March 5, 2002

Half million dollars establishes UNT Financial Services Center

DENTON (UNT), Texas — The University of North Texas has been awarded $525,000 in gift commitments from Robert A. Nickell, State Farm Companies Foundation, Angell Financial Group and William Rigg Co. to establish a Financial Services Center within the College of Business Administration's Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law.

The concept of the UNT Financial Services Center was born out of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which deregulated the financial services industry in 2000. Single financial institutions now can provide one-stop shopping, creating a need for an integrated approach to the education of financial service providers to manage full-range institutions.

"The financial services disciplines will encounter many new and complicated challenges in regulation, marketing, service and management," says Brenda Wells, UNT associate professor of finance, insurance, real estate and law and director of the new center. "The founding contributors stand behind the mission of our center, which is to assist both current and future financial professionals in meeting these challenges."

Nickell, UNT regent and an independent investor with a history of entrepreneurial success in wholesale distribution, contributed $275,000 to help establish the center. Since earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in finance from UNT, he has been a volunteer and supporter of the university and the College of Business Administration. "What I learned during my time at the University of North Texas was probably the single biggest reason for my financial and business success," he says about his reason for giving back.

The State Farm Companies Foundation Board of Directors approved a $145,000 grant to help establish the center. The foundation is a separate legal entity from State Farm Insurance, the largest U.S. insurer of cars and homes, which recently entered the financial services field. "The foundation is committed to higher education," says Lori Manning, assistant secretary to the foundation board. "We are pleased to support the UNT Financial Services Center."

Angell Financial Group, a part of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, pledged $100,000 toward the initiative. Northwestern Mutual ranks at the top of Fortune's list of the nation's and the world's most admired life insurance companies and at the top of Sales & Marketing Management Magazine's list of the nation's best sales forces. "Our loyalty to UNT is based on the fact that we have leading associates who are from the university, and we continue to actively recruit from UNT," says R. Allen Angell, general agent and former UNT adjunct faculty member in life insurance. "The Financial Services Center is a very appropriate addition to the college in view of the dramatic growth and consolidation in the financial industry."

William Rigg Co., one of the oldest multiple-line independent insurance agencies in Texas, contributed $5,000 to the new center. "William Rigg Co. believes in investing in America, particularly the Dallas-Fort Worth area — the source of most of our history," says Cecil Y. Ray, Jr., chief executive officer and chairman of The Rigg Group Inc. "We would like to help perpetuate our 107 years of history and success in insurance and financial services. North Texas is a good investment. It is one of the building blocks of our state."

Establishing the UNT Financial Services Center helped the university achieve one of its capital campaign funding priorities. Long term, the university seeks to secure a permanent endowment of $3 million to ensure ongoing support for the center's mission.For more information contact Wells at (940) 565-4285 or BrendaWells@unt.edu.