In April, Bryant announced a transformational gift from Frank M. ’81 and Marion (Sheahan) Hauck ’81, P’08, which will support the development of the Hauck Sales Performance Lab in the new Business Entrepreneurship Leadership Center. The 5,000-squarefoot space — with gamified leaderboards, high-tech breakout rooms, and boardroom — will welcome students across disciplines to learn sales skills in real time.
Below, Marion and Frank, a Bryant trustee who recently retired as president and general manager of banking for NCR Corporation, share their vision for the lab and why they made this important gift to Bryant.
Why will this new sales lab be an important asset for Bryant?
Frank Hauck: “The hard work in sales takes place in the office, right? It might take hundreds of hours of preparation for that one-hour meeting. If students could have that philosophy in school, their likelihood of success is going to
be incredibly high. Sales is a craft. You have to develop it. There are tools we will leverage where you can get real-time feedback in the classroom, such as ZoomInfo, RNMKRS, and other new technologies, that will set students ahead of the curve when they graduate.”
Marion Hauck: “It would sell coming to Bryant. The lab will offer real-world, sophisticated sales training experiences that other colleges and universities just can’t match.”
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Why are you choosing to invest in the future of Bryant?
MH: “We invest in things that are our passion first. Frank and I both met here, graduated from here, got married here. Our daughter went here, met her husband here. Our niece and nephew went here. We’ve always believed in giving back, and we get more out of it when we give back — when we think of the impact on the students.”
FH: “The students’ competencies, and their desire to get better and succeed, are infectious. That’s why we’re doing this.”
This feels reminiscent of the ice-skating rink you donated to campus during the pandemic.
FH: “Yes, the students were looking for an outlet, a place to go and be outside and socialize.”
How do you hope Bryant students will make use of this lab?
FH: “My hope is it will be a cross-disciplinary resource that every major can rely on to enhance their skill set, whether they’re going to school to be in sales or a physician assistant or an economist. I wish I had it when I was here.”
MH: “And we want them all to use it.”
FH: “Yes, wear it out. When I was a kid at church, they’d give every third grader a bible and they told us: ‘Wear it out; we can always get more.’ So wear it out — we can always get more!”
