News Detail

Salerno Wins Prestigious Business Achievement Award

03/07/2012

Victor E. Salerno ’66, CEO of O’Connell Electric and Vice Chair of the College’s Board of Trustees, was recently named a recipient of the Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) Business Achievement Award. His award will be announced at the BGS Deans’ Recognition Luncheon on April 29 in San Diego, California.

Salerno was nominated for the award by Dr. David Martin, Dean, Ronald L. Bittner School of Business.

The BGS Business Achievement Award is a global award and is presented to individuals who have garnered significant success in business. In addition to those achievements, recipients of the award demonstrate generosity through enhancement of a community or educational institution, and have been viewed as a model of ethical business leadership in his/her career, exemplifying the highest honor and integrity consistent with the ideals of BGS.

Salerno served on the Alumni Board of Directors for six years, including two years as president, prior to joining the College’s Board of Trustees. Additionally, he has played an active role on the regionally recognized DuPlessis/Wolfe Accounting Committee, resulting in increased fundraising from fellow accounting graduates to benefit current accounting students.

In 2005, Salerno received the Accounting Alumnus of the Year award. And in 2007, he donated $125,000 to the College for the main classroom in the Wegmans School of Nursing building.

Most recently, in December 2011, he made a $2 million gift to the College for the construction of the Victor E. Salerno Center for American Enterprise, which will house the Bittner School of Business. The Center is expected to be complete by the start of the 2013 academic year. This is the largest gift the College has ever received from an alumnus.

Salerno also serves as executive board member and past chairman of the board of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, advisory board member of M&T Bank, treasurer of the Rochester Builders Exchange, board member at Unions and Businesses United in Construction (UNICON), past president of the Rochester Chapter of the Construction Financial Management Association, member of Financial Executives International, trustee of the Pension and Insurance Funds at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 86, member of the Community Technology Assessment Advisory Board, and board member of the Center for Governmental Research.