Roger M. Marino, E'61,H'96
Hailing from a modest background, Roger Marino learned the value of hard work early in life—his father worked as a tailor in a factory that was a stone’s throw from the Northeastern campus. When Roger arrived at Northeastern in 1956 as an engineering student, he quickly made the most of the opportunities afforded him and earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
Following his graduation in 1961, Roger worked as a circuit designer at RCA Storage Systems in Burlington, Massachusetts. After leaving RCA, he became a salesman for a memory products company. All the while that Roger worked for other companies, honing his technical and management skills, he dreamed of starting his own business.
In 1979, Roger made that dream come true. Along with his former classmate, Richard J. Egan, E’61, H’95, he co-founded EMC Corporation, now a $17 billion company that designs and manufactures computer storage products. The Fortune 500 firm rapidly became one of the largest and most successful companies in the industry, and is now a global leader in sophisticated information storage.
Always seeking new challenges, Roger retired from EMC in 1992 to pursue a number of business ventures related to his lifelong interest in sports and recreation. He was the chair and chief financial officer of Golf Technologies, Inc., in Natick, Massachusetts, which develops technology products for golf enthusiasts. He is also the former principal owner of the Worcester Ice Cats, a professional minor-league hockey team, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, a National Hockey League team.
Roger Marino in the 1961 Cauldron yearbook.
Roger has always maintained close ties with Northeastern, serving as a university trustee from 1996 to 2008 and as a trustee emeritus beginning in 2009. In 2011, he was appointed to lead the emeriti community at the university, and lends his keen insights and business acumen to this important group of Northeastern ambassadors.
Throughout the years, Roger has been dedicated to numerous initiatives across the Northeastern campus. While a trustee, he and his family pledged a generous gift supporting the cost of building the iconic and state-of-the-art Marino Recreation Center. Upon its opening in 1996, the facility became the university’s signature building on Huntington Avenue and remains a popular destination for members of the university community.
Deeply committed to education, Roger supports the Torch Scholars Program, a Northeastern initiative for students who have risen above exceptional odds and who demonstrate the potential to excel. He additionally endows two annual scholarships at Revere High School, co-founded the Summit Montessori School in Framingham, Massachusetts, and is a trustee at the Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts.
With a great affinity for the arts, Roger has produced five feature films including Ciao America, The Door in the Floor, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. He also produced the acclaimed Broadway revival of Gypsy, starring Bernadette Peters, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her role as Mama Rose. An artist in his own right, Roger’s work was displayed at Northeastern’s Gallery 360 in 2010.
Roger, who resides in the Greater Boston area, has two sons and three daughters.