Please join us as we honor Ray Fogarty ’79 with an investment in the business leaders of tomorrow who will further the work that Ray began, strengthening economies and communities and improving the lives of others through international business and trade. Visit bryant.edu/giving to make your gift today.
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When Ray Fogarty ’79, P ’14, P ’17 died unexpectedly in September 2018, the Bryant community lost a colleague, dedicated mentor, and passionate champion for the institution that helped shape his life and career, and those of thousands of his fellow Bryant graduates. For more than 40 years, first as a Bryant student and then as an administrator and ambassador, Fogarty used his expertise and warm personality to build relationships in the community and throughout the region.
In 2016, Fogarty, the long-time executive director of Bryant’s John H. Chafee Center for International Business, received the NASBITE International John Otis Lifetime Achievement Award and accepted the President’s “E” Star Award for Export Service from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, on behalf of the Chafee Center. The award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports. In 1991, he was recognized with the Bryant Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Fogarty’s deep commitment to international business and trade enhanced the educational experience of Bryant’s business students and helped to stimulate economic growth. To continue his legacy of service and honor his memory, Bryant announced at the 34th annual World Trade Day on May 22 that it will create an endowed scholarship to benefit students enrolled in the International Business program. Ranked among the top 25 International Business programs in the country, this program is the ideal environment for students who share Fogarty’s lifelong passion for finding innovative ways to fuel the economic engine of international business and trade.
A legacy of global impact
It was just a few years after his graduation that Fogarty began to make a lasting impact as a legislator, an advocate, and a leader. In 1986, he helped launch Bryant’s first World Trade Day. The event has become the largest annual trade event in the country. In 1988, Fogarty founded the Rhode Island Export Assistance Center at Bryant, focused on international trade, market research, and training.
As its executive director, Fogarty ensured that the Chafee Center’s efforts leveraged the expertise within Bryant’s International Business program, working collaboratively with faculty and the business community to provide Bryant students with real-world learning opportunities. For Bryant students, the Chafee Center is a living laboratory, a place to put theory into practice through business research, analysis, and planning. As part of the Bryant senior-year international business practicum, student teams study the business challenges of participating firms, conduct market research, and develop actionable strategic plans to enable companies to achieve corporate objectives.
Fogarty’s vision helped to empower thousands of individuals and businesses, providing market research, corporate training, and consulting on international business. Under his leadership, the Chafee Center was transformed from a service bureau into an award-winning international trade office recognized locally and nationally for excellence in providing comprehensive international trade services for business expansion into international markets. Today, companies continue to partner with Bryant’s Chafee Center to ensure that their products and services can reach new markets and customers in an increasingly interconnected and complex global marketplace.
