Brown alums are known for their undying dedication to the University, serving as members of the Corporation, fundraisers for the Annual Fund and Campaign for Academic Enrichment, recruiters for potential students and advisors to departments, among other things.
But one eight-person group composed almost entirely of alums is guiding the University as it develops on a new front - helping coordinate expansion projects, including real estate development in Providence and Brown's eventual, inevitable expansion beyond College Hill. These efforts fall under the Strategic Growth Initiative enacted under President Ruth Simmons.
The Subcommittee for Strategic Improvement (chartered by the Corporation's committee on facilities and design) brings together experts in real estate from around the country "to help (the University) specifically with the question, 'How does the University expand off College Hill?'" according to Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to the president.
Spies cited the Plan for Academic Enrichment and its master plan for Brown's campus, which concluded that although a few possibilities remain, the ability to expand on College Hill is limited.
"We've been starting to think about how to (expand) more systematically and strategically. Real estate, programmatic, how should we think of it, how do we pay for it - we have limited resources, as does every institution," Spies said.
The subcommittee, which was chartered officially about a year ago but whose members have been consulting with top administrators at the University for over two years, provides its advice free of charge.
Because of this, unlike professional consultants the University could (and still does, to a certain extent) hire to work on such projects, members of the subcommittee provide advice without their own financial interests in mind.
"These folks leave their day jobs, in effect, outside when they come in and they're just trying to do what's best for Brown. They do worry if we're putting in more money than we need to because they know that it takes away from the (bigger educational picture), and that's what motivates them to keep going," Spies said.
He estimated that the University would spend "many hundreds of thousands of dollars" finding consultants to accomplish what the subcommittee does for free.
Applying global expertise to BrownChairing the subcommittee is Ben Lambert '60, current CEO and founder of Eastdil Realty Co., LLC in New York City. Lambert, a former trustee of the Brown Corporation, also chairs the real estate investment committee for the University's endowment.
Lambert said he was "honored" to offer his expertise to the University when Chancellor Stephen Robert '62 P'91 , a long-time friend of his, invited him to chair the subcommittee on Strategic Improvement.
"(The University) has been dealing with issues of real estate forever but you want to try to put a group of people together who will sleep (on) and think constantly about what might be in the best interests of the school. Frankly, that's what I'm trying to do chairing this committee: think through the various options we're constantly considering," he said.
Lambert said the subcom-mittee meets every few months, either by telephone or in person. Members have experience with public-private partnerships, attracting major developers in new projects and combining parcels of property that are originally in many different hands, according to Spies.
"It's bringing together our specific knowledge and their bigger picture of the world," he said.
The subcommittee - and the entire expansion initiative - is separate from real estate invest-ments the University makes using money from the endowment. While those ventures are arranged strictly in the interests of the highest possible returns, the projects that the subcommittee is concerned with are local and not expected to turn as much profit.
"Brown will want to try to (expand beyond College Hill) in a way that we are able to earn revenue from land that we buy until we use it, but the likelihood is that (the University) won't make the same level of return. ... This has other goals that we're trying to achieve," said Rebecca Barnes, director of strategic growth for the University.
"Brown is not a real estate investor. That's certainly not its mission," she added. "It's tremendously valuable for us to have access to advice from people who have been doing this 40 or 50 years in a variety of contexts."
Paired with their vested in-terest in Brown as alums, these qualities serve as a priceless resource for the University, Spies said.
"The wonderful thing about a group like this is that they care about Brown, they're willing to give time and energy that most of them wouldn't give for pay because they're not in the consulting business - they're running companies or engaged in managing projects or doing things that are on their own behalf," Spies said. "It's a resource that you couldn't get - you couldn't buy it even if you had the money to do it. And it comes with a level of connection to Brown that would take a consultant forever to develop," he added.
Though "we need consultants because people who serve pro bono don't have the time to dig into the detailing" of the specifics of potential developments in Providence, Lambert said, "it's the combination of the (subcommittee and these hired consultants) that really gets you to the goal line."
In August 2005, the University purchased an 11-story building at 121 South Main Street for $31.5 million. The 160,000 square-foot building at the foot of College Hill currently includes retail and office space and a 160-space parking garage, but will eventually be converted to tax-exempt space for educational use by the University.
Lambert added that the use of pro bono consultation is common at universities around the country, if only because of the enormous practical benefit it provides. He expressed satisfaction with the process so far.
