Recent gift to Loyola's Simon Center will help promote economic and entrepreneurial success in Maryland

Loyola’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship first became a reality largely in part to the $1 million gift that Nick Simon, MBA '84, and Susie Simon, M.Ed. '81, made four years ago. Recently, the Simons made an additional $3 million investment to grow the Center, which is now named the Nick and Susie Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

With the latest gift, the Simon Center can better contribute to scholarship and research in biohealth and other areas and promote economic and entrepreneurial success in Maryland. The Simon Center will be able to expand and support initiatives such as the Baltipreneurs Accelerator, a cohort-based venture development program for local entrepreneurs, as well as youth programs in Baltimore City. 

Nick Simon has spent 40 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, while Susie Simon taught English as a Second Language classes to international medical researchers working in the United States. 

"Our Loyola educations gave us the tools to help advance our careers," Nick Simon says. "Beyond that, I’ve been in the innovation arena for my entire career. I have seen how innovation can lead to new medicines that have had a profound impact on tens of thousands of patients' lives."

"Innovation is important in other fields too—especially in areas of education," Susie Simon says. 

Over the course of his career, Nick Simon has also seen how the seeds planted in academic settings drive innovation in the greater communities around them. "We want to help accelerate that process."