Jerome (Jerry) Holleran (BS-CIT ’57, MSIA ’69) (T, E)

Jerry Holleran enjoyed a successful, varied career, culminating as chairman of the board of Precision Metal Products, which he co-founded in 1997. He has also been an active and dedicated supporter of Carnegie Mellon University. Holleran began his service on the CMU Board of Trustees in 1994 and is now a trustee emeritus.

For his exceptional service, he was honored with the CMU Alumni Association’s 1995 Alumni Service Award and the 2000 Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

The youngest of seven, the Pittsburgh native had his heart set on attending Carnegie Tech, which was beyond his family’s means. Fortunately, Holleran was sponsored by a local benefactor on the condition that he promise to “someday, return the favor.” It’s a promise he described as “transforming.” 

Holleran earned his bachelor’s in electrical engineering, worked at RCA and Westinghouse, and after winning a competitive two-year fellowship, returned for his master’s at the Tepper School of Business. Following graduation, he enjoyed a varied career path from management consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton, to business planning at Rockwell, to co-founding Arrow International in 1975, which would lead to Precision Metal Products.

In addition to direct support of CMU students through scholarships and fellowships – such as the entrepreneurship-directed T. Jerome Holleran Scholarship Fund – Holleran has sponsored two challenges, in 2004 and 2011.

Through matching gifts, these challenges spurred 100 others to establish their own scholarship funds, creating the Holleran Scholars program. Fittingly, a keystone of the program is to instill the very same lesson to ‘return the favor.'