The Mason Spirit

Over the past few years, several Mason business alumni have made major financial contributions to business school initiatives.

The Trailblazer

Patricia Roberts

Patty Roberts, BS Business Administration ’77, spent 35 years under the Berkshire Hathaway umbrella ascending to president and CEO of two of its subsidiary companies. To honor the professor who helped her launch her career, Roberts initiated the Robert D. Johnston Endowed Professorship with a $500,000 donation—the largest contribution ever received by the School of Business at the time.

The Entrepreneur

Michael Gallagher, MBA ’94, founded the Stevie Awards, an international business awards program that supports entrepreneurship worldwide. Through a conversation with David Miller, PhD ’16, director of Mason’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Gallagher learned that the school didn’t lack for ideas and projects—it lacked the time to properly run and grow the initiatives already created. So the Stevie Awards pledged $195,000 to give the center the gift of time . . . in the form of a program manager to help run the center’s programs.

The Patriot

Government contracting executive Sumeet Shrivastava, EMBA ’94, loves all things Mason. He is the business school alumni chapter president, annually sponsors the Business Celebration, and sits on the advisory boards for the school’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Mason GovCon Initiative. Mason’s role in his career success inspired Shrivastava to donate $100,000 to help establish a GovCon center.

The Executive

Dale “Dusty” Wince

Dale “Dusty” Wince, EMBA ’12, took the lessons learned at Mason to continue to grow his already-thriving cybersecurity startup into a multimillion-dollar company. In the four years since graduating, he’s joined the Dean’s Advisory Council, sold his company, and contributed $500,000 to help establish a Center in Government Contracting. Wince has also generously shared his time and expertise serving on the GovCon advisory board.

—Nicole Hitpas