Alumni Spotlight: Jack T. Scully ’69

The Alumni Spotlight Series is a new feature to highlight Saint Michael’s alumni far and wide. Answers have been lightly edited for style and clarity.   

Jack T. Scully ’69 majored in Business Administration and is now the CEO of Micro Apps Group Inventions LLC, in Burlington, VT. 

What was your favorite class or academic experience while at St. Mike’s? 

The Humanities program (three years of being close to the greatest thinkers, artists, and authors of Western Civilization.)

What extracurriculars were you involved in at Saint Michael’s? 

Crown and Sword Society and a Big Brother Program. I initiated one particular program to spend quality time with the Burlington-area children of soldiers and airmen who were serving in Vietnam or being held as Prisoner of War (POWs) or listed as Missing in Action (MIAs). One of the families we helped from 1968 to 1969 was that of Colonel Don Cook (Saint Michael’s College ’56 and a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor winner). 

Don had four children when he became a POW in 1964. To me, Don exemplified the true spirit of St. Michael’s College. 

Don’s statue is near Saint Michael’s College Merrill Cemetery, off Route 15. 

How has your career progressed since graduation?  How have you used or currently use what you learned at St. Mike’s in your profession?  

Jack T. Scully ’69

I spent three years in the ROTC program at Saint Michael’s. That led to a four-year hitch in the United States Air Force as an officer assigned to a combat support group at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and at a recruitment center in New York City. The Air Force experience enabled me to find employment at a local aerospace company, Polhemus, which was developing helmet-mounted sights for tactical aircraft.  

After several years at Polhemus, a software engineer and I co-founded Ascension Technology Corp in Colchester, VT. We grew Ascension from a two-man high-tech start-up into a successful developer, manufacturer, and marketeer of magnetic and optical sensors for use in aerial targeting, computer animation, virtual reality, and medical procedures.  

By 2012, we employed 40 people, sold products globally, and held over a dozen patents. At that time, we sold the company to a Fortune 500 Company, Roper Technologies of Sarasota, Florida. I am pleased to note that Roper has kept the company, now known as Northern Digital, in Shelburne, VT. I strongly believe that our success at Ascension was directly related to St. Mike’s: (1.) The Air Force experience, and (2.) The inbred gifts bestowed on us of sharing, respect, morals, and sacrifice.   

What is your favorite memory of your time at St. Mike’s?   

Basketball games at Memorial Auditorium in Burlington. Those were years of great teams (in 1964-65, St. Mike’s finished #4 in the country among Division II teams). It was also a time of immense support, wild antics, and Purple Power pride. Throughout our four years, the auditorium would be packed for our home games with local alumni and most of the student body. Our classmates still reminisce about those wonderful experiences.