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Edward Eskandarian, President of Arnold Communications, received the Armenian Students' Association Zakian Businessperson Award for outstanding accomplishemnts this past year.
A native of rural Pennsylvania, Eskandarian attended Villanova University, graduating with a degree in engineering, and later received his MBA in 1965 form the Harvard Business School.
Eskandarian launched his career with the Compton Advertising firm in New York, with whom he was associated for seven years. In 1971, he joined Boston's Humphrey Browning MacDougall (HBM). Barely 10 years later, he was named president and chief executive officer. He merged HBM with Creamer Advertising in 1984, and continued as CEO until 1988, a period of rapid growth.
Selling the company, he retired, only to resurface in 1989 with the purchase of Arnold & Co., an old-line ad agency in need of new management.
Through shrewd acquisitions, the company grew to become the largest ad agency in Boston and the 21st in the United States. Clients include Liz Clairborne, McDonalds, Nynex, and Volkswagen.
Eskandarian's civic interests include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the American Red Cross of Mass. Bay, the Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Boy Scouts of America/Minuteman Council, and the Boston Public Library Foundation. He is a benefactor and trustee of the University of Richmond and also serves on the President's Advisory Board for Bentley College.
In the Armenian community, he is an advocate for the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA); a pledge member of the First Armenian Church of Belmont; a supporter of "Facing History and Ourselves," the curriculum teaching the holocaust and genocide in schools; and provides his expertise in advertising to all Armenian institutions regardless of persuasion. Little known is the fact that he served as Philadelphia ASA Branch President over 30 years ago.
Eskandarian resides in Wayland, MA with his wife and three children.
In his absence, the award was accepted by his nephew, Michael Eskandarian, at the ASA Annual Convention last June in Providence.
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