William G. Allen (BA ’71) has committed $2 million to the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Allen’s gift will allow for enhancement of the school’s undergraduate and graduate sales program.
Allen’s goal for the sales program is to bring sales practitioners into the classroom to expose students to the practical aspects of the industry and to career opportunities in sales. His gift will support the hiring of a professor in the program and an administrator to develop and manage guest speaker and sales training programs.
“I believe that students will benefit from having very successful, real-world sales practitioners come into the classroom and give first-hand testimony as to what they are doing, how they are doing it, what is working and what is not working,” said Allen, founder and president of Waterfront Development Services Inc., a Charlotte-based real estate developer of waterfront and resort property. “I think it will be interesting, motivational and meaningful and will augment the theories and concepts taught in the classroom.”
Kenan-Flagler currently provides sales courses under the guidance of marketing area chair J.B. Steenkamp and Alston Gardner, member of the UNC Board of Trustees who led efforts to build the FedEx Global Education Center on campus and a partner in Fulcrum Ventures, an Atlanta-based private equity firm focused on providing capital to emerging growth companies. Gardner also teaches one of the two courses on sales at Kenan-Flagler, which will be the foundation of the new sales curriculum.
“Understanding the sales function and developing sales skills are critical for success in almost every business venture,” Gardner said. “With this gift, we will be able to expand our capability to meet high student demand and take a leadership role among the top-tier business schools.”
At the formal gift ceremony last week during a Carolina Board of Trustees meeting, Allen presented a check to UNC system President Erskine Bowles, Carolina Chancellor James Moeser and Kenan-Flagler Dean Steve Jones. The gift counts toward the Carolina First Campaign, a comprehensive, multiyear, private fund-raising campaign that has raised more than $2 billion to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university.
“Gary Allen’s gift will have a positive impact, making it truly possible for all students to benefit from an enhanced sales program,” Bowles said.
Allen is a 34-year veteran of the real estate development industry and has participated in the development of more than 100 residential communities in the southeastern United States. Allen started Waterfront Properties in 1994. The company has since experienced an average annual growth of 36 percent, becoming one of the largest and most successful waterfront community development firms in the country. Allen attributes much of his company’s success to sales.
“In many ways it is the power of our dynamic sales approach and sales team that has made our company so successful,” Allen said.
Kenan-Flagler contact: Allison Reid, (919) 962-8951 or allison_reid@unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415 or susan_houston@unc.edu