y., has been promoted to partner at SEFCO, CPAs LLP in Glens Falls. Lauren (Westling) Fostveit, MBA ’11, MSA ’16 and husband Jared, Sudbury, Mass., said a warm hello to daughter Skylar Paige on March 15, 2018.
Thomas Powell, New Haven, Conn., received his MBA from Yale School of Management in May. Christopher Taber wed Jennifer Loomis ’12 on November 3, 2017, at LaBelle Winery in Amherst, N.H. Numerous Falcons celebrated with the pair. They report: “We are living in Waltham and enjoyed a honeymoon visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando,
after having to cancel our original honeymoon in Sonoma due to the wildfires.”
2011 Elizabeth Rocheleau and Kyle Moore married on September 30, 2017, in Beverly, Mass. The couple lives in Denver.
2012 Victoria Caldwell and Kevin Raftery wed on September 16, 2017, on Shelter Island in New York. The couple lives and works in Boston. After a crowdfunding campaign that drew support from many fellow alumni, James “Jimmy” Haight, Scottsdale, Ariz., landed a publishing deal with Morgan James for his first book, Jack & Coke.
Jennifer Loomis wed Christopher Taber ’10 on November 3, 2017, at LaBelle Winery in Amherst, N.H. Numerous Falcons celebrated with the pair. They report: “We are living in Waltham and enjoyed a honeymoon visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, after having to cancel our original honeymoon in Sonoma due to the wildfires.”
than 15 fellow Falcons, many of whom also joined the newlyweds at Reunion Weekend. The couple writes: “We are living in Hartford, Conn., and just bought a home together!”
Keith St. John, MSF, Marlborough, Mass., is running for U.S. Congress from the state’s 3rd District.
Anna Yegorova and Kevin Dennis married on March 17, 2018, in the groom’s hometown of Newtown, Conn. The couple lives in Brookline, Mass., and plans to move to Connecticut in the near future.
2013 Gunveen Chadha, Boston, Mass., received the 2017 President’s Award at Liberty Mutual Insurance. Amber Lo and Bill Warren wed on October 21, 2017, at Wachusett Mountain Ski Lodge. Guests included more
2016 Naples Reserve has tapped Jack Blatchford, Fort Meyers, Fla., to serve as a marketing assistant.
2017 Opus Consulting Group has welcomed Caitlin Noel, Groton, Conn., to the position of junior consultant.
SPOTLIGHT: CHRISTINE REIGHLEY ’15 BY DEBLINA CHAKRABORTY
Christine Reighley loves Maine like it’s her job. And for all intents and purposes, it is. The alumna is co-founder and managing editor of a quarterly magazine whose longform stories, photography and illustration celebrate her home state. Launched this year, Maine the Way offers a printed platform for writers and artists from around the region. “It’s meant to counter the fast-paced, news-cycle-driven media machine our culture has become,” says Reighley, whose partner in the venture is editor-in-chief Cam Held. “For information, the Internet is so accessible; we’re not trying to compete with that. We’re creating a product that you can sit down with and sort of escape the Internet.” Paradoxically, online is exactly where Maine the Way got its start. Reighley launched the project in 2014, having scrolled through Instagram accounts filled with gorgeous images of the Pacific Northwest. Why, she wondered, wasn’t there anything that featured the beauty of Maine? She built @mainetheway on Instagram while still a Managerial Economics major at Bentley. 26 | FALL 2018
Now, with 60,000 followers, it is the largest curated account in the state. The print version similarly includes Maine-focused photo essays, but adds in-depth stories on topics of local interest. One of Reighley’s favorites: a four-part series about the “North Pond Hermit,” a man who lived in the woods for 27 years without any contact with society. Two issues in, the 160-page publication has attracted sponsors like Poland Spring. “Our model for print advertising is quite different from traditional glossy magazines,” says Reighley. “We’ve capped the number of ads to 10 pages, making it a stronger experience for our partners.” While working through challenges such as distribution, she is energized by the magazine’s potential. “We’re focused on building the community — there are so many great artists throughout Maine,” she says. “There’s a lot to look forward to.” PHOTO BY CAM HELD
<< CLASS NOTES
SPOTLIGHT: RICHARD SWANSON, P ’82 BY KRISTIN LIVINGSTON
If you were on campus in the ’70s and ’80s, you surely noticed Richard Swanson, P ’82 walking to class, a head above everyone else.
