Hawes Hall

Hawes Hall is named in honor of, and made possible through support from Beverly and Rodney A. Hawes Jr. (MBA 1969).

Dedicated in 2002 and located adjacent to Aldrich Hall, Hawes Hall was built in response to a critical need for additional MBA and Executive Education classrooms and was the School’s first new classroom built in 50 years. The building was constructed during the tenure of Dean Kim B. Clark, who advocated using technology to deepen the learning experience by bringing real-world business practice closer to the classroom. Each classroom facilitates the fusion of interactive technologies with teaching techniques grounded in the case method. Innovations such as wireless Internet access and built-in video, webcast, and broadcast capabilities are essential features of the building’s eight amphitheater-style classrooms, four with 92 seats and four with 68 seats. As designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering, the 47,000-square-foot, brick facility includes 2,000 square feet of informal gathering space on each floor. The building completes the third side of the green bordered by Aldrich Hall and Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, creating a graceful courtyard in the Frederick Law Olmsted tradition.

About the Name

The construction of Hawes Hall was made possible through a generous gift from Beverly and Rodney A. Hawes Jr. (MBA 1969). At the time of the gift, Beverly Hawes expressed the hope that the students educated in Hawes Hall would use their knowledge “to serve their fellow human beings.” Her husband, the retired chairman and CEO of Connecticut-based Life Re Corporation, also emphasized the link between business education and public service. “Most of the world’s problems are talked about by politicians,” he observed, “but so many of them are really business problems. With Harvard Business School graduates on every continent, there is such potential for this institution to make a real difference in the world.”

During almost four decades in the insurance business as a salesman, entrepreneur, top executive, and industry leader, Hawes established a remarkable record of success while maintaining a reputation for character and integrity. In 1972, he founded Insurance Investment Associates, which became the country’s leading M&A adviser to the insurance industry. In 1988, he and his colleagues purchased Life Re Corporation, which grew into a major player in the US reinsurance market. The company went public in 1992 and was sold to Swiss Re in 1998.

At HBS, Hawes has served multiple terms on the Board of Dean’s Advisors and led numerous fundraising efforts. Expressing the School’s appreciation at the time of the Hawes’s gift, Dean Kim B. Clark noted, “Rod and Beverly Hawes are a wonderful model for us all. While building an outstanding business and a close-knit family, they never have lost sight of the importance of helping others.”

There are six Hawes children,—Kimberly, Kelly, William, Steven, Tamara, and Thomas Courtney (MBA 2008)—as well as 25 grandchildren. Nearly 40 members of the Hawes family attended the building’s dedication.