Voice of Business Blog

On Wednesday, November 6^th, the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce honored B. Thomas Golisano with our prestigious and rarely given Lifetime Achievement Award for all that he has done supporting the Greater Rochester region and beyond. We presented the award at our sold-out annual Top 100 event at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center — a great tribute to Tom and to the fastest growing privately-held companies. It was fitting that the leaders and teams of these growing companies could hear directly from a successful business leader who faced similar challenges when seeking to grow Paychex.

Tom started Paychex in 1971 with $3,000. He made the company our region’s fourth largest employer with over 16,000 employees across the country who serve over 745,000 customers. Golisano’s legendary success is the reward that comes from decades of hard work and strong leadership, and he serves as an inspiration to every business leader today. Because of those achievements the Greater Rochester Chamber’s Lifetime Achievement Award will now be renamed the B. Thomas Golisano Award, and will not be an annual award, but given at our discretion to individuals who have exhibited similar levels of business and philanthropic impacts on our region.

On September 17^th I had the honor to be at the Golisano Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship when Tom announced his gifts of $360 million to 82 organizations across Upstate New York. No one in the room, myself included, knew the nature of the event until Tom stepped to the podium, and I was stunned when Tom announced what he was doing. I had never witnessed such an event of sheer generosity, and it was a rare positive news story for our region that week. The responses from the organizations present that day were complete joy and gratitude. (An interesting side note is the fact that only one elected official reached out to Tom to thank him. I would consider the $360M donation to be a huge savings to governments at all levels.)

When hearing this, it struck me that it was a priority for us as a community to come together and extend our gratitude to this great man who has done so much for so many.

Through employees, shareholders, and investors, it’s hard to imagine anyone who has created more wealth and more millionaires than Tom Golisano. Those people have gone out and in turn invested here in Rochester; they bought homes, put their children through college, grew their own businesses, invested in other companies, and helped to grow our overall economy.

Tom’s legacy still extends far beyond the creation of Paychex. Of course, there is the world-class Golisano Children’s Hospital which has aided and saved countless vulnerable children certainly across our region and, I’d posit, even nationwide. Then there is his strong track record of donating to nonprofits and investing in companies that are foundational to the success of our community.

There’s also the Golisano Institute on Westfall Road. I have been there many times and each time I go, I am blown away by the level of class, excellence, and opportunity for all who attend this fabulous school. He has assembled an outstanding team to provide students with one of the best preparations to starting, owning, or leading a business that one could ever hope for.

Tom grew up in Irondequoit and has never lost sight of his roots. Rochester is recognized nationwide as one of the most generous and collaborative regions thanks to values instilled in our most generous philanthropists at an early age. Even in this community, known for its giving, I believe Tom Golisano stands tall above the rest. He’s donated over $775 million, and, in his own words, he’s not finished yet.

I can’t keep track of the number of local companies that Tom has invested in to help them grow throughout his career. One of those companies, Greenlight Networks, the fiber optic internet company, finished third in our Top 100 process and has been on a meteoric rise over the past few years. I can assure you that Greenlight would not be as successful today had it not been for Tom Golisano. While Tom is no longer an investor in Greenlight, when they were announced at our Top 100 awards, you could see a smile of great pride across his face when CEO Mark Murphy accepted the honor.

On a personal note, my late father worked for the Taylor Instrument Company in Rochester for over 30 years. After he retired in the mid-1980s, his pension system changed multiple times as the company was purchased by another corporation.

At one point, my father met with a financial consultant and had a choice to continue with a smaller pension or to take out an annuity. In those days, parents never discussed finances with their children, so I have no idea what the amount of that annuity was, but I sense it was very modest.

The consultant advised my father to invest in this new company called Paychex – and the rest is history. My father passed away in 2013 and until his death, he never touched the principal of that initial investment. He often said, “if you ever see Mr. Golisano, please give him a hug for me.” I’ve relayed the story to Tom in the past, but while we talk about success in business, here is an example of a simple, hardworking man whose golden years were enhanced by one modest investment in Tom’s growing company. There are hundreds if not thousands of similar examples throughout our region, and countless people who owe their family’s fiscal wellbeing, their children’s college education, their homes, their vacations, and their quality of life in retirement, all to the business acumen and leadership of Tom Golisano.

It was so inspiring to hear Tom accept our award, to witness the crowd’s complete silence as he spoke, and to see the multiple standing ovations that he received. There is no doubt that Tom could feel how important his contributions have been and how much he is appreciated. I commented that night and I’ll state again: I could not imagine what the Greater Rochester region would look like without Tom Golisano. He has shaped so many parts of how we live today, in ways we know and in ways that we don’t

On a funny note, aside from the award itself, we also presented a special gift to him.

I knew that Tom had a favorite cigar brand — Padrón — and we surprised him on stage with a large box of his favorite cigars.

His reaction was priceless: his eyes widened when he saw that box. As a non-smoker, I have shared one cigar with Tom in the past and these cigars are not for the faint of heart. I told him to save two, and I’d love to share one more with him before the box is empty.

In closing, I grew up with two words that were repeatedly reinforced by my parents: respect and gratitude.

It’s so important for this community to demonstrate our respect and gratitude for Tom Golisano while he is here to accept it.

Far too often in my life I have been to memorial services where beautiful words were put forth about the departed, and I’ve often thought what a gift it would have been to have said those same words to the person while they were still alive.

While I am in no way intimating that Tom is facing that part of his life, we at Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce felt strongly that this was the right time and the right event to publicly thank Tom Golisano for all he has done for us and to show him how much he means to us and to the Rochester region.

In closing, on behalf of all of us in the Rochester region: Thank you Tom.

You have earned our collective gratitude and appreciation.

This column originally appeared in the Rochester Business Journal.