Leaving, with gratitude

Retiring Center for Work & Family Executive Director Brad Harrington leaves a legacy in the classroom and the business world

Twenty-four years ago, Brad Harrington, then a successful, 20-year Hewlett-Packard executive working in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, exited the corporate world.

With a recent doctorate in human resource development in hand, a desire to leverage his experience and education in new and different ways and seeking a role that would allow him to spend significantly more time with his wife and three young children, Harrington traded his frequent 3,000-mile commutes to California and London for a position at Boston College—where he became executive director of the Center for Work & Family (CWF).

Last September, Harrington came to that road’s end, announcing his retirement.

“When I thought about the salary and perks I’d lose by leaving the corporate world, I took a deep breath, and then enthusiastically decided to join the University,” he said. “It’s been an interesting journey over the past two-plus decades. The new role, however, offered many of my career’s most satisfying experiences and it truly aligned well with my interests and values.

“In 2023, I decided that 2024 marked a good time for retirement after 47 years of work,” said Harrington, who was also a research professor in the Carroll School of Management, and a faculty member in the University’s Capstone Seminar program.  “That decision was solidified by a diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer in February. While I was initially shocked by that news, I’ve been grateful to be in treatment with a phenomenal team at Mass General Hospital’s Cancer Center, one of the world’s best health care institutions.

“What a blessing to live in a city where medicine is so advanced and to work for an employer with incredible health insurance. I take none of this for granted.”

The CWF, founded in 1990 at Boston University and shifted to BC in 1997, is the country’s leading university-based center focused on improving the quality of employees’ lives. It works with many of the country’s most respected companies, and develops high-quality programming through its Workforce Roundtable, widely considered the premier learning and networking community for employers seeking to provide a superior employee experience.

Harrington focused on career management and work-life integration, contemporary workforce management practices, and the leadership of organizational change, but his major research area has been the changing role of working fathers. Since 2010, he and the CWF team have published The New Dad series, cited by hundreds of major media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Washington Post.

“Brad was ahead of his time seeing the importance of balancing work and family in the lives of busy professionals and in the strategies of top firms. His leadership has paved the way for the center to become a thought leader in this important area.”
JOHN AND LINDA POWERS FAMILY DEAN ANDY BOYNTON

“My goal was to help fathers embrace their parenting role more fully and to help employers support this broader understanding of their working dads,” said Harrington, who presented his research findings at the White House in 2014.

“Brad was ahead of his time seeing the importance of balancing work and family in the lives of busy professionals and in the strategies of top firms.  His leadership has paved the way for the center to become a thought leader in this important area,” said Andy Boynton, the John and Linda Powers Family Dean of the Carroll School of Management.

Harrington found his faculty role to be one of his most rewarding opportunities at BC.

“After teaching for a decade in the M.B.A. program, I shifted to instructing seniors in the Capstone Seminar I developed, ‘Finding and Following Your Calling.’ The joy that came from working with fourth-year students to explore and understand their interests, values, and life goals as they were about to step into the ‘real world’ can’t be overstated.”

“With Brad’s executive consulting skills and the wise heart of a wonderful dad to his three children, he made his Capstone Seminar a teachable moment for BC seniors struggling with what comes next,” said Fr. James M. Weiss, founder of the Capstone Seminar program, and an associate professor in the Theology Department. “He trained them in proven techniques for awareness of both personal identity and of the dramatic, incessant changes of contemporary life. He also offered faculty colleagues invaluable exercises and readings to integrate within their own capstones, leading us to new approaches, and making our whole capstone program more vibrant.”


Harrington also served on the advisory board of the International Centre of Work and Family at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, and as a research fellow at BU’s Human Resource Policy Institute.  In 2013, he received the Work-Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute, and the Rev. John R. Trzaska, S.J. Award for Teaching Excellence that recognizes the BC faculty member who expanded the horizons, skills, and values of students by providing support and guidance outside the classroom.

“It’s difficult to end a 47-year career without regrets, but I feel I’ve come as close as anyone to that ideal,” said Harrington.  “I’ve had the honor of working with great people throughout my career at Hewlett Packard, BC, our corporate roundtable members, hundreds of global academic colleagues, and an incredible group of talented students.

“I’m especially grateful to the teams I’ve worked with at the center for their professionalism, collegiality, and deep commitment to our work,” added Harrington, whose successor is 18-year colleague Jennifer Sabatini Fraone. “Jennifer is a consummate professional, and she’s given her best to the center and our members every single day.  I leave CWF with much gratitude, and in Jennifer’s and the team’s great hands.”

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