Roger Brown
President of Berklee College of Music
In office
2004–2021
Personal details
Born1956 (age 67–68)
Gainesville, Georgia, U.S.
SpouseLinda A. Mason
EducationDavidson College (BA)
Yale University (MBA)

Roger H. Brown is an American businessman, philanthropist, and academic administrator and former president of Berklee College of Music. Brown is also the co-founder of Bright Horizons and founder and chairman of the Salt Lick Incubator.[1]

Early life and education

Brown was born in Gainesville, Georgia in 1956.[2] Brown graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Davidson College with a degree in physics and public policy in 1978.[3] He then spent a year teaching science and math in Kenya before returning to the attending Yale School of Management, where he earned his MBA.[3][4]

Career

After his first year at Yale, he and his wife, Linda A. Mason, co-directed Land Bridge, a famine relief program on the Cambodia-Thailand border. Working under the auspices of CARE and UNICEF, the program served as many as 25,000 people a day and was the largest emergency food distribution effort ever attempted.[3] He then returned to Yale, earning a Masters in Public and Private Management in 1982.[5] He and Mason wrote a book about their experiences in Cambodia, Rice, Rivalry, and Politics.[3]

After graduating, Brown took a job with Boston management consulting firm, Bain and Company, but left in January 1985 to co-direct famine relief efforts in Sudan for Save the Children. The innovative program developed by Brown and Mason established many local food distribution centers, rather than a few centralized ones.[3]

Returning to Boston, Brown and Mason co-founded Bright Horizons, which provided on-site child care for client-company employees, in 1986. Under their leadership, the company grew into a publicly traded company which currently employs 33,000 people (2019).[2][6] Brown served as chief executive officer until January 2002.[7] He and Mason also co-founded the Horizons Initiative, now Horizons for Homeless Children, which provide services for homeless children, and the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, which creates safe, enriching, and nurturing spaces in homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, and other agencies. In July, 2012 Brown assumed the role of Chairman of the Board for Boston After School and Beyond. He is the recipient of the White House's Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership and the Ernst & Young/USA Today Entrepreneur of the Year Award.[8]

Berklee

Brown assumed the presidency of Berklee College of Music in 2004.[7] He is the third president of the college and the first non-member of the Berk family.[7] A music enthusiast and avocational drummer, Brown had produced award-winning CDs of children's music featuring Ziggy Marley and Arlo Guthrie, among others, as a fund-raiser for the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children.[7] Under his leadership, Berklee has achieved successive record enrollments and has also grown its online educational offerings through Berklee Online, becoming the world’s largest online music institution. This includes massive open online courses, and online undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs.[9][10] Brown also expanded the college’s reach to attract students from more than 100 countries, and created Berklee's Presidential Scholars and Africa Scholars programs to provide full scholarships to talented musicians.[11] Since he became president, the college has also initiated educational institutes that offer focused areas of study, including Africana Studies, the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, student founded Jazz Revelation Records, Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (ICE), Effortless Mastery Institute, American Roots Music, Popular Music Institute (BPMI), Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, and Mediterranean Music Institute.[12] [13][14] Berklee’s City Music Program, which provides free music education to underserved youth, has expanded the Berklee City Music Network, which has partners across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.[15] During Brown’s tenure, Berklee has instituted a more selective admissions policy. All applicants are required to have an audition and interview, an effort that sends admissions staff to cities around the globe on the Berklee World Tour searching for talented musicians.[16] Under Brown’s leadership, the amount of scholarship and financial aid available to Berklee students has increased by over 500%, growing from $9 million to over $70 million annually.[4]

Brown has led the college to augment the student experience by establishing semester-abroad programs and by expanding the Boston campus through the construction of a new 16-story facility at 160 Massachusetts Avenue with dorm rooms, practice rooms, common areas, a fitness center, a dining hall/performance venue, and a music production complex. [17] Brown negotiated with the city of Valencia, Spain, and the Generalitat Valenciana to create a Berklee campus in the Spanish city that offered the college’s first graduate degree programs as well as a study abroad program.[18]

Brown launched the institution’s first-ever capital campaign, Giant Steps in 2011, which raised $54.5 million.[19] The institution’s second campaign, Soundbreaking, closed in 2019, raising over $160 million.[20]

