College Relations

November 29, 2005

CONTACT --- Margo W. R. Steiner at 978-542-7505 or margo.steiner@salemstate.edu

SALEM, Mass. Nov. 29, 2005 - At tonight's annual dinner meeting of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, outgoing Chamber president – and president of Salem State College -- Nancy Harrington stepped to the podium and announced yet another major gift to Salem State College. North Shore residents Henry and Donna Bertolon, who were in the audience, recently gifted Salem State with $2.5 million to name the College's business school.

The Bertolon's gift comes on the heels of a recent $2 million gift by Analogic founder Bernard Gordon and his wife, Sophia, to name the college's center for the creative and performing arts, and represents the largest private gift in the state college's 151-year history. To the best of the College's knowledge, it is also the largest private outright gift ever to a Massachusetts state college.

The Bertolon's munificence will fund an endowment for the College's School of Business, which henceforth will be called the Bertolon School of Business. Unlike a gift of bricks and mortar, the Bertolon's generosity will be used to provide future Salem State College students an unparalleled education in business; one that will enable them to compete with the best of the best, the brightest of the bright.

It will also enable the College to woo nationally recognized, more highly credentialed professors from this country's top colleges and universities, and enable it to put in place those elements necessary to achieve certification from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). All of this will put the College well on the road to coveted university status.

A 1974 Salem State College business graduate, Henry Bertolon is co-founder of what was eventually to become NECX Direct in 1980. Like so many other businesses, it began small: on a kitchen table with a small bank line of credit and $22,000 from the sale of Bertolon's house. By the time Henry Bertolon sold the business in 2000, it employed 450 worldwide with over 350 in Peabody, facilitating more than $500 million in annual revenues worldwide.

Henry and Donna Bertolon believe strongly in a bright future for all, and believe that their investment in Salem State College will pay dividends for our children and their futures. In the words of Henry Bertolon himself, "We must all begin to recognize this most extraordinary resource that is within our midst. How fortunate we are to have a state college of this size and quality as part of our community! It is up to us all to see that it not only continues to produce talented people, but that it thrives and grows."

According to Cynthia McGurren, Salem State's vice president of institutional advancement, "The impact of the Bertolon's gift, not only on the Salem State College community, but on the economic future of the North Shore, will be far reaching. It will certainly engender greater partnerships between and among the public and private sectors in our region.

"Through their gift," she continued, "Henry and Donna Bertolon have recognized the extraordinary resource that Salem State College is to the region, and have chosen to strengthen its efforts to educate tomorrow's business leaders, most of whom will stay within our local communities to work and raise their families."

Jacob Segal, president of the Salem State College Foundation, recognized the far-reaching impact of the gift as well. "As president of the Salem State College Foundation," he said, "I want to join in recognizing the Bertolons for making this leadership gift. At this time of more limited public support for our state colleges, private philanthropy is essential in maintaining a high standard of education."

Salem State College's School of Business is a regional business school that provides undergraduate and graduate education for a diverse mixture of traditional, non-traditional, and working professional students. The school is housed in a state-of-the-art-equipped complex on Loring Avenue that formerly housed the GTE/Sylvania plant. Business majors make up the College's largest undergraduate population, at nearly 23 percent, and enrollments in the master's degree program in business (MBA) are growing steadily. It is a market leader in providing high quality management education to individuals and businesses in northeastern Massachusetts, and its programs emphasize academic excellence, practical relevance and service to the community.