New members join the UWSP Foundation Board

Two CEOs, an attorney and a retired savings and loan president were named to the board of the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Foundation and a significant increase in unrestricted giving was reported at the board's spring meeting.

Michael Copps, John Noel and Gerald O'Brien of Stevens Point and Gavin Hegg of Fair Oaks, Calif., were elected to serve three-year terms. They join a group of 17 current directors who oversee the activities of the UWSP Foundation.

Also, board President Judi Carlson reported a 46 percent increase in undesignated gifts to the foundation. The result of a successful annual fund drive, the proceeds rose from $164,000 in 1999 to $240,000 this year. In addition to supporting foundation initiatives, unrestricted monies are used in a variety of ways to enhance teaching and learning at UWSP. At the meeting, the board voted to give UWSP $100,000 to help fund campus needs this year, an increase of $21,000 over last year.

In welcoming the new board members, Chancellor Tom George called them "outstanding people who will make significant contributions to an already strong board."

Copps, who holds a law degree from UW-Madison, heads a Forbes 500 private company founded in Stevens Point in 1892. There are 22 Copps Food Centers throughout Wisconsin with a total of 5,000 employees. The company also is a major food wholesaler. Michael Copps serves as a director of the Independent Grocers Alliance and as a board member of Bank One.

Noel founded his company 18 years ago and today 300 people work for the travel-related business in Stevens Point, Florida, New York, England, Russia and British West Indies. A UWSP Distinguished Alumnus, Noel established the Noel Compass Scholars Program which encourages and rewards academic achievement, leadership and citizenship for minority students. He also founded the Make a Mark Foundation, a nonprofit humanitarian project which helps to build clinics, orphanages and schools in developing countries. Noel and his wife, Patty, also a UWSP alumnus, provided support for the televising of "Diversity in Wisconsin," an anthropology course taught last year at UWSP.

Under the leadership of Hegg, retired CEO and president, Sacramento Savings became one of California's strongest financial institutions with 900 employees and $36 billion in assets. Hegg is chairman of the board of Alleghany Properties, Inc., director and past chairman of RCA Information Services, director of Sacramento Medical Foundation Blood Center and director of the University of California-Davis Cancer Center. Also a member of the Citizens Oversite Committee of the California Highway Patrol, he was named Sacramento Humanitarian of the Year in 1994.

-30-