$525K Gift From Deloitte

Deloitte is endowing $525,000 to the School of Business. The endowment will serve the school in a couple of ways.  $250,000 will equip two classrooms in the new building and support building operations. The Deloitte classrooms will be constructed in a tiered “case style,” bringing students and professors closer. The setting doesn’t allow for “hiding in the back row” that you did when you were in school, bringing every student to the front row and giving everyone the opportunity to easily participate.

Another $250,000 will support faculty research. Accounting Chair Ingrid Fisher said, "Deloitte’s generous gift will enable classrooms in the future school of business to be state of the art. Their support for faculty research will help provide the necessary resources to foster high quality scholarship.”

The remaining $25,000 will go to the Accounting Chair Deloitte Foundation Opportunity Fund, providing $5,000 annually for five years. Dr. Fisher said, “The discretionary funds will enable me, as chair, to creatively target opportunities to fund academic competitions for students, student participation in conferences and awards to stimulate faculty morale, along with other tools and activities that can strengthen the mission of the department, brand our programs and distinguish our students.” 
Jeff Black ’76, Senior Partner and Board member at Deloitte facilitated the Deloitte endowment. He said that the gift reflects the generosity of the many University at Albany alumni at Deloitte. (There are over 100 and a generous match program by The Deloitte Foundation.) “The School of Business has been foundational to  our success at Deloitte.  Life has been good to us. This is a meaningful way to give back. It’s our personal and professional responsibility.”

The appreciation is reciprocated. School of Business Dean Don Siegel said, “We are grateful to our alumni at Deloitte and the Deloitte Foundation for their commitment to the School of Business.  They are some of our most loyal graduates.  We are deeply appreciative of Jeff Black ’76, George Warnock ’79, and other alumni at Deloitte for their leadership and vision in helping the school realize its full potential.”

How did Black get involved in creating this endowment?  As a member and former chairperson of the Dean’s Advisory Board to the School of Business, he was privy to the new building plans early on. He and his fellow board members discussed the ways they could play a role in funding the new building.  Black realized that the way for him to make the strongest impact was to organize the Deloitte partners and employees. He worked with the Deloitte Foundation to arrange a two for one match, emphasizing that a two for one match is unusual and offered to only a select group of top business schools. Black successfully acquired the 100% partner involvement and is now reaching out to managers, seniors and staff.  He said, “We can’t do it with just the partners. The combination of the building classrooms, research and program support gives every alumnus something to relate to. Through the match program, $100 becomes $300; $1,000 becomes $3,000 and $10,000 becomes $30,000.”  

Black remains on the Dean’s Advisory Board as an executive committee member, and recently became a member of the UAlbany Foundation Board of Directors. He received the Excellence in Alumni Service Award from the university in 1999. Black worked with fellow Dean’s Advisory Board member Pat Caldwell in spearheading the Advisory Board Faculty Advancement Endowment Fund to support faculty research. As a partner at Arthur Andersen, Black established The Arthur Andersen Alumni Professor of Accounting Fund. Most recently, Black provided the keynote address at the 2008 Accounting Orientation.