Victor Pais is a firm subscriber to the philosophy that if an opportunity is created for any student, as long as he or she has the ability, that ability will transcend economic means.##M:[more]##
Pais, a West Windsor resident who now owns a pipe fitting company based in Cream Ridge, is proof that this belief is true. Born in India, Pais grew up in a family of nine, and was used to living modestly. His father did not receive an education because he could not afford it, and he relied on life savings to support his family as Pais was growing up. The family survived through strong faith that they would get through each day, but both of his parents heavily emphasized the importance of education to their children, and Pais did just that.
After attending local schools in India, he took an entrance exam when he was in sixth grade to get into the St. Aloysius College, a renowned educational institution in Mangalore, India, serving a community of mixed economic profiles. The school has been operated by the Jesuits for the past 128 years. “For me, getting into that was the so-called game change,” he said. “Once you get in there, they just put their arms around you and take you in.”
From there, Pais was able to continue his education and eventually make it to the United States, where he now operates his own business and lives in West Windsor. But now Pais is volunteering to aid the school with constructing a new campus for the college about 10 miles away in the same Indian town, to help other students like himself.
Pais says that since he graduated 40 years ago, he had not been involved or updated on the happenings of the school until one of the school’s directors came to the United States last year to explain the dire need for expansion there.
“They never had an effective alumni organization, but they were able to manage the growth internally,” Pais says. “But as they filled up the main campus, they would go to target donors, mostly alumni, and they would meet the need. But with the whole new campus, it changes the whole paradigm. It needs a large budget.”
Actually, the estimates are that $20 million — $15 million in capital expenses and $5 million to begin an endowment fund, which the school does not currently have — is needed. Pais says that he felt that after being out of the loop after all these years, and seeing how much the school has grown — it now has about 11,”000 students, large for an Indian school system — he wanted to help by organizing a network of alumni around the world to contribute to the project and to the school’s initiatives for years to come.
He has committed to developing a plan for the school to generate resources on a continuous and long-term basis through a structured global Aloysian Partners International (API) to unite alumni and also attract new partners in the fundraising efforts.
“I’ve been able to start and nurture a business here for the last 25 years, which has grown to be pretty successful,” Pais says. “I thought I could use some of the same approach in setting goals clearly, having a marketing class, and setting up an organization structure at a team level. Instinct told me there is a parallel to how it is done.” He pointed to the alumni networks organized by colleges and universities in America, and says that he will try to incorporate these ideas into his efforts.
At the time Pais attended SAC, the school did not offer a degree in engineering, and Pais went as far as he could go at SAC before leaving to pursue a degree in engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology. He then earned his MBA at the Indian Institute of Management. Shortly after, he moved to Houston in pursuit of the American dream. He and a fellow SAC alumnus started a business with a few other partners called SIGMA Corporation, which produces iron pipe fittings in India and China that are used in American underground drinking water systems. He moved to West Windsor in 1992 because two of his business partners lived in New Jersey, and he wanted to find a location locally. He lives with his family in Windsor Estates. He and his wife have three sons, two of whom are students at High School North.
The SAC campus currently has a small business program, but “right now the need is so much, and they’re finding that they have to grow the capacity and facilities in almost all disciplines,” he said, pointing out that there is a great demand in the Indian economy for IT training and engineering study. “The best thing is to restructure and have the MBA program along with it.”
The school does not only teach students who are needy. There are students whose families can pay the tuition, but there are a number of people who also can not afford it. SAC, Pais says, does not turn away any students who meet the academic criteria. He also says the school has a strong history of discipline, academic caliber, and compassion.
Pais already began his work in trying to network and draw attention to the cause. A promotional event was held at the Institute of Indian Culture in New York City on July 24 to help get alumni and well-wishers involved and spread the word. Now, he says, he will be focusing on setting up the alumni organization.
For more information, contact Victor Pais at 609-758-0800, ext. 555
