Northeastern receives $60 million gift to name School of Business

President Joseph E. Aoun (center) meets with alumni Richard D’Amore, BA’76, (left) and Alan McKim, MBA’88, (right) to discuss their unprecedented philanthropic investment. As a result of their combined $60 million gift, Northeastern’s College of Business Administration will become the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Photo by Mary Knox Merrill. 

Two North­eastern Uni­ver­sity alumni—Richard D’Amore, BA’76, and Alan McKim, MBA’88—have joined forces to make the largest phil­an­thropic invest­ment in the university’s his­tory. As a result of their com­bined $60 mil­lion gift, Northeastern’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion will become the D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness. It will be the first col­lege or school to be named at Northeastern.

“Once in a gen­er­a­tion, his­tory is made in the life of a uni­ver­sity. This is one of those moments,” said North­eastern Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun. “This unprece­dented invest­ment will allow our School of Busi­ness to build on its strength in global entre­pre­neurial pro­grams and make a quantum leap for­ward. It will also gal­va­nize our com­mu­nity and allow us to set our col­lec­tive sights even higher.”

The Boston Globe reported the news of the gift Wednesday morning.

D’Amore is a co-​​founder and gen­eral partner at North Bridge Ven­ture Part­ners, a ven­ture cap­ital firm based in Waltham, Mass. McKim is the founder and CEO of Clean Har­bors, the nation’s leading provider of envi­ron­mental, energy and indus­trial services.

The D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness will join other top busi­ness schools named for visionary bene­fac­tors. The record-​​breaking gift will have pro­found and lasting impacts across every dimen­sion of busi­ness edu­ca­tion and research. It is the fourth-​​largest gift to name a busi­ness school in the United States.

“North­eastern has had a huge impact on me—both per­son­ally and pro­fes­sion­ally,” said D’Amore. “I believe in making invest­ments in win­ning insti­tu­tions. North­eastern has remark­able momentum today, and under the lead­er­ship of Pres­i­dent Aoun, I know this is a great invest­ment. I hope that what Alan and I are doing will inspire others to do the same.”

Alumni Richard D’Amore, BA’76, (center) and Alan McKim, MBA’88 (right) look over design prototypes displaying the business school’s new name. Photo by Mary Knox Merill.

The two alumni met in 2004 when they teamed up to endow a pro­fes­sor­ship cur­rently held by Pro­fessor Daniel McCarthy, a promi­nent member of the busi­ness fac­ulty at North­eastern and a mentor to both D’Amore and McKim.

“As an entre­pre­neur, I believe in sup­porting entre­pre­neurial insti­tu­tions,” said McKim. “I strongly sup­port the mis­sion and cur­rent lead­er­ship at North­eastern, and I’m proud to join with Rich and make this invest­ment. It will be an honor to have my name for­ever asso­ci­ated with this great university.”

Prior to the D’Amore-McKim gift, the largest dona­tion received by North­eastern was $20 mil­lion given by Bernard Gordon in 2006, which estab­lished the Gordon Engi­neering Lead­er­ship Pro­gram and the Gordon Center for Sub­sur­face Sensing and Imaging Systems.

Both D’Amore and McKim grew up in the Boston area and enrolled in Northeastern’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion as under­grad­u­ates. Although both dropped out, they were each drawn back to the col­lege that would later become their alma mater and, ulti­mately, bear their names. D’Amore received an under­grad­uate busi­ness degree and McKim a master’s in busi­ness administration.

Over the past five years, D’Amore and McKim have become actively engaged with the uni­ver­sity as mem­bers of the Board of Trustees. Their prior gifts focused on inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship, core values that span col­leges and dis­ci­plines at Northeastern.

“On behalf of the entire North­eastern Uni­ver­sity community—and our future stu­dents, fac­ulty and alumni—I want to thank Rich and Alan for their vision, sup­port and the trust they’ve placed in us,” added Aoun. “As entre­pre­neurs, Rich and Alan make invest­ments in high-​​value propo­si­tions. All of us will ensure that the impact of their gen­erosity will be felt for many generations.”

The new gift comes at a time of tremen­dous momentum for North­eastern. The uni­ver­sity has received record-​​breaking appli­ca­tions in recent years—both in quan­tity and quality—and external recog­ni­tions of the university’s suc­cess are at an all-​​time high. North­eastern has also reached new levels of suc­cess in research funding and phil­an­thropic support.

The School of Busi­ness has been cited by var­ious busi­ness pub­li­ca­tions for the excel­lence of its pro­grams in expe­ri­en­tial learning, entre­pre­neur­ship and inter­na­tional pro­grams. Its com­bi­na­tion of global entre­pre­neurial pro­grams is unmatched in busi­ness edu­ca­tion at the under­grad­uate level. The School is under the lead­er­ship of a new dean, Hugh Courtney, who began his tenure at North­eastern in July.