Johnson and Wales University - Miami

Once secure in its new university status in Providence, Johnson & Wales was ready to establish its first full campus beyond its home in Rhode Island. In April 1992 JWU leaders purchased the newly vacated North Miami General Hospital to house students and classrooms and within weeks bought an adjacent office building and parking garage.

Donald McGregor, JD, left his post as vice president of administration and planning in Providence to lead the enterprise with a team that included Robert Nograd CMC, '89 MS, ’99 Hon., Loreen Chant '89 and Barry Vogel '83, '89 MS. In November, a culinary program opened with 81 students. By the following September, close to 400 students — 200 in residence — opened the campus.

From a venture in culinary education built on a warm breeze and a visionary gamble, JWU’s North Miami Campus is now a center of higher education and community involvement celebrating 20 years of strategic growth.