By Marivi Prado - St. Thomas University
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Posing with the million check where the new Gus Machado School of Business will be built, from left: John Dooner, chairman of St. Thomas University's board of trustees; Gus Machado; School of Business Dean Somnath Bhattacharya; St. Thomas Provost Irma Becerra; Lilliam Machado; and Msgr. Franklyn Casale, St. Thomas University president.
MIAMI GARDENS | St. Thomas University recently received its largest gift ever: $5 million from Cuban-American car dealer Gus Machado that will go toward building a state-of-the-art facility for the School of Business.
Machado is a former member of the university’s board of trustees and a successful South Florida entrepreneur and philanthropist. In his honor, the school will be renamed the Gus Machado School of Business.
“Supporting our future business leaders means the world to me,” said Machado. “Being able to make that happen at St. Thomas University � a university that has a reputation for providing an excellent educational experience and developing the next generation of ethical business leaders � is an opportunity I am very pleased to be a part of.”
Born in Cuba, Machado came to the United States in 1949 and attended military school in North Carolina. He owned a series of car dealerships until he acquired his first franchise in 1982, Gus Machado Buick. Today, he is president of Gus Machado Ford and continues to lead his company to multi-city success.
“Gus Machado is a name well respected in our community. His generosity will allow our institution to offer a first-class business education in a first-class, values-based, multipurpose environment,” said Msgr. Franklyn Casale, St. Thomas University’s president.
The new facility will house the institutes of Global Entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity, Trade and Logistics, and Sports Administration. Its open architecture design will feature multi-purpose spaces and state-of-the-art technology that will help students learn real-life business practices.
The technological features of the new building include interactive "smart classrooms" with specialized software, audience response technology, networking and audio/visual capabilities. It also will house a trading room, a global conference auditorium, the student business incubator, and a communications and media lab.
St. Thomas is the only Catholic, archdiocesan-sponsored university in Florida. It offers more than 45 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees at its 144-acre campus in Miami Gardens, and places an institutional emphasis on social justice and ethical behavior.
The Gus Machado School of Business provides a full spectrum of programs, such as accounting, management, marketing, international business, and finance. It also boasts two flagship programs: the nationally recognized Sports Administration Program and the Center for Global Entrepreneurship.
The school’s Automotive Industry Council is an example of a private industry and academic partnership that pairs business students with a high-earning industry looking to enhance its workforce. For more information, go to www.stu.edu.
