Roger Henry Brown '78
(Year Awarded--1998)

When this Georgia native arrived at Davidson in the fall of 1974 as a Charles A. Dana Honor Scholar, he lost no time establishing himself as a campus leader. In addition to competing on the varsity wrestling team, Roger Brown participated in student government, was accepted into the North Carolina Fellows Leadership Development Program, and served the College as a Hall Counselor. Graduating in 1978 from the Center for Special Studies as a member of both Phi Beta Kappa and the Omicron Delta Kappa Societies, he went on to teach in Kenya and then to earn a Master's Degree at the Yale School of Management. There Roger co-authored a book, Rice, Rivalry and Politics: Managing Cambodian Relief, which was published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 1983, used by the Yale School of Management to teach the management of emergency relief, and called "extraordinary" by The Washington Post.

After finishing at Yale and working as a management consultant at Bain & Company in Boston, this young entrepreneur took a leap of faith, hand in hand with his business partner and now wife Linda Mason. With a clear vision for excellent corporate day care, the two founded the first Bright Horizons Children's Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1986. A good idea in Cambridge soon expanded to a great idea nationwide. Bright Horizons Centers, of which there are now over 140, provide high quality day care to employees of corporations, hospitals, and real estate developers who build corporate parks. In January of 1997, Business Week named Roger and Linda Brown top entrepreneurs for 1996. While the company continued to flourish, the first Horizons Fund was established in 1988 in Boston to provide disadvantaged and homeless children access to safe, nurturing, and stimulating environments. The success of this nonprofit outreach to less fortunate children mirrors that of the corporation.

Because you are a scholar as well as a leader in the world of business, because your inspired vision for convenient and excellent day care birthed a thriving corporation, and because you have converted your business success into a philanthropic response to the needs of the less fortunate, the Alumni Association of Davidson College is proud to present the Distinguished Alumnus Award to you, Roger Henry Brown, Jr.