This article was released by BC News on August 29.
The Finance Department in the Carroll School of Management will be renamed the Seidner Department of Finance thanks to a major gift—the largest in the Carroll School’s history—from University Trustee Marc Seidner ’88.
The gift will provide income support for continued scholarship, research, and teaching in the Seidner Department of Finance, and will endow the Seidner University Professorship, currently held by Nobel laureate Paul M. Romer. Through the gift, Finance becomes the University’s first named academic department and one of the few endowed departments in American higher education.
Marc Seidner
Seidner, the chief investment officer for non-traditional strategies, a managing director, generalist portfolio manager, and member of the Investment Committee of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), said he made the gift in recognition of the transformative education both he and his daughter Alexis ’24 received at Boston College, and to further strengthen the Finance Department, which is ranked seventh in the most recent U.S. News survey of undergraduate programs and ninth globally in the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities.
“Our philanthropy is a thank you to Boston College for taking a chance on me as a student and equipping me with the toolkit to succeed personally and professionally,” said Seidner.
“It is also a way to show my appreciation for the profession of finance, and to help prepare the next generation of financial professionals to enhance the critical role finance plays in the global economy. Finally, it is a way for me to show my respect and admiration for (John and Linda Powers Family Carroll School of Management Dean) Andy Boynton, department chair Ronnie Sadka, and the finance faculty for their world-class research achievements and for what they have done over many decades to make BC’s Finance Department one of the premier undergraduate programs in the country and the world.”
The gift, a collective decision in philanthropic pursuits by Marc, Mary Lou, Casey, and Alexis Seidner, is the latest in a series of contributions to key University priorities that Seidner and his family have made to Boston College, including endowing the inaugural Seidner Family Executive Directorship of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, held by Laura Steinberg.
“My hope and expectation are that the gift helps the Finance Department to build upon its proud history of matriculating outstanding students to manage an increasingly complex global market system—individuals who will continue to make a real difference in the world and in the lives of others. Excellence is a constant, continual, and regenerative pursuit. I hope the gift will help BC to continue to live up to its motto. ”
Andy Boynton, Powers Family Dean of the Carroll School of Management
“Marc has been a leading voice on the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, and he has been instrumental in advancing the University's most important strategic goals over the past decade,” said Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley. “His support for the Schiller Institute's Executive Directorship has now been matched by our first-ever naming gift for an academic department. The Seidner family's generosity has been essential in sustaining Boston College’s institutional momentum.”
Added Andy Boynton, “Marc’s extraordinary success in the world of finance and his philanthropic generosity have enabled us to attract academic royalty in Paul Romer and to advance an academic department that is one of the best in the world. But what impresses me most about Marc is how his career, his heart, and his spirit align with the University’s motto ‘Ever to Excel.’ We are grateful for all that he has done for the Carroll School and Boston College.”
A leading portfolio manager and strategist in fixed income and global financial markets, Seidner began his career at Fidelity Management and Research Company, taking subsequent advancing roles at Standish Mellon Asset Management and Harvard Management Company before joining PIMCO in 2009.
One of the world’s largest global investment firms, PIMCO oversees more than seventy mutual funds and manages investments for a wide range of clients, including public and private pensions and retirement plans. It also serves as an advisor and asset manager to companies, central banks, educational institutions, foundations, and endowments. Based in Newport Beach, Calif., PIMCO has ten offices worldwide and almost $2 trillion in assets under management.
In addition to his philanthropic support of BC, Seidner has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2019, serving on the Investment and Endowment and Academic Affairs committees. He is a former member and co-chair of the Board of Regents and a member of the Parents Leadership Council. He has also been actively involved in the Carroll School’s annual Finance Conference, which draws the world’s leading finance experts to examine pertinent issues in the field.
The Seidner gift supports Boston College’s Soaring Higher campaign, which seeks to raise critical funding for academic priorities, financial aid, and student life. To date, $1.47 billion has been raised towards the campaign’s $3 billion goal.
“My hope and expectation are that the gift helps the Finance Department to build upon its proud history of matriculating outstanding students to manage an increasingly complex global market system—individuals who will continue to make a real difference in the world and in the lives of others,” said Seidner. “Excellence is a constant, continual, and regenerative pursuit. I hope the gift will help BC to continue to live up to its motto.”
BC Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley
Quigley said he is particularly grateful to Seidner and his family for the gift, which demonstrates their deep connection to Boston College and appreciation for the distinctive Jesuit education it provides.
“Marc reflected on his own experience as an economics major at BC as he supported his daughter Alexis's undergraduate years in the Carroll School of Management,” said Quigley. “He takes great pride in the Seidner family's multigenerational connection to Boston College, and marvels at the many ways in which Alexis and her friends have benefited from the University's contemporary vitality.”
Quigley says that he also hopes this inaugural department-naming gift will inspire other alumni and parents to follow suit.
“The Seidner gift has enabled us to establish the Seidner University Professorship, held by one of the nation’s leading economists, and the Center for the Economics of Ideas, and will continue to support faculty in their scholarship, research, and teaching in the Carroll School of Management,” said Quigley. “It is a gift that will pay dividends to the University for years to come.”
