New Business Leaders
On Campus
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Meet other young alumni business owners….
Birckhead Honored for Lifetime Achievements
Dylan E. Bond ‘93 Bond Financial Services, Longmeadow, MA Focuses on helping people at or near retirement grow, protect, and preserve their assets for themselves and future generations.
William P. Daly ‘94 Dunkin Donuts/Daly/Kenney Group, LLC, New Bedford, MA Dunkin Donuts/AlphaRock LLC, Sarasota, FL Owns and operates two networks of Dunkin Donut shops in New Bedford and the Fairhaven, Massachusetts, area and a network of stores in the Sarasota, Florida, area.
Brian E. Fish ‘96 Oh Yeah Comfy Inc., Gorham, ME Designs and markets high-end casual furniture that is hand-crafted in Maine and sold throughout the world.
Michael W. Frisbie ’90 Hunter Development Co. LLC, East Longmeadow, MA Provides end-to-end development and construction services to petroleum companies throughout the northeast United States.
Robbie P. Munce ’99 MBA ’01 Munce Superior Oil, Gorham, NH BRC Fireplace Technologies LLC Munce's Real Estate Ventures LLC Distributes a full line of petroleum products, covering all of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and parts of Massachusetts, and employs over 200 from convenience store cashiers to hazardous materials transport drivers.
Stephen Buchalter ‘90 Enterprise Cleaning Corp., Worcester, MA Provides commercial contract cleaning for more than 185 facilities throughout New England. Are you a Young Alumni Business Owner (YABO)? If so, join others by adding your name and contact information at www.nichols.edu/yabo.
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Nichols College Magazine
With a distinguished banker for a father and a gifted musician and artist for a mother, Oliver W. Birckhead Jr. was destined to be a Renaissance Man. His own career in banking spanned five decades and during that time, he lent his practical business sense, his no-nonsense attitude, his wide-ranging talents and his indomitable spirit to any number of causes from business development to human services to the arts to education. He has been recognized by the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Governors, the Urban League, the State of Israel, Children's Hospital, and by President Gerald Ford for leadership in the National Alliance of Businessmen. And on October 17, 2008, Birckhead ’42 H’07 added another honor to his impressive cache: the President’s Medal for Distinguished Leadership. Recognizing a lifetime of achievement in corporate sector leadership, the award is the latest accolade from Nichols which has also honored Birckhead with the Outstanding Alumnus Award, the honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree and induction into the Athletic Hall of Fame. "Tonight, the President's Medal goes to one whose reputation for sustained success, innovation, and leadership in his industry are without peer," said President Debra M. Townsley, PhD, as she presented the award at the annual President’s Society Dinner. Citing admiration and great affection for Nichols’ own, Townsley recounted the life of Birckhead, one of Nichols’ most distinguished and deserving graduates. Brooklyn-born and Westchester-bred, Birckhead entered the banking business in 1937 with the Peoples National Bank and Trust Co. He served as assistant national bank examiner in the second district of New York and at Chemical Bank before joining the Central Trust Company in Cincinnati. In 1968, Birckhead was a founder of the Central Bancorporation and served as its CEO until his retirement. During his tenure, total assets of Central Bancorporation surged from $500 million to more than $5.5 billion, making it the largest bank in Cincinnati at the time of his retirement. The company merged with
Spring 2009
Trustee Jane Birckhead, Oliver Birckhead, President Debra Townsley
PNC Bank in 1988, resulting in a $43 billion regional banking company. Birckhead was vice chairman and director of PNC Bank until he retired from the board. A real estate developer throughout his career, Birckhead led the development of the Central Trust Center, now PNC Bank Center, and the landmark Chemed Center. A founding member of the Cincinnati Business Committee, he also led the financing for the Cincinnati Coliseum, raising some $14 million. This was among the landmark business projects in Birckhead's career, and it brought to Cincinnati Paul Brown's Cincinnati Bengals in the mid-60s. Birckhead is fond of referring to others as “great Americans,” but his colleagues and fellow volunteers will attest that he is the great American. He served in the United States Air Corps from 1942 to 1946. As an accomplished pianist and painter, Birckhead has made significant contributions to the arts, serving as vice president and trustee of the Cincinnati Art Museum for 15 years. His passion for helping others led to stints on the boards of the Salvation Army, the Cincinnati Council on World Affairs, Boys’ Club, the Cincinnati Association of the Blind, and the Children’s Dental Care Foundation. A graduate of the Trinity Pawling School, where he became treasurer, trustee and a founding member of the school's Investment Committee, Birckhead served on the original Board of Advisors at Nichols and currently shares his expertise as an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees’ Finance Committee. Birckhead makes his home in Cincinnati with his wife, Jane (a Nichols College trustee since 2007), and has two sons, Oliver III and Randall, who also attended Nichols College. He’s also made a home at Nichols which is immensely proud of his lifetime achievements and the contributions he’s made to his profession, his community and his alma mater. Even when he concludes his visits with his signature “Birckhead’s outta here,” we know he’ll always be back.