In 1922, Northeastern created a formal “day school” for business and named it the College of Business Administration.

In 2012, the D’Amore-McKim School of Business became the university’s first college or school to be named when alumni Richard D’Amore and Alan McKim joined forces to make a $60 million philanthropic investment, the largest in Northeastern’s history. 

On Thursday night, cheers erupted and streamers floated down on the ground floor of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex as the community celebrated D’Amore-McKim’s 100th birthday.

More than 150 students, graduates, faculty, staff and business leaders gathered to celebrate the significant milestone. Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun said the event was an opportunity to look back at the success of the past, but more importantly, look to the future.

“You always innovate. You always push us forward!” Aoun said. “Entrepreneurship is a hallmark of this place—it’s humanity—it’s simply about the future, about the digital economy. It’s youth. We want to thank you for that.”

Today, the D’Amore-McKim School includes 4,779 undergraduate students, 1,418 graduate students and 205 faculty members, as well as over 600 co-op partners in nearly 60 countries and 110 cities around the world.

D’Amore currently serves as chair of Northeastern’s Board of Trustees, while McKim is the vice chair. Pointing to the crowd, D’Amore said it’s the people who make the university one of the best in the world.

“When Alan and I invested in Northeastern in 2012, we were investing in a future built on people like you,” D’Amore said. “With every passing day, we get more and more satisfied with our investment, and we are happy that we did it.”

After listening to three Northeastern students tell the crowd how the business school has positively impacted their lives, McKim said that’s why he remains involved.

“I can feel the impact,” McKim said. “I can see it. I can meet people, meet the students. It’s why Rich and I want to continue to invest.”

Attendees at Thursday’s celebration networked while enjoying live music, festive food and even a few laughs.

“It’s the school’s 100th birthday, but it’s not our 100th birthday,” D’Amore said. “I’ve really got people saying, ‘you look pretty good [for 100].’”

A three-tiered birthday cake was rolled out as the Downbeats, an A cappella group, sang “Happy Birthday.” Meanwhile, a timeline on the wall of ISEC showed the past, present and future of D’Amore-McKim.

Interim Dean Emery Trahan said he’s proud to be part of Northeastern’s relentless pursuit of improving the business school.

“That’s the culture and what’s in store for the next 100 years,” he said.

David De Cremer was recently named the new Dunton Family Dean of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. He will start on July 1.

A behavioral scientist, educator, researcher, keynote speaker and best-selling author, De Cremer comes to Northeastern from the National University of Singapore, where he is the provost chair and professor of management and organization in the Business School. He is also the founder and director of the Center on AI Technology for Humankind.

“David will lead us into the next millennium,” Trahan said. 

At the event, Aaisha Balakrishnan, an international business undergraduate, touted how D’Amore-McKim has impacted her life and venture companies. 

As CEO of IDEA, a student-led accelerator that helps Northeastern students and graduates, Balakrishnan has seen it launch numerous successful companies, including Parallel Pipes, Eat Your Coffee and Mobile Pixels Inc. 

Balakrishnan says it amazes her how many graduates and successful venture capitalists come back to provide donor support and mentorship. 

“It really doesn’t matter where you are from; you can start a business and be an entrepreneur,” Balakrishnan said. “You can still find support.” 

Beth Treffeisen is a Northeastern Global News reporter. Email her at b.treffeisen@northeastern.edu. Follow her on Twitter @beth_treffeisen