The finance department will be renamed the Seidner Department of Finance following a major donation—the largest in the Carroll School of Management’s 86-year history—from Boston College trustee Marc Seidner, according to a University release.
“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,” Seidner, BC ’88, said in the release.
Seidner is the chief investment officer for non-traditional strategies and a managing director at Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO)—an investment management firm with nearly $2 trillion in assets under management, according to its website.
A University trustee since 2019, Seidner said he wanted to give back to BC to express his gratitude for the opportunities it provided him and his daughter Alexis, BC ’24.
“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,” Seidner said in the release.
Ronnie Sadka, Haub Family Professor, department chair, and associate dean for faculty, said that Seidner’s gift is especially important to him and his colleagues.
“I think it’s a great honor for us, in terms of what it will do for the department,” Sadka said. “Other than just pure distinction, it provides the department resources to continue and excel.”
Seidner’s gift makes the finance department the first at the BC to be endowed.
“It’s a fairly rare distinction, which makes it even more special,” Sadka said.
The finance department is always striving to improve, Sadka said, and Seidner’s gift will allow the department to continue attracting high-quality faculty.
“We need to try to get the best faculty, and I think [Seidner’s gift] is going to further help us to do that, because it’s great marketing for outside people,” Sadka said. “It shows that the University and friends of the University are willing to say, ‘Hey, this is a great department, and we’re going to keep investing in this department.’”
Last year, finance became BC’s most popular undergraduate major with 1,461 students—it is also the most popular minor with 606 declared minors, according to the 2023–2024 BC Fact Book.
Sadka said that Sediner’s gift will not change the department’s core commitment to providing high-quality instruction and advising opportunities to its students.
“We’ve always pushed people to excel,” Sadka said. “The department has always been engaged in advising and helping students. I don’t expect that to change at all.”
Seidner’s gift also endows the Seidner University professorship—a position currently held by Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Romer—and will help cement Boston College’s reputation as a leading center for business research.
“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 David Quigley, provost and dean of faculties. “It is a gift that will pay dividends to the University for years to come.”
