MB/M Founder Don Gorder

Music Business/Management (MB/M) Department Chair Don Gorder initially wanted to become a jazz educator. A trumpet player as well as a lawyer, he took several music business courses as a graduate student and thought, “Wow, I think I am kind of wired for this.”

That’s somewhat of an understatement for the founder and chair of Berklee’s MB/M Department. Gorder arrived at Berklee in 1991 with a charge to develop a music business program. He expected the music college would partner with a business school. But then-president Lee Eliot Berk wanted Berklee to have its own program.

The career successes of Berklee’s music business students are  “far and away the most gratifying thing,” says Gorder, who is also impressed by “the loyalty of our alumni and their willingness to do virtually anything to help.”

The feeling is mutual for program alumni, who describe Gorder as an accessible administrator who makes personal connections with his students, listens to what they have to say, and takes a keen interest in their careers and growth as professionals.

“He was incredibly supportive and involved with all the students,” recalls Joe Kara ’92, a member of the first MB/M graduating class.  Gorder “was creating new courses, he did everything,” says Kara, vice president for marketing at WaterTower Music, a division of New Line Cinema.

Grammy-winning songwriter Makeba Riddick ’99, says she was “so gung-ho to graduate” that she moved to New York for her internship at Columbia Records without turning in her final essay. She got a “where is it?” phone call. Ultimately Gorder allowed her to fax it back to him rather than return to Boston to deliver it in person. “I kind of had to beg a little bit,” Riddick admits.

“He’s a great leader, and always looking to learn,” says Fred Choquette ’12, who plans to pursue an MBA at Stanford University. Choquette recalls visiting the department’s basement offices during his first week at Berklee and Gorder welcoming him and discussing his aspirations. Says Choquette, “The chair of the department! I was really impressed.”