Amanda Helfand ’11, MBA ’14, Arlington, Mass., said “Yes!” to Jaymeth Maddox on November 21, 2017, in Utah’s Zion National Park.
2018 INAUGURAL HOCKEY SEASON at the Bentley Arena
GAME TICKETS ON SALE! bentley.edu/hockey-tickets
The distinctively lanky professor with a PhD taught in the Math Department. He also loved challenging students to games of O-U-T on the basketball court. “I eventually beat them all, much to their dismay,” recalled Swanson, who died in June at age 90. After serving on the Bentley faculty for 25 years — four when his daughter, the late Faith Swanson ’82, was also on campus — he checked his investments and decided to retire. His new role seemed custom made: a first-person living historian of Abraham Lincoln. To quote the statesman from Illinois: “Whatever you are, be a good one.” Swanson had always been shy, often finding it difficult to speak before an audience — except when impersonating the 16th president. As his Lincoln knowledge and beard grew, so did his confidence. By 1991, the hobby sparked by Carl Sandburg’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography was a many-faceted second career. Swanson donned his specially tailored suit dozens of times a year at schools, libraries, museums and more. He also created numerous pen-and-ink illustrations of Lincoln’s life — enough, along with corresponding quotations, to fill a book. He published That Reminds Me of a Story in 2016, the same year his artwork was on exhibit in the public library of his hometown, Wellfleet, Mass. In his last year, Swanson was working on a memoir of his wartime service in Korea. He hadn’t portrayed Lincoln in a few years, but he kept the beard and a great fondness for Bentley. In a generous act to benefit student-athletes, Swanson made an estate plan to create scholarships for members of the men’s and women’s basketball teams. “Any help that I can give to the success of others,” he said, “I give gladly.”
Reality Check Preparation for today’s global business environment was top of mind during a spring campus visit by long-standing corporate partner PwC. U.S. Chairman and Senior Partner Tim Ryan and Bentley alumni who work at the company explored further avenues to help students gain real-world experience. PHOTO ABOVE RIGHT COURTESY OF RICHARD SWANSON; PHOTO ABOVE BY ASHLEY MCCABE
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 27
2.
1.
3.
4. 28 | FALL 2018
<< CLASS NOTES
5.
6.
7.
9. 9. 1. Emily DiBlasi ’04 and Eric Makelky 2. Kimberly Federico ’01 and James Hamel 3. Mike Carlson ’03 and Alicia Strom 4. Blake Reynolds ’07 and Andrew Martorano 5. Jennifer Loomis ’12 and Christopher Taber ’10 6. Amber Lo ’13 and Bill Warren ’13 7. Elizabeth Rocheleau ’11 and Kyle Moore ’11 8. Victoria Caldwell ’12 and Kevin Raftery ’12 9. Anna Yegorova ’16 and Kevin Dennis ’16
16.
8. BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 29
CLASS NOTES >>
SPOTLIGHT: CHAMPIONS OF SERVICE BY KRISTIN LIVINGSTON
This spring, the Global Alumni Board commended three alumni and a graduating senior for exceptional service to Bentley and the world.
Harry C. Bentley Alumni Achievement Award James Maguire ’63, P ’07 Access to higher education and service to the community are twin passions for James Maguire, a trustee of the Yawkey Foundations. They also represent strategic priorities at Bentley, for which Maguire has been instrumental in securing grants. His work over six years has helped guide the foundation in becoming one of the most important philanthropic institutions in New England. Vicki (Vassalotti) Semanie ’86, chair of the Global Alumni Board, praised Maguire’s professional accomplishments — and more. “Jim’s willingness to share his time and expertise vividly illustrates the qualities that Bentley University strives to instill in its graduates and values in its alumni.”
Award of Distinction Steve ’73 and Christine ’73 Manfredi, P ’10 Known best for his significant impact as chair of Bentley’s Board of Trustees, Steve Manfredi was recognized for his generous commitments of time, wisdom and support. These include serving on numerous committees that have helped shape the university from all corners. Vicki Semanie of the Global Alumni Board called him “the truest Bentley ambassador, building his alma mater’s reputation, strengthening the community and ensuring the university is one of the nation’s premier business schools.” Chris Manfredi was commended for professional success in management consulting and contributions to Bentley life. In particular: her work on behalf of the Women’s Leadership Institute Advancement Council and the Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women in Business. Crediting the alumna as humble and sincere, Semanie noted: “She has been an enthusiastic champion whose energy has made our community stronger than ever.” Above and beyond these qualities of service is the Manfredis’ support as Great Benefactors, the most generous group of donors to the university.
