When Jim Ellis played against MIT as a member of the US Coast Guard Academy baseball and wrestling teams, he had no idea he would someday be back on campus as a graduate student at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

“While I was stationed in Alaska in 1978, my supervisor let me know that the Coast Guard had recently committed to sending one officer per year to the intensive one-year MIT Sloan Fellows MBA program and was now soliciting applications from within the officer corps,” he says. “My wife Maggie was also interested in going to graduate school, so the timing worked out for us to apply to MIT and Harvard Business School, respectively, in hopes of heading to Boston for an academic experience.”

Jim was selected by the Coast Guard and accepted by MIT to the Sloan Fellows program, and Maggie was accepted and enrolled across town at Harvard Business School. As a result of their academic and professional experiences, the couple are strong believers in the importance of education in solving the problems that face our world. To evidence that support and create academic opportunities for the future, they have made a bequest to MIT by establishing the Ellis/Brady Family Fund, which is intended to support the Sloan Sustainability Initiative and graduate fellowships through the Sloan Veterans Fund.

Harnessing leadership skills. 

“Creating a fellowship was a natural fit for us and will be a good use of our funds.”

 

Jim, who spent his post-Coast Guard career as a lawyer focused on transportation and maritime law, has seen how government funding for veterans to earn advanced degrees has become less available in recent decades. 

“Maggie and I are big supporters of both education and those who have served our country,” he says. “Creating a fellowship through the Sloan Veterans Fund was a natural fit for us and will be a good use of our funds. The leadership experience that veterans gain in the Coast Guard and other branches of the military translates well to the MIT Sloan Fellows program,” he says. 

The fellows program was a great fit for Jim, who saw his management skills come into play constantly as cofounder and managing partner of a law firm. “My career took a much different tack when I left the Coast Guard than it would have had I not gone to MIT Sloan,” he says.

A sustainable future. 

The Sloan Sustainability Initiative, whose goal is to empower leaders to act so that humans and nature can thrive for generations to come, is also important to the family. Jim points out that environmental sustainability goes hand in hand with their support of veterans. 

“A significant portion of the Coast Guard is focused on issues related to the environment,” he explains. “The water and air pollution issues that relate to the ability to develop a sustainable future are also very important in the life of the Coast Guard.” He notes that, even in private practice, he was dealing with the transportation and maritime industry, which is deeply linked to the environment. “As a family, we’re very aware of the need to support a sustainable future.”

Strong MIT ties. 

Jim’s MIT Sloan cohort of about 50 students has stayed close over the years thanks to recurring reunions at a classmate’s home on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. “We’ve had classmates come for our five-year reunions from across the world—Japan, Australia, Europe, and the United States to attend the reunion,” he says. “My time at MIT was very influential in my career, and the relationships that I developed there remain strong and important to me today.”