Corporate directors honor Finnegan’s career of service

From left: Northeastern Chairman Neal Finnegan, NACD New
England President Edward Pendergast, event emcee Natalie
Jacobson and event chairman William Earon.

What Northeastern University always knew has now been recognized by New England’s corporate leadership.

When the National Association of Corporate Directors chose to fete “shining examples of good corporate governance,” the New England chapter honored Neal Finnegan, chairman of Northeastern’s board of trustees since 1998, with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

The honor, citing Finnegan’s “professional resume that spans three decades of senior leadership posts,” was bestowed during a ceremony last week at Boston’s Intercontinental Hotel.

“To be recognized by one’s peers gives this honor special meaning,” said Finnegan ’61, Hon. ’98. “While the award encompasses board work in all sectors of my life, the selection committee, I am certain, took special note of my more than 20 years of service to my alma mater.”

Besides leading “a dozen of Boston’s most storied financial institutions,” Finnegan has served on the boards of several nonprofits; NACD cited the Boys and Girls Club, Junior Achievement, Catholic Charities and, of course, “his beloved Northeastern University.”

“Neal was the perfect choice for this honor,” said university President Joseph Aoun, who introduced Finnegan at the ceremony. “His involvement and commitment to Northeastern have defined who we are today.”

The president cited Finnegan’s early push for Northeastern to embody both practice-oriented education and “cutting edge research to better the world,” and his leadership in helping redefine Northeastern during the early 1990s, as well as his devotion to students and to expanding interdisciplinary research.

“He is a bridge builder in every sense of the term,” Aoun said. “He recognized that a truly great university cannot be great alone. He believes in the importance of building partnerships that capitalize on the intellectual and cultural assets both within the university and in Boston.”

Earlier this spring, Aoun presented Finnegan with the university’s inaugural Presidential Medallion, citing his “values and leadership qualities” at the university.

“I know I speak for the entire Northeastern community when I say your vision has made us stronger,” Aoun told Finnegan at the NACD ceremony. “Your ideas, leadership and heart will live on at Northeastern for many years to come.”