(Dona Bertarelli with Babson President Kerry Healey. Image via Babson)
Babson College will be adding a new faculty chair to its directory, thanks to a $3 million gift granted by the Bertarelli Foundation.
The school announced it will be establishing a Bertarelli Foundation Distinguished Professor of Family Entrepreneurship. The faculty chair will be responsible for leading a multidisciplinary approach to family enterprise, "where the family, not the business, is the focus."
The news was made public on Thursday to a room of more than 400 leading academics and doctoral researchers at the 2014 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, held in London, Ontario.
Beyond the chair, Babson also announced a new research prize named after Babson alumnus Ernesto Bertarelli, in recognition of his family's track record in fostering entrepreneurship. The winner of the Bertarelli Prize will be awarded $2,500 for presenting the best family entrepreneurship paper at the 2014 BCERC.
The Bertarelli Foundation launched in 1998, and built its beginnings on the legacy of the family's initial Serono Foundation, which focused on issues relating to human reproductive health. The Bertarelli Foundation has since extended its reach to more general life science research and marine conservation — areas that reflect the personal and collective interests, activities and passions of the family.
Babson President Kerry Healey lauded the work of the Bertarelli Foundation in a statement, saying:
Families are the dominant form of business organization worldwide and they play a leading role in the social and economic wealth creation of communities and countries. For almost a century, Babson has been at the forefront educating entrepreneurial families and conducting research and programming to help family enterprises achieve continued growth. Thanks to the generosity of the Bertarelli Foundation, we will make even greater strides developing the entrepreneurial mindsets and capabilities that enable business families to think and act more entrepreneurially in all contexts.
Through the addition of the new faculty chair, Foundation Co-chair Dona Bertarelli said they plan to "help a new generation of individuals become tomorrow's family entrepreneurs."
