For Concord resident Thomas W. Bean, a real-life Horatio Alger story started at a small community college in Greenfield, Mass. Starting life as an underachieving student with an undiagnosed learning disability, Thomas W. Bean III of Concord, Mass. found a new start at Greenfield Community College, went on to a brilliant academic career, and finally a position as an energy and new technologies leader with Verizon Communications. He will be honored on May 1st as Distinguished Alumni of the Year at the Annual Honors Convivium of Greenfield Community College where, according to Bean, his success story really began.

"I think they let me graduate from high school just to get me out of there," Bean said. "At the very least, if there was a category for least likely to succeed, I would have won it hands down. I think in my second senior year I got 62 detentions." During three years in the Army, including two in Germany, Bean decided that when he got out, somehow he was going to get a college degree. It was Greenfield Community College that, in 1968, took him in. Bean said, "Teachers like Professor Sweeney, Reverend Shaw and Dr. Peck worked with me and were very supportive. They helped me build good study skills and confidence in myself. When we were all struggling in Dr. Peck's class, his words, 'Get tough!'  have stuck with me for life."

In a letter nominating his brother Tom for the GCC award, John Bean of Greenfield said, I believe that GCC was pivotal in turning his life around. They gave him the chance that no other collegiate institution would. And by his second year, GCC had helped him identify that he had a natural aptitude for math. Receiving his GCC diploma was one of the proudest days of his life. While at GCC, Tom Bean met and married a classmate, Ellen Parody, his wife now for 30 years. Their two children and ten members of the family will attend the event at which Bean will be honored.

At Verizon, Bean is the head of Team Energy New Technologies, where he spearheads Verizon's effort to use stationary fuel cells to power telecommunications equipment. A fuel cell, explains Bean, uses hydrogen extracted from a fuel such as natural gas. Through a chemical reaction, it produces electricity, heat (which can be reused to heat and cool buildings), and finally water. "They've been on space shuttle missions for years," notes Bean, "and the astronauts actually drink the water; that's the emission – drinkable water! There's no combustion, so there's no pollution."

Verizon is studying the possible installation of the new fuel cells at telephone switching substations nationwide, where they will provide the back-up power to ensure a dial tone for customers in the event of power outages. "Right now, if we lose commercial power at those substations," explains Bean, "our back-up power is provided by a fuel-burning generator, a source of pollution, and batteries. So we want to move these fuel cells out there. When the power goes down, the batteries briefly provide power, then the fuel cell takes over and provides the reliability that we all count on. Reliability to you means that you can pick up the phone at any time and get 911."

Bean has been overseeing fuel cell projects in upstate New York, Long Island, NY, and a 5-kilowatt fuel cell trial unit at a Verizon facility in Woburn, Massachusetts that has received support from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

Bean's many awards and honors include two Verizon Excellence Awards. And, thanks to Bean and the rest of the energy team, Verizon recently received the DOE/EPA's Energy Star Award for Corporate Commitment from EPA Director and former governor of New Jersey, Christine Todd Whitman, and the EPA's Climate Protection award. Bean is also providing input to the federal government for their study of a hydrogen economy, which would reduce world dependence on foreign oil and clean up the environment.

"Greenfield Community College gave me the confidence to go on," says Bean. "I graduated magna cum laude from UMass, but it was GCC that gave me the strength to do that." After UMass, Bean earned a master's degree in engineering at Northeastern University. "The fact that the professors were so approachable at GCC is what sets them apart."

More information about Greenfield Community College can be found on their website at: http://www.gcc.mass.edu

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