George J. Pierson has had his share of kudos for engineering the sale last October of global design firm giant Parsons Brinckerhoff in what many consider an impressive $1.35-billion deal. But the firm's president and CEO, who has since stepped down, was equally pleased to see, last spring, the first 14 graduates of a unique four-year program he founded at his alma mater, Bucknell University, to boost the number and diversity of its engineering students. The grads, many who came to the elite private university from under-resourced high schools, now are pursuing industry-focused careers and further study.
As the first member of his family to attend college, Pierson has long embraced education as a "passion," he says.