Emerging Alumni Leader Award Shalini Chandrakanth ’18 Like fellow honorees, Shalini Chandrakanth has made an indelible mark on Bentley. Her roles include peer mentor, ambassador and advocate for initiatives close to her heart: gender equity, multiculturalism, Greek life, volunteerism, and a safe, positive campus environment. “Being a member of the alumni community means more than attending Homecoming and supporting Bentley from a distance,” said Chandrakanth, who majored in Managerial Economics and Management. Upon graduation, she accepted an analyst position at JP Morgan Chase & Co. “It is about being an active advocate for the ideals of higher education and creating an even better Bentley than the one we leave behind.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN SMITH
Reunion
Reunion Weekend REUNION PHOTOS BY BRIAN SMITH, WAYNE CHINNOCK AND HERATCH EKMEKJIAN
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 31
CLASS NOTES >>
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<< CLASS NOTES
Picture yourself here next year! Reunion Weekend 2019 | May 31 to June 2 BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 33
CLASS NOTES >>
In Memoriam 1939
1950
1954
1958
Daniel West
Joseph Ambridge Richard Miranda
John Carnevale Donald D’Avanzo Lois (Stevens) Hatch Willis Pearson Wendell Weyland
Mortimer Donahue Elizabeth “Betty” McCuin Thomas McMahon Robert Morley
George Harrington Robert Henry Robert McCaffrey Donald Sargent Donald Weseman
1943
1951
1955
1959
Stanley Brown Robert Callahan Edward Fitzpatrick Harvey Howell Anthony Pimental Donald Sheehan James Sullivan
Joseph Bishop Arthur Cook Arthur Curtin Jr. William Hartley, P ’94, ’97 Lawrence Ryan Alfred Spurr Louis “Dan” Valente
Bernard Charlebois, P ’83 Arnold Lester Mossman Richard Smith
1942
Melvin Gross
1947 Irene (Stets) Maliszewski Max Singer
1948 Kirk Aharonian, P ’82, ’91, ’99 A. David Freedland Ernest Leemon Roger McCarthy Julius Wachtel Eliot Wallace Richard Young
1949 Edward Adams Edward Messier
1952 William Bannister George Barabe Peter Lawson Leslie Malone
1953 John Kelley Richard Valeri
1960 Frederick Glennan Richard Hedberg John O’Keefe Sr. Margaret (Incrovato) St. Andre
1956 Harold McGrath Jr.
1961
1957
John Galvin Ralph Suarez
James Arpey Faith (Dwyer) Ballenger Stanley Byczkowski Herbert Cohen Walter Hall, P ’79 Robert McPhail Michael Thomas
1962 Margaret Dolan
1964 Robert Assarian, P ’86 James Dunn Harold Nelson James Newell
Charles “Chuck” Hieken, P ’93 1928 – 2018 Chuck Hieken’s life helped the world, and Bentley. A graduate of MIT and Harvard Law School, he pioneered the practice of patent law and won two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases that set the precedent for intellectual property law. His career included more than 30 years at Fish & Richardson. He also co-organized BOSE Corporation, in 1964, and served on President Jimmy Carter’s Advisory Committee on Industrial Innovation. As a radio officer in the Merchant Marines, Hieken sailed to Iwo Jima in 1945, during intense kamikaze attacks — and celebrated V-J Day aboard the Escanaba Victory soon after. He served in the Korean War, returned to earn his law degree and settled in Boston. Hieken and his wife, Donna, a world-class flutist, were married for 50 years until her death. In 2005, they endowed the Hieken Professorship of Business and Professional Ethics at Bentley; their son, Seth, is a 1993 graduate. The professorship’s first recipient, W. Michael Hoffman, led the charge to make business ethics part of corporate practice and academic study. Hoffman founded the university’s Center for Business Ethics, named in his honor as it marked 40 years in 2016; he retains the designation of Hieken Professor. “The study of ethics can have a profound effect on our society,” Hieken once said in an interview with Bentley. “Not just on business, but on politics and on the world.”
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<< CLASS NOTES
1965
1974
1981
1994
Gerald LePage
Michael Brnger Holly (Rocken-Styre) King John Nelson Walter Topham, MST
Christine (Bahadourian) Boyajian Barbara Dailey, MBA ’01
Robert Schadee
John MacArthur, MST ’84, P ’02 John Traniello Stanley Zagorski
1967
1975
1983
Paul Kicza
Gary Vieira, MBA
1976
1984
Marla Jean (Hoffman) Appel John Nugent
Robert Vigneau
1966
William O’Grady
1969 Florence Chisholm
1970
John Sullivan Jr.
