December 19, 2012
San Antonio entrepreneur and philanthropist Harvey E. Najim has given $1 million to establish the Center for Business Innovation and Social Responsibility at St. Mary’s University.
Harvey E. Najim, who has been a member of the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees since 2010, is executive chairman of Sirius Computer Solutions and founder of the Harvey E. Najim Family Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to help children. The Center will engage Bill Greehey School of Business students in developing responsible and innovative business solutions for real companies to advance global, social and environmental change. It will be housed within the Business School but will be an interdisciplinary center that will incorporate other academic areas on campus.
“St. Mary’s puts social responsibility, ethics and its Catholic and Marianist values at the center of its educational process. Because of efforts already in place and new ones such as this Center for Business Innovation and Social Responsibility, St. Mary’s has become a gateway for the next generation of great leaders who will find ways to make business more efficient while addressing important social challenges,” Najim said. “I am pleased to support President Tom Mengler’s dynamic vision and this exciting initiative, which will become a hub of state and national efforts to measure business success by more than bottom lines and profits, but also how they contribute to improving our community and our world with more efficient and ethical practices.”
“Harvey Najim’s generous gift to establish this Center at St. Mary’s will be an important part of our continued efforts to become the finest Catholic university in the Southwest. It follows our strategic vision of educating students in the Catholic and Marianist traditions while preparing them to lead purposeful professional lives in the business world,” said Thomas M. Mengler, J.D., St. Mary’s University President. “We have an obligation to provide more experiential and mentorship opportunities to our students so that they see firsthand what true professionalism is and the commitment that is required to become an outstanding professional—that it requires not only learning how others do their jobs well, but also finding new and innovative ways to address business and social problems. This is a process that is transformative not only for the students, but also for our community.”
This is the second $1 million gift to the Greehey School of Business in recent weeks. Earlier this month, alumnus Bill Greehey (B.B.A. ’60) donated $1 million toward the Greehey MBA Program.