In 1985, with an initial gift of $90,000, Tom Golisano launched his first philanthropic endeavor by establishing the B. Thomas Golisano Foundation. Today, with assets of $25 million, the Foundation awards grants to organizations dedicated to providing opportunities for those with developmental disabilities and offering support to their families. In addition to the family Foundation's contributions, Mr. Golisano has been very generous to other institutions and organizations. Since the late 1990's Mr. Golisano's philanthropy has totaled more than $107 million.
B. Thomas Golisano
B. Thomas Golisano founded Paychex, Inc. in 1971 and is Chairman of the Board of the Company. Until October 2004, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
Mr. Golisano is a member of the board of directors of several private companies. He serves on the board of trustees of the Rochester Institute of Technology. He owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.
Mr. Golisano is former chairman of Greater Rochester Fights Back (a coalition to combat illegal drugs and alcohol abuse), has served as a member of the board of directors of numerous non-profit organizations, and is founder of the B. Thomas Golisano Foundation.
Mr. Golisano and Paychex have consistently been recognized by the business, financial and national media. Mr. Golisano was listed among the FORBES top 10 bosses in the U.S. for three consecutive years, beginning in 2002; the annual ranking is based on chief executives who provide the best balance between their compensation and shareholder return. Mr. Golisano also appeared in CHIEF EXECUTIVE magazine's 10th Annual CEO Growth 100 list in May 2001.
Mr. Golisano has often been recognized for his entrepreneurial, civic, and philanthropic achievements and endeavors.
In October 2008 the University of Buffalo School of Management named Mr. Golisano the 2008 Niagara Frontier Executive of the Year.
In 2006, Mr. Golisano was presented with the 70th Annual Rochester Rotary Award. The award is presented annually to an individual who most exemplifies the motto of Rotary International: Service Above Self. In 2005, Mr. Golisano was awarded Catholic Family Center's 2005 CFC Award for his many contributions to human service organizations throughout greater Rochester. Mr. Golisano was named Outstanding Philanthropist for 2004 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. In June 2002, Mr. Golisano was awarded the David T. Kearns Medal of Distinction, which recognizes significant achievements in business, public service, and education, by the University of Rochester's William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration. In October 2001, Mr. Golisano was selected as a member of the inaugural class for the Rochester Business Hall of Fame. As a major stockholder in eight other national companies, he earned a place on INC. magazine's "Dream Team of the Eighties" list, and was named "Entrepreneur of the Decade" by Rochester Business Magazine. He was recipient of the 1987 Herbert W. VandenBrul Entrepreneurial Award, presented by Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Business. In 1996, he received the "Master Entrepreneur" award in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year awards competition for Western New York.
In 2003, Mr. Golisano was awarded the first-ever Humanitarian Award by the Italian American Community Center in Rochester. In 2002, he received the Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Genesee Valley Chapter. Mr. Golisano received the 2001 Outstanding Alumni Award from the American Association of Community Colleges. In 1999, Mr. Golisano received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY. Five years earlier, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Roberts Wesleyan College, also in Rochester, NY. Mr. Golisano was honored in 1997 with the "Distinguished Citizen of the Year" Award from the Otetiana Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Family Service of Rochester presented him with the Shumway Distinguished Service Award in 1995. In 1993, he received both the Humanitarian of the Year Award, presented by the Boy's Town of Italy, and the Commerce and Industry Award of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce.
Other honors include: 2004 Junior Achievement of Western New York Inc's Business Leadership Hall of Fame; 2005 Canisius College Board of Regents Distinguished Citizen Achievement Award; 2006 Agnes Bartlett Curtis Philanthropy Award, Rochester General Hospital Foundation; 2006 Catherine McAuley Philanthropy and Vision Award, Our Lady of Mercy High School; and 2006 Temple Adath Yeshurun Citizen of the Year Award.
In early 2003, Mr. Golisano again demonstrated his commitment to Western New York and the region's economic climate with his purchase of the Buffalo Sabres. He became owner of the National Hockey League team on March 14, 2003. Mr. Golisano said that it was important to keep the team in Buffalo because it is an economic and community asset.
Philanthropic Investments
Mr. Golisano demonstrates ongoing generosity and commitment to the greater Rochester community, home of Paychex corporate headquarters, and other organizations in Upstate and Western New York.
In 1985, with an initial gift of $90,000, he launched his first philanthropic endeavor by establishing the B. Thomas Golisano Foundation. Today, with assets of $25 million, the Foundation awards grants to organizations dedicated to providing opportunities for those with developmental disabilities and offering support to their families.
Since then, Mr. Golisano's philanthropic contributions have totaled more than $130 million. Some of these gifts have included:
In November 2009, Mr. Golisano made a gift of $10.2 million to the Golisano Foundation to assure continued support for programs and services for individuals with development disabilities.
Mr. Golisano made another gift in November 2009, the first to an organization outside New York State, of $4 million to Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida. The gift will fund the construction of the University's first indoor athletic facility, the Tom Golisano Field House.
