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Two North­eastern Uni­ver­sity alumni—Richard D’Amore, BA’76, and Alan McKim, MBA’88—have joined forces to make the largest phil­an­thropic invest­ment in the university’s his­tory. As a result of their com­bined $60 mil­lion gift, Northeastern’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion will become the D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness. It will be the first col­lege or school to be named at Northeastern.

“Once in a gen­er­a­tion, his­tory is made in the life of a uni­ver­sity. This is one of those moments,” said North­eastern Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun in a statement. “This unprece­dented invest­ment will allow our School of Busi­ness to build on its strength in global entre­pre­neurial pro­grams and make a quantum leap for­ward. It will also gal­va­nize our com­mu­nity and allow us to set our col­lec­tive sights even higher.”

D’Amore is a co-​​founder and gen­eral partner at North Bridge Ven­ture Part­ners, a ven­ture cap­ital firm based in Waltham, Mass. McKim is the founder and CEO of Clean Har­bors, the nation’s leading provider of envi­ron­mental, energy and indus­trial services.

The D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness will join other top busi­ness schools named for visionary bene­fac­tors. The record-​​breaking gift will have pro­found and lasting impacts across every dimen­sion of busi­ness edu­ca­tion and research. It is the fourth-​​largest gift to name a busi­ness school in the United States.

“North­eastern has had a huge impact on me—both per­son­ally and pro­fes­sion­ally,” said D’Amore in a news release accompanying the announcement. “I believe in making invest­ments in win­ning insti­tu­tions. North­eastern has remark­able momentum today, and under the lead­er­ship of Pres­i­dent Aoun, I know this is a great invest­ment. I hope that what Alan and I are doing will inspire others to do the same.”

The two alumni met in 2004 when they teamed up to endow a pro­fes­sor­ship cur­rently held by Pro­fessor Daniel McCarthy, a promi­nent member of the busi­ness fac­ulty at North­eastern and a mentor to both D’Amore and McKim.

“As an entre­pre­neur, I believe in sup­porting entre­pre­neurial insti­tu­tions,” said McKim. “I strongly sup­port the mis­sion and cur­rent lead­er­ship at North­eastern, and I’m proud to join with Rich and make this invest­ment. It will be an honor to have my name for­ever asso­ci­ated with this great university.”

Prior to the D’Amore-McKim gift, the largest dona­tion received by North­eastern was $20 mil­lion given by Bernard Gordon in 2006, which estab­lished the Gordon Engi­neering Lead­er­ship Pro­gram and the Gordon Center for Sub­sur­face Sensing and Imaging Systems.

Both D’Amore and McKim grew up in the Boston area and enrolled in Northeastern’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion as under­grad­u­ates. Although both dropped out, they were each drawn back to the col­lege that would later become their alma mater and, ulti­mately, bear their names. D’Amore received an under­grad­uate busi­ness degree and McKim a master’s in busi­ness administration.

Over the past five years, D’Amore and McKim have become actively engaged with the uni­ver­sity as mem­bers of the Board of Trustees. Their prior gifts focused on inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship, core values that span col­leges and dis­ci­plines at Northeastern.

“On behalf of the entire North­eastern Uni­ver­sity community—and our future stu­dents, fac­ulty and alumni—I want to thank Rich and Alan for their vision, sup­port and the trust they’ve placed in us,” added Aoun. “As entre­pre­neurs, Rich and Alan make invest­ments in high-​​value propo­si­tions. All of us will ensure that the impact of their gen­erosity will be felt for many generations.”

The new gift comes at a time of tremen­dous momentum for North­eastern. The uni­ver­sity has received record-​​breaking appli­ca­tions in recent years—both in quan­tity and quality—and external recog­ni­tions of the university’s suc­cess are at an all-​​time high. North­eastern has also reached new levels of suc­cess in research funding and phil­an­thropic support.

The School of Busi­ness has been cited by var­ious busi­ness pub­li­ca­tions for the excel­lence of its pro­grams in expe­ri­en­tial learning, entre­pre­neur­ship and inter­na­tional pro­grams. Its com­bi­na­tion of global entre­pre­neurial pro­grams is unmatched in busi­ness edu­ca­tion at the under­grad­uate level. The School is under the lead­er­ship of a new dean, Hugh Courtney, who began his tenure at North­eastern in July.