Mark Nunnelly (MBA 1984) and Denise Dupré are deeply committed to the creation of innovative programs for students who are driven to create, lead, and grow companies with the potential to change the world. The couple recently established an endowment that will provide financial aid for students in the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program, offered jointly by HBS and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). The gift reflects the Boston-based donors’ desire to bridge the worlds of business and engineering and to help catalyze collaboration between HBS and SEAS as Harvard’s Allston campus evolves into an epicenter of research and innovation.

A Focus on Education
Education has been at the heart of Nunnelly’s and Dupré’s philanthropic efforts and careers. Nunnelly was a managing director at Bain Capital and served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and Special Advisor to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker for technology and innovation competitiveness. Most recently, he was Secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Technology Service and Security. Dupré has taught at Harvard University and is a former dean and professor at the Boston University School of Hotel Administration. She is currently the managing partner of Champagne Hospitality. As Nunnelly explains, “Education is the foundation for making our future world better. Innovation and technology are clearly going to be an essential part of that future. The MS/MBA Program will tap into that, making certain to develop capabilities and leaders that will be an important part of this exciting and changing future.”

Accelerating Innovation and Entrepreneurship
By supporting the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program, the Nunnelly and Dupré gift will dramatically increase innovation and the commercialization of new technologies and make it possible to efficiently take transformative ideas to the marketplace. Specifically, it will enable Harvard to attract and support outstanding students, who already have technical knowledge and skills, and prepare them to be entrepreneurially minded leaders who will address societal problems and develop value-creating enterprises. Designed to train future leaders of technology ventures, the program will provide a strong foundation in general management, build design skills, and extend students’ understanding of engineering. Prior to graduation, the program faculty will select students who have shown exemplary leadership, academic success, and innovation to receive an honorary award in the donors’ names.

Harvard announced the joint MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program in 2017, one year after construction began on the Science and Engineering Complex in Allston. The inaugural class of 29 students arrived in fall 2018. The program leverages existing HBS and SEAS curricula as well as several new courses designed and taught jointly by faculty from both schools. The joint degree—conferring an MBA from HBS and a Master of Science (MS) in Engineering Sciences from SEAS—fuses the strengths from management and technology programs to produce the next generation of inspirational leaders.

The Science and Engineering Complex is nearing completion in 2020, and plans for the adjacent 36-acre Enterprise Research Campus are advancing at a brisk pace. Dupré expects the University’s Allston investment will have a ripple effect. “We hope that it underscores and magnifies all of the amazing things that are happening in the city, drawing people together in this cross-collaboration,” she says.

“We’ve both been enormous fans of the possibilities in Allston for many years,” says Nunnelly. “It’s so incredibly important to the future of Harvard, the city of Boston, and the entire state of Massachusetts. We anticipate this gift will be one of many catalysts launched by this inspiring and large vision that is Allston.”

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