Brodsky, a trustee emeritus, was honored by Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business undergraduate commencement ceremony Thursday at Matthews Arena.
Northeastern University trustee emeritus Frederick Brodsky, who earned success as an international entrepreneur after finding his way at Northeastern, received the university’s Pioneer Award during the D’Amore-McKim School of Business undergraduate commencement ceremony Thursday at Matthews Arena.
The prestigious honor is reserved for those who have made outstanding contributions to the greater community and who are pioneers in their own right.
Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, cited Brodsky’s achievements as a student and entrepreneur who helped establish Northeastern’s international business program while helping expand global co-op experiences for students. Brodsky served on the Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2011.
Aoun said when he first arrived at Northeastern, Brodsky emphasized the importance of global education and the Bachelor of Science in International Business (BSIB) program.
“I listened to him and I said, ‘Fred, you are a pioneer in this university. This model that you launched at the D’Amore McKim School of Business should be university-wide,’” Aoun said. “And that’s why we are today the most global university in the nation. He deserves the credit.”
“So today we are honoring somebody who believes in global education, who believes that global exchange, global trade, global relationships are going to open doors for everyone and will lift us all worldwide,” the president said.
Brodsky was humbled by the honor. In an interview prior to the ceremony, he praised Northeastern’s influential role in his life. “No one is ‘self-made,’ in my opinion,” Brodsky said. “You have a family. You have people who teach you, people who like you, people who don’t like you, and it all makes you who and what you are. And then it’s up to you to choose.
“I don’t believe in a self-made man. I think you’re lucky if you attach yourself to the right mentors and learn from them. And if you’re foolish enough not to do that, then you’re going to have a tougher time.”
Brodsky founded International Investment Advisors Inc., which develops and manages real estate projects for corporate and private clients around the world. His long entrepreneurial career partnered him with construction, finance, real estate and venture capital industries.
But he first needed time to define himself and his interests, as detailed in his 2021 autobiography, “The Accidental Entrepreneur: How I Stumbled into Success.”
“There’s never been a plan,” Brodsky told Northeastern Global News. “It just happens. And when it happens, you have to take advantage of it. To a lot of people’s benefit and from a lot of people’s support, we were able to do what we did.”
Brodsky initially tried to become an astrophysicist at Rutgers before taking on a variety of jobs and working for one year in Europe. It was while serving in the U.S. Army Reserve that he learned about Northeastern and its co-op program. He would graduate first in his class in business management from Northeastern.
“The beauty of Northeastern and the co-op program is that you get to find out what you don’t like, which is as important as to find out what you do like,” Brodsky said. “My first couple of co-op assignments were what I didn’t like. And it’s funny because that started to point me in the direction of what I did like.”
Brodsky said he is particularly proud of urging Northeastern’s leadership to raise its overall standards at a time when its graduates ranked among the top entrepreneurs in the U.S.
“But we never touted that fact, and we never touted the quality of the education that our students receive through co-op,” Brodsky said, looking back on the era that helped launch Northeastern’s growth. “So I’m a big believer in thumping our chest because of our successes.”
Brodsky said another point of pride was drawn from his international experiences. He and his wife provided leadership by establishing the Darla and Frederick Brodsky Trustee Professorship in Global Business at Northeastern.
“I think my major contribution over 35 years was to insist that Northeastern adopt a global perspective in its orientation, in its programs, in its attitude — because we’re a global economy in a global environment,” Brodsky said.
He was pleased to be joined on the Matthews Arena stage by Aoun and Diane Nishigaya MacGillivray, senior vice president for university advancement.
MacGillivray said Northeastern has evolved into a global university and Brodsky deserves credit as a pioneer. The university now has students from across the globe, she said, and offers international co-ops, the N.U.in program that allows students to learn at partner institutions around the globe, as well as Global Scholars, Study Abroad and BSIB.
“This evolution did not happen by accident. It required people with a broad and imaginative view of the future. People who believed in the interconnectedness of the world, people unafraid to push boundaries, to create something new. These are the characteristics that define a pioneer at Northeastern,” said MacGillivray.
Strong leaders, Brodsky said, have allowed Northeastern to flourish as a global university.
“Northeastern has changed dramatically through Joseph Aoun’s leadership,” Brodsky said. “He is a visionary and his team — with Diane in particular — have provided the resources to allow Northeastern to grow and flower and blossom to the university it is now.
“Worldwide, we have great leadership and great professors, and our students are the beneficiaries of all of the things that were done to get to this point. Darla and I are a small part of that, but there’s an awful lot of people who have contributed to that success, and I think that’s really important to say.”
