- Fergus M. Clydesdale '66G
- Arlindo Jorge '50
- Dr. Tisata Kajiyama '69G
- Dr. Jess Kane '70
- Thomas O'Brien
- Carmel Valianti '79
- Thomas O'Brien
All Business - Thomas O'Brien
When Thomas O’Brien left his job as vice president of finance at Harvard University to become dean of the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst in 1987, he says, “I hadn’t counted on losing my heart here, to the students, alumni, and many of the faculty.”
During his tenure, O’Brien led a crusade to enhance the infrastructure of the Isenberg School of Management. He had a unique ability to channel alumni goodwill into financial support for the school and its students. To strengthen the school’s ties with its graduates, O’Brien broadened the geographical and demographic scope of its Business Advisory Council and created the first satellite development office on campus. In addition to the school’s capital projects and its five endowed faculty positions, the O’Brien years were marked by many milestones: the inception of the DiMES student diversity program and the George Spiro Communications Program; and the creation of the the Chase Career Center and the world-class Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets. O’Brien presided over the spectacular growth of the school’s online MBA program and, in 2002, orchestrated the inclusion of the departments of Sport Management and Hospitality and Tourism Management into the Isenberg School of Management’s fold.
“Our goal was to make the educational experience as good as the students themselves,” says O’Brien. “The alumni were our biggest allies. Their affection for UMass Amherst and its current students made everything possible. The alumni and students are UMass Amherst. What a great base on which to build.”
Thomas O’Brien recently stepped down after 19 years of unparalleled service as dean. Thankfully, he remains a positive force in the school as a professor of finance.
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