Profile in Philanthropy: Charles P. McQuaid '74

“When I was a student, a UMass education was far more affordable,” recalls Isenberg finance graduate Chuck McQuaid ’74. “I want hard-working students to have the same opportunities that I had.”

McQuaid’s father worked in a factory; so did Chuck during his Isenberg years. One current recipient of his scholarship is Isenberg operations management junior and Belchertown native Emma Jopson ’20. Thanks to Chuck’s generosity, she is pursuing her dream. “I worked hard in high school to graduate with a 4.0 and get into Isenberg,” she explains. “Mr. McQuaid has lightened a financial burden on my family and me,” adds Emma, whose older brother and sister are also in college and whose mother has significant medical expenses.

To insure that Isenberg students like Emma benefit from world-class faculty, Chuck has also provided the financial support for a $1.5M professorship in his name. “Chuck McQuaid’s professorship will further energize our growing national reputation, which is a key driver in Isenberg’s own success story,” observes the school’s former dean, Mark Fuller.  The gift’s first honoree, Isenberg finance professor Bing Liang, has been a standout in the classroom and a seminal and active researcher in his department’s competitive strength, alternative investments.  “If Isenberg were a publicly traded stock, I’d invest in it in a heartbeat.”That is fine with Chuck, who is no stranger professionally to investing.  That includes a 37-year career with Columbia Wanger Asset Management in Chicago, where he rose to president and chief executive officer.  McQuaid stepped down from those roles in 2014 and fully retired in 2016, subsequently becoming a private investor and trustee on two nonprofit boards.

After graduating from Isenberg, Chuck earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. “Without question, my Isenberg and UMass education proved significant in my getting into that highly competitive program,” he recalls. “The Isenberg finance faculty were a big part of that story,” he observes. Viewing his Isenberg education from a bottom-line investment perspective, he adds, “If Isenberg were a publicly traded stock, I’d invest in it in a heartbeat.”