Michael D. White '70 Center for Emerging Leaders
About the Center
The Michael D. White ’70 Center for Emerging Leaders is committed to providing leadership training and opportunities to all BC High students. Through thoughtful collaboration, the sharing of stories from experts, and in practices of Ignatian reflection, students are encouraged to serve the BC High community and beyond as servant leaders.
Mission Statement
The Michael D. White ’70 Center for Emerging Leaders seeks to form virtuous leaders with the dynamism, self-awareness, and humility needed to be agents of change. We are committed to fostering student growth in the practical skills needed for leadership—effective communication, thoughtful collaboration, and other-centered ambition—to empower our students to serve as transformational leaders. We seek to inspire young men who will lead with the Ignatian charism “Spiritu, corde, practice”—in the Spirit, from the heart, practically.
Pillars of the Center
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Leadership Skills
Students will be formed in the Ignatian tradition of servant leadership with its emphasis on dynamism, self-awareness, and humility. Leaders thrive by knowing who they are and how they work best with others; this pillar will empower students to develop the professional and personal skills they need to be transformational leaders.
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Service
We learn to lead in order to serve—whether we are serving our immediate community or a greater need. Transformational leaders are ambitious not for their own personal gain, but to better their community or organization. This pillar is the explicit application of the skills and self-knowledge developed in the first pillar.
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Sharing our Stories
We learn best from the example of others. This pillar comprises the “Speaker Series” that will be a key part of the Center. Alumni speakers, local leaders, and national speakers come to BC High to share their stories and experiences with our students.
Meet Mike White
Michael D. White ’70 was born into a BC High family and is proud of the legacy his father, Thomas, began as a graduate of the Class of 1945. Mike was the first of his brothers to attend BC High traveling to Morrissey Boulevard from Walpole, MA. His brothers Tim ’71, Greg ’74, and nephew Chris ’00, are all proud to be Eagles!
Mike went onto Boston College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English and Russian where he was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Furthering his education after BC, he received a Masters in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University which set the stage for his future professional endeavors.
He is the former chairman, president and chief executive officer of DIRECTV, a position he held from 2010 until his retirement in 2015. He was vice chairman and CEO of PepsiCo International from February 2003 until December 2009, which encompasses all of PepsiCo’s beverage, snack and food operations outside the U.S. and Canada.
Prior to taking charge of PepsiCo International in February 2003, he had been president and CEO of PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Among his other earlier positions with PepsiCo, which he joined in 1990 as vice president of planning, were senior vice president and chief financial officer for PepsiCo., Inc.; executive vice president and chief financial officer for Pepsi-Cola Company worldwide; and executive vice president and chief financial officer of Frito-Lay International.
He credits his long, successful career to the solid foundation he received while at BC High. Teachers like Brian Donaher ’55, fostered a passion for the Classics. A passion that taught him how to study and reflect which he carried with him everywhere he traveled.
In addition to his stellar career accomplishments, Mike is in his second year as a member of the Board of Directors of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and has been on the Board of Whirlpool Corporation for almost fifteen years. He also served a two-year term on the Board of Kimberly-Clark. In true BC High tradition, Mike is very involved in charitable work and serves as the Vice Chair of the Partnership to End Addiction. His passion for Jesuit education has continued as he currently serves as a Trustee at Boston College.