Merrimack College Receives $2.5 Million Pledge to Establish the Francis E. Girard School of Business and International Commerce

Business Wire, Nov 8, 1999

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 1999--

Alumnus makes unprecedented gift to College which will be used to enhance and name the School of Business and create third Endowed Chair

Merrimack College President Richard J. Santagati today announced that the College has received a $2.5 million pledge to establish the Francis E. Girard School of Business and International Commerce. Mr. Girard is a 1962 graduate of Merrimack College and Chief Executive Officer of Comverse Network Systems based in Wakefield, Mass., a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, a Standard and Poor's 500 Company and the world's leading supplier of enhanced services platforms to wireless and wireline network operators.

Mr. Girard's pledge to The Campaign for Merrimack will be used for several key initiatives within the College's current Business Division. Among those will be the Francis E. Girard Endowed Chair in International Business; creation of a Technology Auditorium which will be a fully-networked center complete with videoconferencing capability and an endowment for technology upgrades; creation of a Business Teaching Resource Center to strengthen teaching resources and enhance library offerings; further internationalization of the Business curriculum; enhancements to the technology infrastructure to accommodate the expanded requirements for a variety of technological improvements within O'Reilly Hall; and new faculty development resources.

"The tremendous impact that Mr. Girard's generous gift to Merrimack College will have is just beginning to be realized. With this new resource, Merrimack will easily make the transition to tomorrow's paradigm of a more integrated curriculum and state-of-the-art technology--features often found only in MBA programs--in response to the global explosion of the Internet," said Merrimack President Richard J. Santagati. "We are extremely grateful to Mr. Girard for his personal financial commitment to the College but more so for his leadership and vision which will benefit generations of Merrimack students, our faculty and the greater community. We are proud to name our Business Division after such an extraordinary individual."

Mr. Francis Girard's career includes several high profile positions within the telecommunications and computing industries. He has held top sales and marketing positions at NEC Information Systems, Wang, Key Data, and Burroughs Corp. Mr. Girard has been involved with many start-ups throughout his career and is a member of the International Engineering Consortium as well as a Director of the Mass. Telecommunications Council. He previously served as President and CEO of Boston Technology and now serves as Chief Executive Officer of Comverse Network Systems. He is a 1962 graduate of Merrimack College, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. While at Merrimack, Mr. Girard was president of the SBK Fraternity, editor of the College newspaper, and Vice President of Student Government. He is currently a member of the Merrimack College Board of Trustees.

Mr. Girard is the father of three children and resides in Ipswich and Boston, Mass.

Merrimack College is a private Catholic college located in North Andover, MA. Founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine, Merrimack College prides itself on providing a high-quality undergraduate education centered around the liberal arts with strong emphasis placed on professional training and development. Its 220-acre campus located in the heart of the Merrimack Valley, is home to students from 29 states and 25 countries. Merrimack College was selected as a top tier regional liberal arts college and as a "Best Value" in U.S. News and World Report's 1998 Best Colleges guidebook. Its Web address is www.merrimack.edu