noteworthy
Thanks to a generous gift from Michael Gness, BA ’74, Sawyer Business School students now have full access to the Dow Jones “Investing in Education” program—including Barron's and MarketWatch, live webinars featuring top financial advisors and journalists, networking opportunities, and more. In March, students even had the chance to visit the Dow Jones offices in New York.
“Promoting financial literacy and proficiency is my passion,” says Gness, a Summa Society Dean’s Circle donor, who credits some of his own success as an investor to his close reading of Barron’s. “So what was on my mind was, ‘What can I do to help people become more astute when it comes to managing their money?’”
Professor Abu Jalal, chair of the Finance Department and director of finance graduate programs, calls the gift “incredibly valuable” for students. Students already have access to Bloomberg; the Dow Jones content gives them one more important source of business information.
In his Portfolio Management class, Jalal asks students to report on news and events from the world of finance each week. “The gift from Michael only enhances their understanding of how events shape financial markets,” says Jalal.
Originally from Peabody, Massachusetts, Gness started his career with MetLife in New York City, and sold financial products to Fortune 500 companies to fund their group insurance and pension plans. As his interest in money management grew, he joined Edward Jones in Fairfield, Connecticut, as a financial advisor. Now retired, he lives in Venice, Florida, with his wife, Sharon.
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spring 2025
Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
By Ben Hall
In March, Michael Gness, BA ’74, hosted a group of Business School students at the Dow Jones offices in New York, including Barron’s Student Ambassadors Jose Larios and Muskan Kapoor. Photograph by Zena Fitzgerald, Class of 2026
