Honoring Our Most Loyal Supporters

The American College of Financial Services is committed to delivering the highest quality education to the professionals entrusted with the public’s financial well-being. The yearly President’s Dinner serves to highlight what’s new and exciting at The College while recognizing the significant contributions of some of The College’s most generous supporters who help make it all possible. In addition, The College welcomed former president Larry Barton and took a moment to thank four board members in attendance whose terms will conclude at the end of the year.

Awards Presentation

Each year, the President’s Dinner includes a series of award presentations to recognize the contributions of several alums who have inspired us with their passion and commitment to helping The College achieve its mission.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients:

Huebner Gold Medal:

• Phillip C. Richards, CLU^®, RHU^®
• Margaret I. Bradshaw, CLU^® (posthumously)

In 1975, as The College approached its 50th anniversary, the Board of Trustees decided to honor those whose role in the development of the institution was of special significance. The Huebner Gold Medal, named for The College's founder, Solomon S. Huebner, is awarded to people who, through support and dedication to The College and its programs, have moved the institution forward in its mission.

Phil Richards is the Executive Chairman and Founder of the affiliated companies that comprise North Star Resource Group. North Star represents a fully integrated array of financial services and products for individuals and businesses of all sizes and has over 140,000 clients, with offices in 22 states and client assets under administration exceeding $10 billion. He is a 45-year arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau, is a past chairman of the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota Board of Directors. He served on the Arizona Quality Council Board of Directors and on The American College of Financial Services’ Board of Trustees in Philadelphia for nine years. He was inducted into The College’s Hall of Fame in 2016.

The late Margaret Bradshaw was just the fourth woman in the United States to earn a Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) designation from The American College of Financial Services, just four years after The College was founded. She was the first woman agent ever in Rhode Island. She went on to teach insurance classes at Brown University, to classes frequently comprised entirely of men. When she began in the insurance field, she noticed that few agents had any appreciation for the CLU®, let alone the designation itself. She said, “The American College [was] instrumental in making insurance a profession.”

President's Award: Mary M. Wright, CAP^®

Conferred by The College’s President and CEO, this award recognizes the leadership and generosity of benefactors and volunteers.

Mary Wright attended Yankton College in Yankton, South Dakota, where she met and married Charles R. Wright, known to many at The College and elsewhere as Chuck. Together, they were leading donors to the American College Center for Women in Financial Services and helped to establish the State Farm Women’s Chair. Mary’s years of service through philanthropy led her to complete her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) designation so she could explore more ways of helping others engage in philanthropic work as well. Mary was honored to work with The College in not only funding, but in creating the scope and direction for the work that became the Wright Fellowship in the Center for Women in Financial Services.

Alumni Hall of Fame: Paul E. Vignone, CLU^®, ChFC^®, JD, LLM

The American College of Financial Services Alumni Hall of Fame was established in 2005 to recognize graduates of The College's designation, certification, and degree programs who have made extraordinary contributions in time, treasure, effort, and energy to the institution, their community, and the financial services industry as a whole.

Paul Vignone is an estate and business planning consultant for The Gaber Group. He spent much of his career with Penn Mutual as a managing partner and then an executive consultant. Throughout his distinguished career, he earned many of Penn Mutual’s employee awards – including its most prestigious, the National Chairman’s Award. In addition, the General Agents’ and Managers’ Association has consistently recognized his contributions to the industry, including honoring him with its coveted First-in-Class Award and 13 Master Agency Awards.

Second Century Society: J. Scott Davison, ChFC^®, CLU^®

The Second Century Society recognizes The College's most generous benefactors who have made lifetime gifts achieving $1 million or more in philanthropic impact.

Scott Davison is the Chairman, President, and CEO of OneAmerica. He leads the nationwide network of companies and affiliates, which offer a wide variety of products including retirement, individual life insurance, annuities, asset-based long-term care solutions, and employee benefits. He was appointed president in 2013, CEO in 2014, and chairman of the board in 2017. Scott is a past chairman at Indiana University Health, the American Council of Life Insurers, and The American College of Financial Services. He currently serves on the board of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and Ascend Indiana, and as a co-chair of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming.

NextGen Financial Services Professional Award

The NextGen Financial Services Professional Award honors young professionals under the age of 40 who made a significant impact in the financial services industry and have shown outstanding performance and leadership in their careers, with a desire to give back to the community. This year’s winners were:

• Michael Acosta, CFP®, CSLP, ChFC®
• Kay Blunck, CFP®, ChFC®, CAP®, AEP®, CRPC®
• Akeiva Ellis, MSFP, CPA/PFS, CFP®, ChSNC®
• Hannah Kantsroom, CAP®, MSW
• Padric Scott, AEP®, CFP®, CAP®, ChFC®, CLU®, WMCP®, CCFC

Venue

Located in the heart of Philadelphia’s beautiful museum district, the Barnes Foundation promotes the appreciation of the fine arts and horticulture. And like at The American College of Financial Services, education is at the heart of everything they do.

The Barnes’s core belief that art has a meaningful role to play in the service of improving society relates to The College’s belief that a more highly trained financial services profession, coupled with a more educated population, benefits society in a very real way by elevating the conversations being had around financial literacy and security.

Plus, as they are at The College, diversity and inclusion are integral to the Barnes Foundation’s excellence and success and play a necessary role in all their activities.

The President

President and Chief Executive Officer of The College George Nichols III, CAP® hosted the President’s Dinner and shared remarks throughout the evening. George recently celebrated five years at The College, a milestone that invited reflection on the transformative past half-decade at the institution. In his closing comments, he noted that it is not lost on him that he is the first Black president at The College, and that only in America could he go from being a poor Black boy in Kentucky to sharing his five-year anniversary with so many esteemed guests at the President’s Dinner. It was a fitting end to a wonderful night.