Bringing The Lessons Of The Business World To Pacific
Most people try to avoid taxes. Jim Fitzgerald ’68 has made a career of them.
“Most people have a low tolerance for complex tax matters, often tuning out of them,” Fitzgerald said. This tendency taught me to use simple everyday business language in any discussion concerning taxes or any complex topic for that matter. This approach has stood the test of time during my career.”
Armed with that approach, a business degree from Pacific University, a law degree from the Loyola University School of Law and a master’s in taxation from the New York University Law School, Fitzgerald used his interest in business and taxes to help some of the world’s largest businesses, such as American Airlines and Dell Technologies, succeed financially.
Since retiring in 2016, Fitzgerald, who splits his time between homes in Georgetown, Texas, and Lahaina, Hawaiʻi, has used his expertise to not only mentor students in his alma mater’s College of Business but also to help Pacific address the financial challenges of a turbulent time for higher education as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees.
For his dedicated service to the university, Fitzgerald is the recipient of the Pacific University Alumni Association’s 2024 David & Sandy Lowe Outstanding Alumni Service Award.
The honor will be presented during Pacific’s Alumni Association Awards Ceremony & Donor Celebration on Thursday, Oct. 10, held in conjunction with the university’s Homecoming & Family Weekend. The Outstanding Alumni Service Award recognizes alumni for significant contributions of time, service and talents to Pacific University through the years.
Fitzgerald became involved with the College of Business in 2017, not long after retiring from American Airlines. He serves on the college’s advisory board and is a frequent guest lecturer in classes on everything from risk analysis to the value of networking. He relishes the opportunity to mentor students, a role that he enjoyed with young professionals at both Dell and American.
“When you have someone who has had a broad business career, it’s a great opportunity to go into a class and talk to students who are getting ready to go out and start their life, to talk about what I think they should take into account when starting their career,” Fitzgerald said. “I found that very interesting and I still do. I think it’s a great way to give back to Pacific.”
Jennifer Yruegas ’96, dean of the College of Business, said that Fitzgerald has been a cornerstone of the college’s recent successes.
“Jim has been instrumental in connecting the college with other business executives, providing both credibility and true passion for the study of business,” she said. “Jim has been a guest in our classes and mentor to our students as well as to being a great support to me during my time as dean. His support has been integral to the rapid growth that the College of Business has experienced the last three years.”
The role allows Fitzgerald to share the lessons learned at the highest levels of international business. After beginning his career with the Fluor/Daniel Corporation, rising to vice president of tax for one of its major subsidiaries, Fitzgerald joined American in 1987 as its chief tax officer.
In 2001, Fitzgerald moved from transportation to technology and spent 10 years as vice president of tax and administration for Dell Technologies. In that role, he traveled the world to help Dell expand and turn profits by streamlining the company’s tax liabilities.
“I spent a lot of time involved in the business, looking at how to optimize the business structure to reduce Dell’s tax burden,” Fitzgerald said. “We wound up improving cash flow significantly measured in hundreds of millions of dollars annually. I find that particularly satisfying.”
Upon retiring from Dell in 2011, Fitzgerald was recruited to return to American to help the company successfully emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ultimately merge with USAirways, leaving American in 2016.
It was at that point that Fitzgerald’s Alpha Zeta fraternity brother, Bob Barrett ’66, asked him to consider joining him on Pacific’s Board of Trustees. He joined the board in 2018 and currently chairs the board’s Audit Committee.
Fitzgerald was attracted to board service by the opportunity to share his business experience with a university that he loves. He has stayed involved because he works with people who care and want success for Pacific.
“We don’t always agree on things and we have different emphases on topics, but everyone on the board cares,” Fitzgerald said. “Everyone on that board wants Pacific to succeed. There is a camaraderie that exists between people who share a vision of where the university needs to go.”
That vision had its roots in the early 1960s, when Fitzgerald was first introduced to Pacific through a Congregational church his family attended in the Bay Area. The campus’ small size was a contrast to growing up in the shadow of the University of California, Berkeley, and it was far enough from home to start developing a sense of independence. His prospective student visit to Pacific was one of the first times that he had left the Golden State.
Pacific was not only where the foundation was set for a career in law and later in taxation, but it also opened his mind to bigger pictures outside of the business world.
“My favorite professor was Claire Argow. She was a sociology professor,” he recalled. “She had a tremendous impact on my life. I was business focused but she was social science focused and she exposed me to a broader range and kind of thinking than I had been exposed to before.
“I think one of the unique things about going to a small university is that it teaches you about handling life in a way that big institutions can’t. Those institutions allow you to grow. Pacific allowed me to grow.”
Now that Fitzgerald has benefited from the ways that Pacific let him grow, he continues to be eager to pay it forward.
“Service to one’s alma mater is important because education is important.”