In October 2008, Mr. Golisano committed $10 million to Niagara University to support construction of a new science building, the B. Thomas Golisano Center for Integrated Sciences, which will radically alter the teaching and research environment at the university. It is the largest gift the institution has received in its 152-year history. Construction is expected to be completed by the fall of 2011. This marks the first major gift Mr. Golisano has made in Western New York outside of the Rochester region. See announcement
In June 2008, Mr. Golisano announced a gift of $4 million to the American Cancer Society and Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School to establish a new Hope Lodge and Hospitality House to accommodate cancer and transplant patients and their families from area and regional hospitals.
In September 2007, Mr. Golisano donated $10 million to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to create the Golisano Institute for Sustainability. The Institute, one of the first of its kind in the nation, focuses on research and education in sustainable design, pollution prevention, remanufacturing and alternative energy development. Establishment of The Golisano Institute for Sustainability is consistent with Mr. Golisano's ongoing support of the William J. Clinton Foundation. Golisano is a sponsor of the Clinton Global Initiative.
In November 2006, Mr. Golisano contributed $750,000 to the Veterans Outreach Center of Rochester, NY. The gift will be used to create the Charles P. Golisano Campus in honor of Mr. Golisano's brother who was killed in the Korean War. In October 2006, Mr. Golisano donated $1.5 million to Mercy Flight Central of Canandaigua, NY (25 miles southeast of Rochester), helping to kickoff the drive to purchase a new Mercy Flight helicopter. In March 2006, he made an unprecedented $6 million gift to Our Lady of Mercy High School and Bishop Kearney High School. The gift represented the largest donation ever received from an individual or family by either private school located in Rochester.
In November 2005, Mr. Golisano donated $6 million to Central New York Children's Hospital at University Hospital in Syracuse, NY. In honor of the gift, the hospital was renamed the Golisano children's Hospital of Central New York at University Hospital. Also in 2005, Mr. Golisano continued his commitment to health care with a $9 million gift to Rochester General Hospital, helping to establish the B. Thomas Golisano Pavilion and Emergency Center.
In July of 2004, he made a $5 million gift to Hartwick College of Oneonta, NY, which will be used to build a new academic building for the social science and management programs. Also in July of 2004, Mr. Golisano donated $1 million to Heritage Christian Services of Rochester, a human resource agency supporting those with disabilities. In January 2004, Mr. Golisano contributed $2 million to WXXI Public Broadcasting in Rochester. The gift will help WXXI meet the federal mandate to begin digital broadcasting. In October 2003, Mr. Golisano donated $5 million to Nazareth College, a private college in Rochester, NY. The gift was used to create the B. Thomas Golisano Academic Complex. In November 2002, Mr. Golisano donated $5 million to Thompson Health in Canandaigua, NY. The gift will be used to create the Golisano Center for Emergency and Diagnostic Medicine. In April 2002, Mr. Golisano contributed $14 million to Strong Children's Hospital in Rochester, NY, enabling the hospital to begin a comprehensive fundraising campaign. In honor of the gift, the hospital, which is part of the University of Rochester Medical Center, is now known as Golisano Children's Hospital. Mr. Golisano's gift is the largest ever given to the Children's Hospital or the University of Rochester Medical Center by a living donor.
In February 2001, he made a $14 million gift to Rochester Institute of Technology, enabling that university to launch development of a new college that incorporates computing and the Internet with information sciences. The B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, named for its founding donor, officially opened in May 2003. It offers students opportunities to earn Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Mr. Golisano is currently honorary chair of RIT's capital campaign, "Powered by the Future." He is also a trustee of RIT.
In October 2001, Mr. Golisano made a $5 million contribution to Roberts Wesleyan College, the largest gift in the history of the small liberal arts college, located in Rochester, NY. The college will use the funds to construct the B. Thomas Golisano Library and Information Resource Center.
Mr. Golisano chaired the successful capital campaigns of two Rochester not-for-profit organizations, School of the Holy Childhood and the Al Sigl Center. He has also served on the boards of Rochester General Hospital, Norstar Bank, and St. John Fisher College.
Community Engagement
Mr. Golisano is a strong advocate for the reduction of substance abuse and teen pregnancy and served on the executive committee of Prevention Partners, a Rochester coalition designed to combat illegal drugs and alcohol abuse.
Mr. Golisano's interest in working to reduce substance abuse and teenage pregnancy at the local level is matched by his concern for the need to seek political reform. To that end Mr. Golisano became a founding member of the Independence Party of New York State. As a candidate of that party, he ran for governor of New York in 1994, 1998, and 2002.
In July 2008, Mr. Golisano established Responsible New York, which is organized around a core set of values, beliefs and principles that are essential to guiding true political reform in the State of New York. Its quest is to create a political movement to return Albany to its rightful owners. Its pledge is help create an organization with no personal agendas, other than to give a voice to all New Yorkers - Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives and Independents from cities, suburbs and rural areas both upstate and downstate.
Responsible New York will endorse candidates in the New York State Senate and Assembly. Candidates will be chosen in a non-partisan manner and only for their commitment and their ability to support Responsible New York, removing Albany from the grips of special interest and returning our government to the people who support it. And to truly change Albany it will also endorse and support candidates for Congress who will work to put people first.
In September 2009, Mr. Golisano is the major underwriter and founding sponsor of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting for the fifth consecutive year. The CGI convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges in the areas of education, poverty, health and the environment.
A native of Irondequoit, NY, a suburb of Rochester, he is a graduate of the State University of New York at Alfred.
