“It’s not a lifetime achievement award,” Thorndike said. “It’s the opposite of that.”
Thorndike wants to support scholars near the start of their research career, similar to how he invested in first-time chief executives. His 2012 book, “The Outsiders,” covers this ground, too, exploring what makes a successful CEO. He learned younger, successful chief executives are more open to new ideas and more likely to learn from different industries.
Similarly, he said, scientists who do the most groundbreaking research usually make discoveries at relatively young ages, before becoming more risk-averse.
Thorndike cofounded Housatonic Partners in 1994 with two partners in Boston, and they expanded to San Francisco several years later. “We backed really early-career CEOs, and we had a terrific record of doing that over time,” Thorndike said.
Thorndike had read a book by Tracy Kidder about Paul Farmer and his nonprofit Partners In Health and told himself he would devote money to help the next generation of Paul Farmers pursue their dreams if he became financially successful.
Thorndike has retired from the PE firm, though Housatonic still lists him as a senior adviser. His focus is primarily on Cromwell Harbor and its Chrysalis Prize project. With academic research facing funding cuts lately, he figures this new prize is more important than ever. There will be a particular emphasis on researchers willing to look outside of their core fields for insights.
“We’re trying to break the general trend in academia toward increasing specialization,” Thorndike said. “We like this broader idea of providing resources to extremely talented, very early-career people, at the time when it’s most difficult to attract resources.”
Brett honored for neighborhood work
Many local business leaders know Jim Brett as the New England Council’s longstanding chief executive.
Some are familiar with his work on behalf of those with disabilities, and others remember his political career: a state representative from Savin Hill who went on to run for mayor and lose to Tom Menino.
But it was another side hustle of Brett’s that was recognized on May 8 at the annual gala for the United South End Settlements, an antipoverty nonprofit. There, Brett received the Philip Dushku Changemaker Award (named after the late school teacher). The honor is meant to recognize Brett’s efforts helping USES and mentoring USES chief executive Jerrell Cox, along with the food and holiday toy donations he provides to USES from the Mary Ann Brett Food Pantry in Dorchester. (Also honored that night: Gary Bailey, program director for Simmons University’s school of social work, who received the Mel King Social Innovator Award.)
Brett first started helping Cox and USES about five years ago, after an introduction from American Tower executive Becca Gould. Brett took Cox under his wing and showed him around Boston’s business community. The food pantry also gives dozens of toys to USES kids at Christmastime, and provides meals to families served by USES.
Brett’s food pantry work goes back even further, around 20 years, to when Father Paul Soper, a pastor in Dorchester at the time, started the pantry at St. Margaret’s Church. Seventeen years ago, when Brett planned his 60th birthday, he threw a party to raise some $40,000 for the pantry, prompting church leaders to name it after his mother. Now he helps out almost every Saturday, along with his wife Pattie Brett, and two dozen other volunteers who prepare and pack food for around 200 families.
“The reward is so great, knowing you are helping your neighborhood,” Brett says. “I get a lot out of it, to say the least.”
Rooney eyes role of business in nation’s birth
As Boston and Massachusetts prepare to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jim Rooney wants to remind us that businesspeople made it all possible.
The birth of the country, that is, not the birthday celebration — though Boston’s business leaders are playing a big role in that as well.
At the chamber’s annual meeting last week, Rooney focused on the pivotal role Boston’s business community played in the nation’s independence. The colonists who revolted against the British, he said, shared a common belief in the importance of free enterprise.
“The American free enterprise story that started here in Boston is a story of growth and opportunity, a story of collective hope and optimism, not division and fear,” Rooney told the crowd gathered in the Menino Convention & Exhibition Center ballroom. “It is no exaggeration to say that the America we will celebrate this summer was born right here in Boston. As I always remind my friends from Philly, Boston shed the blood. Philly filed the paperwork.”
Rooney implored those in the room to tackle today’s economic challenges — including affordable housing, energy prices, and transportation — with the same revolutionary mindset. He concluded: “To support these efforts, we should be embracing growth and free markets, as we have in the past, when they are most needed.”
Rapid7 chief executive Corey Thomas said Rooney shows no sign of slowing down, as evidenced by all the late-night phone calls he got from Rooney during his tenure as board chair. (Thomas hands over the role to Bank of America executive Miceal Chamberlain this summer.)
That prompted Mayor Michelle Wu to joke, as she stepped to the podium: “I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who gets the late-night Jim Rooney phone calls.”
Wu also echoed one of the points Rooney made in his speech.
“Boston has always been on the leading edge in reinventing the next wave of innovation,” she said. “We’re doubling down on making Boston the ‘human capital’ capital of the globe.”
Governor Maura Healey, in her speech, offered personal stories about the three businesspeople honored by the chamber as “Distinguished Bostonians”: Paul Ayoub, chair of Nutter McClennen & Fish; Kevin Churchwell, chief executive of Boston Children’s Hospital; and Catherine D’Amato, retiring chief executive of the Greater Boston Food Bank.
“Amazing things are happening in our city and our state,” Healey said. “But none of it would be possible without the leadership, the creativity, and the generosity of our business community.”
Spilka promises rate relief
Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka is promising energy legislation in the coming weeks that offers companies and consumers significant savings. But she’s being coy, for now, about how she plans to pull it off.
Last week, speaking at an Associated Industries of Massachusetts meeting at the New England Aquarium, Spilka told the business-oriented crowd that the Senate’s upcoming energy bill will balance “climate leadership, economic competitiveness, and cost savings.”
Speaking with AIM chief executive Brooke Thomson, Spilka emphasized the last of those three elements. She said her team, led by energy committee co-chair Mike Barrett, will produce an energy bill not long after the Senate’s budget debate ends this week.
The House of Representatives has passed its version, which would trim $1 billion from the Mass Save energy efficiency program’s three-year budget. The House bill would also require refunds of payments that electricity suppliers make if they miss the state’s renewable energy goals, estimated at $388 million over 10 years.
The Senate is expected to leave Mass Save largely intact, so it’s not clear where Spilka and Barrett will turn for savings. (Barrett has said he has his eyes on an expensive natural-gas pipe replacement program, known as “GSEP.”)
Still, Spilka promised rate relief is coming.
“There will be savings in our energy bill, I don’t want to say specifically where at this point, stay tuned,” Spilka said. “It will, no surprise, be different than the House [bill]. We have savings, significant savings as well.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.