Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, has announced a $10 million gift from former Tufts Entrepreneurship Center director Jack Derby and his wife, Jan.

The gift will establish a $9 million endowment to name the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts and support continued programming to help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the skills to turn ideas into successful ventures. The remaining $1 million will fund construction of the Joyce Cummings Center, a multidisciplinary academic building that will house the Derby Entrepreneurship Center. In recognition of the gift, the first-floor atrium of the building, set to open in January 2022, will be named the Jack and Jan Derby Lobby.

Derby, who has taught at Tufts since 2006 and served as director of the center from 2017 to 2020, previously was CEO of Mayer Electronics, president of CB Sports, president of Litton Industries Medical Systems, CEO of Datamedix Corporation, and executive vice president of Becton Dickinson Medical Systems.

"Tufts is truly unique in its mission and in its encouraging environment for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship across a broad and diverse platform of schools," said Derby. "We have an extraordinary diversity of students, alumni, faculty, and staff, all people who are asking important questions about the world we live in. It’s my hope that the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts brings entrepreneurship and innovation to bear on their work and embeds the value of entrepreneurial thinking in the culture of the greater Tufts community."