A $10 million gift from William L. Mack W’61 has led to the creation of a new center at the Wharton School: the William and Phyllis Mack Center for Tech-nological Innovation. The Mack Center will serve as the umbrella organization for all of Wharton’s technology-management initiatives, including supporting the research and publishing activities of its faculty members; creating an endowed professorship in the field; and underwriting a student-run conference.
“Innovation in technology is the way mankind continues to advance and make a better place for itself,” said Mack, a Penn trustee as well as president and senior managing partner of the Mack Organization, a national owner, investor, and developer of warehouse facilities. “The future of the world has to do with technological innovation. Wharton’s role is to help companies improve how they manage technological innovation.”
The Mack Center will include the Mack Program in Technological Innovation, which will encompass the Emerging Technologies Management Research Program. According to a press release from the school, that program will be a “high-level corporate learning network for senior executives and academic researchers guided by a cross-disciplinary group of senior Wharton faculty members and staff.” Wharton’s MBA major in technological innovation will also be a part of the center.
Dr. Patrick T. Harker CE’81 GCE’81 Gr’83, dean of the school, praised Mack’s “incredible commitment” in establishing the center, which will be the “cornerstone of some of the school’s most critical and visible activities of the 21st century.” As such, he added, the center will “ensure Wharton’s status as the global-education leader in managing technological development and innovation, with far-reaching impact on our students and the entire business community.”
