Supporting Excellence

Greg Palm was nine when the Soviets launched Sputnik, and science became part of the national consciousness. Though just a fourth grader in Chenango Bridge, N.Y., he dreamed of one day becoming a theoretical physicist.

“I don’t think I had any idea exactly what being a theoretical physicist would mean, but the thought resonated with me,” he says now, adding that even though he never became one, the dream was one reason he came to MIT.

In 1970, Palm earned a bachelor’s degree in economics, an area that ultimately interested him more. Then he earned an MBA and JD from Harvard University in 1974. Next, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Henry J. Friendly of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York and later for Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., in Washington, D.C. Then Palm joined Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the preeminent corporate law firms in the world, where he later became a partner.

In 1992, he joined Goldman Sachs as general counsel and a partner, splitting his time between the New York and London offices for much of the decade. He now continues as the firm’s general counsel and one of its senior executive officers.

Recently, Palm established a professorship in economics. “You just can’t take it for granted that MIT will continue to have what is widely acknowledged as the finest economics department in the country — unless you support it. The department is truly superb, with great faculty from its junior ranks on up,” he says, adding that Prof. Glenn Ellison, a leader in the fields of economic theory, industrial organization, and financial economics, has been named to the professorship.

“Endowed professorships are an important factor in continuing to retain what I regard as a very special faculty, who because they’re great, are actively recruited by many other schools,” Palm says. “An endowed professorship is a way both to recognize an individual because they’re superlative and also to keep them at the Institute.”

“Giving is its own reward,” he says. “You get so much out of it. It”s important for people who are fortunate to have the means to do so to give generously to whatever causes, programs, or institutions they believe merit support. It simply feels good. And, in the case of the MIT Department of Economics, it feels great.”

by Liz Karagianis

On Topic: alumni/ae, economics, giving