Jane Zimmy ’74

After graduating with a math major, Jane Zimmy ’74 enrolled at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. One of only a handful of female students, she had no trouble holding her own.

“I’d attended Mount Holyoke,” she explained. “I was fearless.”

Jane subsequently joined a small marketing research company that she compares to today’s big data startups. As it grew, Jane was named global senior vice president. During frequent business trips, she reached out to alums and students studying abroad. “Instead of eating alone, I developed a community of Mount Holyoke friends around the world.”

As Jane’s thirtieth Reunion approached, she wanted to support Mount Holyoke’s future while also thinking about her own. She created a charitable gift annuity that would provide her income in retirement while contributing to Mount Holyoke.

“The one thing I learned in business school is that you need a diversified investment portfolio. You never put all your eggs in one basket.”

Simultaneously, she was deepening her ties with Mount Holyoke as an active class and development volunteer. In addition to annual gifts to The Mount Holyoke Fund, Jane endowed a fund to increase access to internships. On the occasion of her thirty-fifth Reunion, she established two more charitable gift annuities.

“As with the first annuity, these allowed me to support Mount Holyoke while diversifying my investments. I could count the payments they’d yield as part of my retirement package,” Jane said.

Jane, who retired in 2011, has also named Mount Holyoke as a beneficiary in her will. In honor of her fiftieth Reunion, she plans to document her intended bequest. She is considering creating another charitable gift annuity — this time with a gift from her IRA.

There are two primary reasons why she gives, Jane said: “Because I can and because it makes a difference. Being childless and with close relatives who are financially secure, I have the capacity. I know my contributions effect change and opportunity.

“I value that the College is educating an increasingly diverse community of students to become leaders in whatever field they choose. That is important to me and so is the future. I want MHC to exist long after I do.”