Robert Glassman: SOCIAL ACTIVISM
Getting Involved To Make a Difference!

GBBC Business Counselor


March, 2002

The Greater Boston Business Council is honored to have Robert Glassman, Co-Chairman of Wainwright Bank & Trust Company, as the guest speaker at the GBBC's quarterly Dinner Meeting on Tuesday, March 26, at the Colonnade Hotel, 120 Huntington Avenue in Boston. Mr. Glassman will present his views on "Social Activism: Getting Involved To Make a Difference!".

Robert A. Glassman has a long record of commitment and engagement with social justice and community causes that find expression in his professional and civic work. From his early years in Jersey City, New Jersey, through his military service in Vietnam, to his subsequent studies at Harvard Business School and eventual entry into the financial services industry, to his roles as philanthropist, volunteer, and social entrepreneur, Mr. Glassman has remained committed to issues of social justice. His accomplishments reflect this philosophy, and merge financial and social capital in ways that strengthen those values.

Mr. Glassman is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Wainwright Bank & Trust Company, a publicly traded Boston-based commercial bank with $500 million in assets. Wainwright Bank is distinguished by its commitment to social justice, which finds expression throughout all phases of its operation. Considered the vanguard of socially responsible investing, Wainwright Bank is especially committed to affordable housing, community development, women's rights, and the gay and lesbian community. Through its equity interest in Trillium Asset Management Corporation, Wainwright Bank extends its reach into socially responsible investing and shareholder activism.

Among its nationwide "firsts": Wainwright Bank, in 1994 developed an affinity credit card, called the Community Card MasterCard that contributes to progressive nonprofit organizations. In 1999 the Bank created CommunityRoom.net, a website dedicated to building a virtual community of nonprofit organizations that enables them, at no cost, to build their online presence and accept donations from anywhere in the world. In 2000, the Bank created The Green Loan, the nation's first home equity loan product that encourages the installation of solar energy systems. The recipient of numerous awards for its progressive social policies - the 1998 Business Ethics award and most recently the Council on Economic Priorities 2001 Corporate Conscience Award for Community Partnership.

In addition to the activities of Wainwright Bank, Mr. Glassman is personally engaged in a number of efforts as both a social entrepreneur and civic leader. In 1984 he established the Glassman Fellowship Fund at the Harvard Business School, which provides inner city public school students with scholarship assistance. He also helped to launch the William Joiner Foundation for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which promotes scholarship and teaching on war, provides support to Vietnamese citizens on health-related issues, and engages in cultural exchanges for artists and writers from Vietnam and the United States.

As a civic leader, Mr. Glassman has served as a board member and advisor to numerous Boston institutions, including The Boston Foundation; the William Joiner Foundation; the University of Massachusetts Foundation; the Mayor's AIDS Housing Task Force; and the Advisory Board, Trust for Public Land. He also is a Director of Trillium Asset Management Corporation. In 2000 President Clinton appointed Mr. Glassman to the National Veterans Business Development Corporation, whose purpose is to assist disabled veterans in becoming successful business entrepreneurs.

As Chairman of The Boston Foundation's Investment Committee from 1995 to 2000, Mr. Glassman presided over the growth of the Foundation's endowment assets from $250 to $700 million, facilitated the Foundation's movement to full discretion and authority in investment decision making, and anchored the Foundation's investment policy in those moral values that govern other aspects of The Boston Foundation's charitable mission. The result is a model of civic stewardship, revealed in its proxy voting policy and set of guidelines, that establishes The Boston Foundation as the nation's first community foundation to discharge its ownership responsibility in a manner consistent with its professed values.

Mr. Glassman has received numerous awards, among them the AIDS Action Committee's Distinguished Leadership Award and the American Jewish Committee's Human Relations Award. In addition to his undergraduate degrees from Rutgers University and MBA from Harvard Business School, Mr. Glassman holds an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Join us Tuesday, March 26, at the Colonnade Hotel, 120 Huntington Avenue in Boston, for a memorable evening that will include a fascinating and informative program featuring Robert Glassman from Wainwright Bank.

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