Frank Sklarsky named RIT’s 2024 Outstanding Alumnus

Frank Sklarsky ’78 (business administration accounting), a successful businessman who with his wife, Ruth, has shared their philanthropy with RIT and others, is RIT’s 2024 Outstanding Alumnus.

Established by the Office of the President in 1952, this is the highest honor the university can bestow upon a graduate. It is in recognition of professional accomplishments as well as service and generosity to the university. The award was presented at convocation on May 10.

Sklarsky began his professional career as a certified public accountant for Ernst & Young, before earning his MBA from Harvard Business School.

He worked for Chrysler for 20 years and eventually became vice president for finance for DaimlerChrysler. Following that, he spent two years as chief financial officer for ConAgra Foods in Omaha, Neb., and then returned to Rochester as Eastman Kodak’s CFO. He was also CFO for Tyco International and completed his career as executive vice president and CFO of PPG Industries, retiring in 2017.

That year, the Sklarskys funded an endowed scholarship that provides tuition support for undergraduate students in STEM disciplines.

In 2018, the Sklarskys made an endowed gift to RIT’s Saunders College of Business to support costs associated with the Sklarsky Center for Business Analytics. The 800-square-foot space supports collaborative and project-based learning.

And in 2021, they gave $2.5 million for the Sklarsky Glass Box Theater, one of the main features of the new Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED).

They also became founding members of RIT’s Sentinel Society, a community of leadership donors who make meaningful annual investments that support the university’s most pressing and immediate needs across campus.

Sklarsky served on the RIT President’s Roundtable and has been an RIT trustee since 2009, most recently serving on the enrollment management and marketing committee, as well as serving as chairman of the investment committee.

He calls RIT “a really outstanding and distinctive institution with a low level of ego. That’s what separates us from some other really great universities. Everybody at RIT checks their egos at the door, from the top down. It creates a really collaborative atmosphere. There’s a lot of camaraderie and it feels really good.”

Sklarsky still has fond memories of his time spent as a student on campus.

He recalls his time spent as a member of the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity and can recall many of his professors.

“The one thing I’m really proud of which took a lot of work was to be named one of the RIT Outstanding Scholars when I was a senior,” he said. “You had to be in the top 1 percent and I had a 3.96 GPA for my four years. To be named an Outstanding RIT Scholar, that meant more to me than just about anything because it involved so much work to achieve that.”

Sklarsky said his success has been the result of support from his wife and family, as well as coaching from his parents, teachers, mentors, and colleagues.

“We feel fortunate to have found a way to give back,” he said. “We have a group of students and a university that will help build a better place for future generations.”