There’s a window on the second floor of the Bentley Library that overlooks the Waltham neighborhood where Joseph Romanowski ’87 grew up, and where his parents still reside. That happy fact was the final inspiration for Joe and his wife, Renee (Dugas) ’87, to choose the conference room as the focus of their recent gift to Bentley.
“There are so many ways to give back to the college,” Joe says, noting that a student scholarship or a named room in the library were top choices for his family. “Once we took a tour of the new library, it became the clear winner. We were both very impressed.”
The renovated library is completely revitalized, he says, with amenities that include a café, extensive DVD and video resources, and technology to check out books and other materials electronically. The Romanowski Room is one of several spaces in high demand by students seeking meeting space for the group projects that have become central to most Bentley courses.
“It’s not the same library we had as students,” says Joe, who now makes his home in Medfield, Mass. “It is much more open and comfortable, with more resources at your fingertips. This is a great asset for all alumni to use.”
Risk and Reward
The Romanowski Room is dedicated to Joe’s parents, Lois and John, whom Joe credits for making his success possible.
“My parents put me through school, and taught me to save at an early age,” he says. “My father taught us about investments, CDs, and other ways to save. Graduating debt free allowed me to take risks.”
Those risks have paid off.
Joe chose Bentley because it offered one of the few programs at the time that combined business and computing. After graduating with a degree in computer information systems, he joined classmate and fellow CIS major Michael P. Sullivan to launch Steelpoint Technologies. The company developed electronic discovery software for the legal market, attracting venture funding as well as Fortune 100 customers.
E-mail archiving company Zantaz merged with Steelpoint in 2004. Three years later, the merged firm sold to Autonomy, a publicly traded company based in Cambridge, U.K. Joe served as vice president of product strategy until last October, when he stepped down to spend more time with his family and to plan his next venture.
Family Dedication
Joe and Renee’s extended family turned out in force for the dedication of the Romanowski Room last November.
“The college was surprised at how many people came,” Joe says. “There were brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and lots of kids from both sides of the family. It was a great day.”
Joe and Renee hope that the name of the room will be a source of pride for their sons: Conner, age 13; Mitchell, 10; and Joey, 6. (The 10-year-old is already talking about Bentley, they report.)
Long-term Commitment
The Romanowskis say that making a significant gift to Bentley has been long-time goal. Both have been members of the President’s Club for many years, and Joe was president of the Alumni Association in 2006-2007. The soccer team, which Joe played on as a student, is another beneficiary of the couple’s support.
“Bentley has given us a lot,” Renee says. “We started our lives together there. It has a special place in my heart.”
The benefits of staying connected to the school continue to grow, Joe adds. Attending Bentley events, for example, has enabled the couple to built friendships across alumni classes.
“We’ve been extremely impressed with the leadership of Joe Morone and Terry Carleton over the past few years, and we’re very excited to support President Larson,” he says. “Her energy and passion are infectious. We feel she is the right person at the right time to represent the next phase of Bentley’s growth.
“We’re happy to be able to give back to a college that seems to keep giving to us.”