The Jack C. Massey Foundation, which honors the legacy of one of the country’s greatest entrepreneurs and businessmen, announced today a new gift of $6.75 million to Belmont University. With this donation, the Massey Foundation provides the lead gift in a planned $10 million renovation of Belmont’s Massey Business Center as well as secures a new name for Belmont’s College of Business Administration, now to be known as the Jack C. Massey College of Business.
The late Jack C. Massey (1904-1990) and his family have collectively been among Belmont University’s biggest benefactors. The first person in history to take three unrelated companies to the New York Stock Exchange, Massey’s gifts helped Belmont establish its undergraduate and graduate business programs and built both the Massey Business Center and the Massey Performing Arts Center. In addition, Massey’s gifts have endowed Belmont’s Chair in Entrepreneurship, leading the program to be among the best in the nation, as well as the Massey Center for Financial Information, the first financial training lab in Tennessee when it opened in 2005.
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “Belmont is blessed to have a number of strong supporters within the community and around the region, but without Jack C. Massey, this institution may not have survived its financial struggles in the 1970s. The recipient of Belmont’s first honorary doctorate, Mr. M, as he was called, and our late Chancellor Herbert C. Gabhart forged a friendship that quite literally changed the course of Belmont. We cannot say thank you enough for the generous and continued support of Barbara Massey Rogers, as well as the entire Massey family and the Massey Foundation, for all of their efforts which have made such a tremendous difference in the lives of thousands of students.”
Barbara Massey Rogers, daughter of Jack C. Massey and a long-time supporter of Belmont, added, “The Massey family, along with the Massey Foundation, is pleased to be a part of this celebration. It is exciting to know that the Jack C. Massey name will now be on all diplomas given to both the undergraduate and graduate students of the Jack C. Massey College of Business, which will bring greater recognition and accolades to the widening fame of Belmont and the Massey College. This is a very special event for our family and Belmont University.”
The mission of Belmont’s Massey College of Business is to be an innovative, student-centered learning community that prepares entrepreneurial, ethical and socially responsible future business leaders for the dynamic global economy. The College is committed to translating to students the values and work ethic Mr. Massey held dear while offering relevant and practical curriculum taught by experienced faculty members, most of whom hold significant private sector experience.
The Jack C. Massey College of Business Dean Dr. Pat Raines said, “Belmont’s Graduate School of Business was named in honor of Jack Massey in 1986, in large part because it was his idea to provide Nashville with a graduate level business education option that would benefit working adults. His passion to prepare the next generation of ethical business leaders—and his desire to ‘pay it forward’ based on his own success and generosity—created the benchmark for Belmont’s undergraduate and graduate programs alike, so extending his name to the entire college is an appropriate and timely outcome of today’s announcement.”
Massey’s influence and high standards have inspired a top-tier business school that garners clear and concrete results, as seen in its numerous national accolades, such as:
- 2014 Named a Best Undergraduate Business School by Bloomberg Businessweek
- Accredited by AACSB for both business and accounting, an exceptionally high standard met by fewer than one percent of business schools worldwide
- Graduate programs consistently named to ‘Best Business School’ list by Princeton Review
- Nationally ranked entrepreneurship program
- 2012 Enactus World Cup Champions
In addition to the many awards, the Massey College of Business also boasts a strong First Destination Rate of 96 percent, an indication of the program’s graduates who have secured full-time employment, started graduate school or joined the military.
The most recent Massey Foundation donation provides the lead gift in planned renovations to the Massey Business Center, allowing for major upgrades and modernization of classroom and office space. In addition to adding a glassed-enclosed atrium and enhancing technology resources throughout the facility, the renovation will also provide additional capacity to expand current business programs as well as spaces for collaborations among faculty, students and the local business community. Scheduled to begin in May 2015, construction is anticipated to be complete by the start of the fall 2016 semester.
Jack C. Massey began his entrepreneurial career as a retail druggist in 1930 after graduating with a degree in pharmacy from the University of Florida. His business expanded into a multi-city wholesale surgical supply operation which he sold to the A.S. Aloe Division of the Brunswick Corporation in 1961. At the age of 56, he didn’t retire, but instead went on to secure a place in American business history by helping take three separate companies to the New York Stock Exchange. Massey was a founder of the Hospital Corporation of America and served as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Directors. He was also the principal who purchased Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation and directed its growth to one of the world’s largest commercial marketers of prepared foods and was the founder of Winner’s Corporation.
