October 21, 2002

What Indiana's leaders are saying

“For years Indiana has been known for its outstanding insurance and financial services sector. Lilly Endowment believes that NetWorks can play an important role in shaping the future vibrancy of this sector of Indiana’s economy through its educational and research programs. We want more people in our state to believe that first-rate activities and resources can thrive in Indiana, and the Endowment hopes that this center will play an important role in affirming this belief.”

-- Clay Robbins,
President,
Lilly Endowment, Inc.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have the confidence of the Lilly Endowment and we appreciate their generosity. It’s going to be an important generating force — not only on our campus, but in the community, state, nation and the world. NetWorks will enable us to think about policy, to put new lenses on issues that are critical to the world’s economy, and those ideas will now come from the Crossroads of America”  [audio]  [video] 

-- Lloyd W. Benjamin III,
President,
Indiana State University

“In formulating NetWorks, President Benjamin and his colleagues have covered every base and included the perspectives of students, the academy, the business sector and government. By so doing, they have significantly enhanced the center’s chances for success.”

-- Sara B. Cobb,
Vice President for Education,
Lilly Endowment, Inc.

“NetWorks will allow us to bring the brightest minds together, to bring faculty, students, scholars, practitioners and executives into an educational setting that can be expanded to deal with issues in the financial services industry as they arise.”  [audio]  [video]

-- Ron Green,
Dean,
ISU School of Business

"The business community has gone through tumultuous change over the last year. If you look at the scandals in industry, the questioning of corporate ethics, lack of confidence in our business community, the risk management issues which have arisen due to a variety of terrorist attacks, we truly have gone through dramatic change. I think now more than ever we need something to address that. NetWorks is a program that does indeed do that. It provides scholarly research that can be practically applied. It’s exactly what we need to be in a dynamic environment and face these issues and come up with new ideas and solutions and innovation so we can provide some guidance. I’m excited that Indiana State University has been given that opportunity and I’m confident that NetWorks will be a program that can really make a difference.”  [audio]  [video]

— Mike Alley
Member, ISU Board of Trustees,
President and owner of Patriot Investments,
Retired president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank of Indiana

“In my view, as we look back at the ownership and operational changes of the financial services industry in the last decade or so, there’s a need for new approaches and sharing of information and research. The industry has become even more demanding than it was even a decade ago. I see this incubator opportunity that the Lilly Endowment has made available to ISU as a godsend to that end. I think it will help the students gain a greater knowledge of the totality of the financial services industry and the individual uniqueness of each one of them. It will help them to know the common traits as well as the differences through the sharing of information that can occur through this forum. It’s unique because most of the programs throughout the nation and the world today are regulated to one particular area or interest. The beauty of this, as I see it, is that here we will understand each other’s business and the student can learn a lot more about the holistic picture as opposed to being silo trained.”  [audio]  [video]  [Letter of Support]

— H. Peter Hudson
Retired chairman and chief executive officer,
Monroe Guaranty Insurance Company, Carmel, Ind.,
Honorary life member of the ISU Foundation Board of Directors

“The NetWorks initiative seeks to attract the attention and participation of the best minds in the financial services field, from academia, government and industry, to create a new and integrated source for resource, education and development in the financial resources field. In building this partnership, Indiana will have the opportunity to claim a new role in the financial services industry. The initiative will also create opportunities for students, faculty and the citizens of Indiana to benefit from and educate themselves about the financial services industry.”  [Letter of Support]

— Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator

“First I want to commend the Lilly Endowment for its foresight in recognizing the value of NetWorks and for selecting Indiana State to make it a reality. The original rationale for the Gongaware Center was and is today to develop leaders for the financial services industry, a goal consistent with NetWorks. I can see maximum opportunity for synergy. I look forward to NetWorks providing enhanced professional and educational opportunities for Gongaware Scholars now and in the future. Now more than ever it’s obvious that the business world needs more integrity, higher ethics and certainly more professionalism. Programs like NetWorks and the Gongaware Scholars can go a long way to providing that leadership that I think business needs. This is, without a doubt, a great day for the state of Indiana and Indiana State.  [audio]  [video]  [Letter of Support]