Jeffrey Elston
Anthony Mulinare Jr., MST
Tracey Bowe Leon Labonte, MSF Darryl Pettinelli
1971
1978
1986
Joyce (Walden) Brisbois-Weiner, MST ’83
Joseph Baroli Robert Koch Eileen McCrossan, MSA
Robert Parow
1979
1973
David Boucher Judith (Begg) Cummings Elizabeth (Carroll) Teahan
Karen Boone Jeffrey Walker
1980 Jeremiah Donovan, MSA Roderick Stocking
2004
1985
1977
1972
2001 Veronica Lyons, MBA
Richard Gibbs Bradford Hatch Paul Watson
Anthony Lucia
1996
1988 Raymond McManus
1989 Edward Ambrogio, MBA Mark Kearney
2009 James Palombo
2010 Tyler Simms, MSA ’11
Parents and Friends Lee Campbell, Former Professor, Marketing Susan Clark-Cook, Clinical Psychologist John Conway, Facilities Charles “Chuck” Hieken, P ’93 Jane Pirkly, Former Professor, Behavioral Sciences Richard Swanson, P ’82
Louis P. “Dan” Valente ’55 1930 – 2018 In a long and celebrated life, Louis P. “Dan” Valente ’55 took on many roles: beloved husband and father of seven, semi-pro baseball player, Air Force airman, trusted mentor and colleague, successful executive, truest friend. His business acumen and leadership skills placed Valente in high demand for C-suite roles and board memberships. At retirement, he was senior vice president for EG&G, now Perkin Elmer. At Bentley, his legacy lives on through the Jeanne and Dan Valente Center for Arts and Sciences. The center was established in 2006 to sustain the arts and sciences as a vital and challenging component of undergraduate education. It supports the work of faculty and students through fellowships, student research assistantships and workshops, as well as visits by eminent scholars in a range of arts and sciences fields. A loyal Falcon, Valente was a founding member of the Arts and Sciences Advisory Council. He and wife Jeanne have been recognized as Great Benefactors, distinguished donors who exemplify the spirit of Bentley’s earliest leaders.
BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 35
CLASS NOTES >>
Entrepreneurship 101 More than 100 alumni took part in the second annual Bentley Alumni Summit, hosted on June 20 by the Greater Boston Chapter of the Alumni Association. Attendees heard from Bill Cummings, philanthropist and author of Starting Small and Making It Big: An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Billion-Dollar Philanthropist, as keynote speaker. Alumni panelists led breakout sessions that explored all aspects of entrepreneurship: navigating from startup to success, funding opportunities, the different roles of a founder and more. Save the date for the third annual Bentley Alumni Summit in June 2019. Look for more events hosted by regional chapters: bentley.edu/findmyregion.
Future Falcons 2.
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3. 2.
3.
7.
4. 1. Zachary Edward, child of Jennifer (Groipen) ’10 and Nicholas ’09 Jasilli 2. Mia Rose, child of Tatiana (Casale) Mullaney ’09, MBA ’17 and husband Mike 3. Andrew Robert, child of Danielle (Millerick) Dougan ’09 and husband Jared 4. Lorenzo James, child of Jennifer (Gentile) Martin ’03 and husband James 5. Rocco Dante and big brother Anthony, children of Robert Susi ’07 and wife Jenna 36 | FALL 2018
5.
6.
8.
6. Skylar Paige, child of Lauren (Westling) Fostveit ’10, MBA ’11, MSA ’16 and husband Jared 7. Ariana Grace, child of Kaitlin (McGrane) ’10 and Jonathan ’10, MBA ’11 Michaud 8. John Kenneth, child of Kristen (Berglund) Menslage ’05 and husband Keith
ABOVE AND BEYOND The Class of 2018 soared past its giving participation goal, showing students’ deep appreciation for their Bentley education.
2018
The Bentley Arena is the first stand-alone ice arena in the country to earn LEED Platinum certification — the highest possible rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. Read about its rise as a sustainability star, and much more, in our lead feature. Cover story: page 11
COVER AND PHOTO ABOVE BY WARREN PATTERSON, COURTESY OF ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES CAMBRIDGE
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