Greg Casagrande ’85 (left) received the first-ever Colgate Impact Award at the Presidents’ Club breakfast during Reunion Weekend. (Photo by Gerard Gaskin)
Social entrepreneur Gregory Casagrande ’85 spent three days this month on campus as the Robert A. Fox ’59 Executive in Residence at the Center for Career Services, sharing his extensive business knowledge with the campus community.
Having provided more than $65 million in micro-enterprise financing and small business training to about 60,000 women through his social enterprise in Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands, Casagrande was awarded the inaugural Colgate Impact Award in 2015.
Casagrande has also been recognized as person of the year in Samoa in 2008, and appointed to the United Nations’ Board of Patrons Global Advisors Group. He has served as director of several microfinance boards, including his current role as chairman of three New Zealand software firms, and is an active angel investor. His past professional experience includes positions within the Ford Motor Company, Mazda Motor Company, and Coopers and Lybrand.
While on campus, Casagrande met with professors, administrators, and students in the Benton Scholars and Thought Into Action programs, and he made time for individual student appointments and guest lectures in three classes — Economics 238: Economic Development; Geography 315: Sustainable Livelihoods in Asia; and Geography 186: The Geography of Happiness.
Read more about Casagrande in the latest issue of the Colgate Scene.