— Donald F. Gongaware
Former chief operations officer, executive vice president of Conseco,
contributor of a $5 million gift to ISU in 1998 for the
Don & Patricia Gongaware Center for Insurance and
Risk Management Development

"The question is which thought leader will have the good sense to assemble the best and the brightest minds from industry, government and academia to attack these challenges and exploit those opportunities on a national and international basis. Indiana State University has the depth, breadth and commitment to do that, and we applaud your stepping front and center to lead the way."  [Letter of Support]

-- Charles T. Richardson
Attorney at Law, Baker & Daniels,
Washington, D.C.

“It is critical that we work closely with the financial services industry to determine what it is we can bring of value to them that they in turn can create of value for their stakeholders. This work, though, must be seen as seminal because what we learn about the financial services industry will have equal application for all business, public and private, and for individuals and families. This is so because financial services, above all else, exists only to serve other businesses and individuals. … The exciting prospect is that the Indiana State University School of Business and [NetWorks] can take a lead role in helping this key industry do its best work for those who depend upon it to guide them in their quest for a financially sound and secure future. I will speak for all of my associates and colleagues when I say, we can’t wait to begin.”  [Letter of Support]

— Steven Pahl, CPCU, ARM
Executive Director,
ISU’s Gongaware Center for Insurance
and Risk Management Development

“This forward-thinking center will leverage our existing strengths in education, research and application in this important area of business. By bringing together scholars and industry representatives, the center will be in a position to focus attention on identification and solution of problems in a variety of related fields.”  [Letter of Support]

— Bruce McLaren
Chairman and professor,
Management Information Systems,
organizational department, ISU School of Business

“It’s interesting to note that credit card debt is rampant in our society these days but credit cards are so easy to get. It’s also interesting to note we’ve got interest rates that are the lowest in, what, 40 or 50 years and we still have foreclosures that are at record levels. It speaks a little bit about what the public really knows about personal finance. There was a survey done just a few years ago of over 1,500 senior high school students, a national study quizzing them on personal finance knowledge. The average score was 57 percent. It was done two years ago [and] the average score was 51 percent. So this initiative will enable us to have a focus on public education and education for the K-12 schools, providing curriculum, symposia to also reach our state legislators, superintendents, school board members, principals, parents. So there’s going to be a lot of education aimed at the public with this initiative.”  [audio]  [video]

— Bill Wilhelm
Assistant Professor,
business education,
ISU School of Business

“What it’s going to do is connect ISU with the financial community, with the business world, and that’s going to help with hiring. They’re going to look and say, ‘Oh, she’s from ISU. We’ve heard of them. We’ve worked with them.’ So I think that will help in that and in the learning process altogether. Just having more access, I think, to different things, different experiences. I always feel that the more you practice, the better you’re going to be at something. So, being able to do hands-on things and being able to talk to people who’ve been doing what I’m doing for a long time will give me a better feel for what I want to do and where I want to go.”  [audio]  [video]

— Aurmaudra Bradley
ISU junior, Indianapolis, Ind.
Accounting major, Insurance minor

“There is great potential for improved and expanded knowledge about and sharing of information among the financial services industry in a post Gramm-Leach-Bliley era. To have a university setting in which to accomplish this [will] be of enormous benefit to the insurance, banking and brokerage communities.”

— Linda L. Lanam
Vice president and deputy
general counsel, state relations,
American Council of Life Insurers

“[NetWorks] is a huge step forward for Indianapolis and the State of Indiana in the financial services industry. The center has the potential to enable Indianapolis to be recognized nationally and internationally for its financial service expertise.”  [Letter of Support]

— Larry S. Boulet
Partner, PriceWaterhouseCoopers,
 Vice Chairman of the ISU Foundation Board of Directors

ISU Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu