Judith and John Bedrosian
by Darren Schenck
John Bedrosian, a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from their native Armenia in the early twentieth century, appreciates the opportunities that he had growing up in America—opportunities that he feels he wouldn't have had anywhere else. He says that only in an open and democratic society could his life story be imagined.
"America offers so much opportunity. You can achieve so much, if you work for it," he says.
An entrepreneur who has helped to found two public companies and a number of smaller private companies, Bedrosian credits his success to a number of factors: his family, hard work, business acumen, and a good education at UCLA and the USC Law School.
The success of his business ventures also depended on the existence of thoughtful and supportive public policies and law.
For this reason, he thinks that effective methods of governance deserve careful study, and that the lessons learned can be applied at every level of society, from the local through the international.
To advance that study, John Bedrosian and his wife, Judy, last summer made a gift of $10 million to create the Judith and John Bedrosian Center on Governance and the Public Enterprise in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development. The center will study, and work to improve, the nature of democratic governance, policy-making, and management of the public enterprise in the 21st century.
"We are in a period of substantial transformation in how we govern and in the prospects for democratic governance in the 21st century," says Dan Mazmanian, SPPD's C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean and Professor. "In this context, the gift by Judy and John could not be more timely and appreciated."
After he completes his term as dean at the end of June, Dan Mazmanian will direct the center and serve as the first holder of the Bedrosian Chair in Governance.
Although we are beginning to develop the agenda for the center, governance is already a cornerstone of the school's vision and strategic plan," Mazmanian says. "Our faculty explore cross-sectoral approaches to governance and are pioneering scholarship in such areas as civic engagement and the effects of new technologies on governance."
Mr. Bedrosian has long been familiar with SPPD and its strategic direction. He developed a relationship with what was then the university's School of Public Administration when he was a senior executive at National Medical Enterprises, a healthcare company that he helped to found. From the beginning, he admired the school's work and even benefited from it.
"My company used to hire public administration graduates to work in health administration all the time," he says.
He has served on the school's board of councilors, now the SPPD Board of Councilors, since it was created in 1983 and chaired it from 1999 to 2004.
"I've always had great admiration for the school and its faculty," he says. "I like the work that they do, and I wanted to do something for the school."
The opportunity to make a major contribution to the school came when Dean Mazmanian led SPPD through a strategic planning process that identified a number of new centers and institutes that the school wanted to establish. Recognizing that a new center on governance was one of the school's central needs, the Bedrosians decided to put their support behind it.
"We're governed as a society the same way we were 200 years ago," Mr. Bedrosian says. "A center devoted to the formal study of governance is long overdue."
Adds Mazmanian: "The Bedrosians' investment in our shared future is a reflection of the genuine hope that Judy and John have for improved democratic governance at home and abroad."
The Bedrosians have another reason for making the gift. Despite their reluctance to have their names attached to such a high-profile center, they decided to do so for reasons related to their heritage.
"By having our names on this center, we're letting the community know that Armenians are very much involved in the life of Los Angeles," Mr. Bedrosian says. The city is home to the one of the largest populations of Armenians anywhere outside of Armenia.
Ultimately, though, he made the gift because of the impact he feels that SPPD's Bedrosian Center can have.
"It's because of the respect I have for the university and the school that this gift happened," he says.