In 2016, he oversaw Berklee's merger with the Boston Conservatory. The merger created an institution with comprehensive and dynamic training for music, dance, theater, and related professions.[21] In 2017, a landmark public-private-nonprofit partnership brought together Berklee, the City of New York, and private donor to revitalize the historic Power Station recording studio in Hell’s Kitchen, which the college has re-named Power Station at BerkleeNYC.[22]

On October 17, 2019, Brown announced that he will be stepping down as Berklee’s president in May of 2021.[4][23]

In the spring of 2022, Brown founded the Salt Lick Incubator, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and its associated YouTube channel, Salt Lick Sessions, to support diverse, emerging musicians with grants and collaborative opportunities to bolster their careers.[24][25]

Awards

  • The Cruz de Honor from the provincial government of Valencia, Spain [26]
  • The March of Dimes Franklin Delano Roosevelt Humanitarian Award [27]
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, Williams College[28]
  • Boston Arts Academy Foundation honor[29]

Notes

  1. ↑ Hopper, Alex (18 October 2022). "Salt Lick Incubator Offers Grants to Emerging Songwriters, Board includes T Bone Burnett, Jon Batiste, and More". American Songwriter. Savage Media Holdings. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 Kahn, Joseph P.: “A Different Drummer”, Boston Globe, 3/10/04, p. D1, D6
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Small, Mark: “Roger Brown: Mission Driven”, Berklee Today, , accessed 4/5/10
  4. 1 2 3 "The President | Berklee College of Music". www.berklee.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  5. ↑ Yale School of Management Website , accessed 4/5/10
  6. ↑ "Linda Mason, Global Leadership Council Chair & Honorary Board Chair".
  7. 1 2 3 4 Anderman, Joan: “Berklee Names Entrepreneur Roger Brown New President,” Boston Globe 2/7/04, p. C1, C4
  8. ↑ "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year New England Region past National Award Winners". Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  9. ↑ Russonello, Giovanni (February 12, 2018). "Berklee College Expands Online, to Graduate Degrees". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  10. ↑ Auerbach, Brad. "Berklee Online Proves You Do Not Need To Live In Boston To Earn A Master's Degree From Berklee". Forbes.
  11. ↑ "Pair bring Africans to Berklee". Boston.com – via The Boston Globe.
  12. ↑ "Berklee provides a summer festival stage for students poised for stardom - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com.
  13. ↑ "Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington Talks Berklee Institute Of Jazz, Gender Equity: It 'Is Everybody's Work'". Billboard.
  14. ↑ "Berklee's American Roots Music program celebrates 10 years". February 26, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Belmont High 'Idol' Awarded Full Scholarship to Berklee". belmontonian.com.
  16. ↑ "Auditions for A.R. Rahman Scholarship at Berklee to be Held in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai - INDIA New England News".
  17. ↑ Rocheleau, Matt; Staff, Boston com. "A look at Berklee College's new $100 million, 16-story tower". Boston.com.
  18. ↑ "Berklee College of Music opens new Valencia campus | Boston.com". www.boston.com.
  19. ↑ Berklee College hits the high notes as other colleges fall out of tune
  20. ↑ "Three Ways the Soundbreaking Campaign Made Waves at Berklee | Berklee College of Music". www.berklee.edu.
  21. ↑ "How Berklee & Boston Music Schools Merged to Create A Conservatory 'on Steroids'". Billboard.
  22. ↑ Light, Alan (2017-09-05). "Power Station, Storied Manhattan Recording Studio, to Be Revived". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  23. ↑ "Berklee College of Music President Roger H. Brown to Step Down in 2021". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  24. ↑ "New Non-Profit Salt Lick Incubator Outlines Mission: Artist Development Grants, YouTube Channel, Guidance to Emerging Musicians". Relix. Relix Media Group, LLC. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  25. ↑ "Salt Lick Incubator: Meet the Team". Salt Lick Incubator. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  26. ↑ "Camps entregará esta noche la Cruz de Honor de Jaume I a Zubin Mehta". abc. June 20, 2010.
  27. ↑ MultiMedia, I. N. E. "New England Choice Awards in Academics, Art, Business, Healthcare, Community Service, Philanthropy, Non-Profit and Youth Categories Announced". www.prnewswire.com.
  28. ↑ Houglet, Rose; Editor, News; Luck, Arrington; Editor, Executive (March 13, 2019). "Mary-Claire King to deliver commencement address". The Williams Record. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  29. ↑ "Dover's Lisa and Andrew Sussman attend Boston Arts Academy Honors celebration". The Enterprise, Brockton, MA.
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