THANKS GO TO ...
GRATITUDE COMES FULL CIRCLE AS C.T.
FITZPATRICK OFFERS HIS APPRECIATION TO
THREE PEOPLE IN PARTICULAR: DR. BARRY
MASON, FORMER DEAN OF THE CULVERHOUSE COLLEGE OF COMMERCE, WITH
WHOM FITZPATRICK BEGAN DREAMS AND
DISCUSSIONS AROUND 2007; DR. SHANE
UNDERWOOD, THE FITZPATRICK ENDOWED
PROFESSOR WHO, ACCORDING TO FITZPATRICK, IS “DEFINITELY THE RIGHT GUY FOR
THE JOB”; AND SANFORD “SANDY” LEEDS,
MCCOMBS BUSINESS SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS, FOR HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE UA
PROGRAM FROM THE EARLY DAYS. HE ALSO
HAD HIGH PRAISE FOR PROFESSOR MATT
HOLT AND DEAN MICHAEL HARDIN FOR THEIR
UNWAVERING SUPPORT AND ENTHUSIASM
FOR THE VALUE-INVESTING PROGRAM.
Value Partners to several along
the way. “They’re more impressive
than kids we've hired from other
schools, including the Ivy League.
Students from The University of
Alabama have more practical skills,
have better aptitude and are hard
working with great attitudes.”
Fitzpatrick well remembers his
own student days in Tuscaloosa.
“There was not a value investing
program per se, but I gravitated
toward professors who had a
bias toward value investing and
it worked out very, very well for
me,” he says. “That’s why I wanted
to formalize that bias so it could
become an official part of education
for those students who have the
same aptitude for value investing
that I had.
“The University has produced
some fantastic individuals who can
move the needle around the world,”
he continues. “We hope to create
an army of value investors who
will go out and have an impact in
the world and ultimately give back
to the University, to the state and
the region. There's tremendous
leverage in our gift.”
That gift is most strategic in its
goals.
“We have only so much time and
so much money, so we wanted to
focus those resources in a place
we think we can get a lot of bang
for the buck,” Fitzpatrick says. "We
could have done this other places
— I completed my graduate work at
Vanderbilt, for example — but The
University of Alabama served me
well. I’m grateful for the skills I was
able to develop when I was there
that enabled me to be successful.
We thought it would be a really
good home for this program.”
It is hard to be patient while the
wheels of academia turn at their o wn
pace, sometimes more slowly than
a results-oriented businessman
would like. But Fitzpatrick, knowing
the value of the ultimate outcome,
remains optimistic.
He paused for a moment,
thinking again of Columbia, the
school where the theory of value
investing was formalized long ago.
“It’s the only school with a
comprehensive value-investing
program that I’m aware of,” he
says. “We want Alabama to have
one too. We would be one of only
two schools in the nation if we do
this properly.
“Our goal is to motivate other
people to be active and to give as
well," he says, the passion evident.
"People who love the University,
who had a good experience as I did,
can get on this bandwagon with us."
Remember the earlier comment
about Alabama being the “Columbia
of the South"? Fitzpatrick adds a
spin, suggesting instead, “Help us
turn Columbia into the Alabama of
the North.”
