The initial meeting was held at Big Al’s, a sandwich shop just down the street from campus.
Four decades later, Bob Prince (B.S.B.A. ’81, MBA ’85) sat in a packed auditorium to share how he and others founded The University of Tulsa’s Friends of Finance organization.
Prince, along with Bruce Currie, Bob Harrison, and faculty members Mark Collins and Roger Bey, started Friends of Finance in 1985 as a way to support the Finance Department and strengthen its ties with alumni and the Tulsa business community. The goal was to build a national reputation for the Finance Department and find people who would go out and make a difference in Tulsa and beyond.
“When you start something – the thing I learned in business school – is you need a mission, right?” Prince, who is co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater Associates, said during his talk on campus Wednesday. “You need a mission statement. Bruce and I met at Big Al’s sub shop at 21st and Harvard to work out a mission statement. We were there for about four or five hours getting this mission statement just right. I’ve always found it personally inspirational.”
Mission statement in hand, the students and faculty were well on their way.
Prince participated in a fireside chat with T.D. Eureste, a vice president at ONEOK and current president of the Friends of Finance. Eureste thanked the 356 attendees for their continued support of the organization, which has raised millions of dollars for UTulsa’s student-managed investment fund, the source of scholarships that have benefitted more than 200 business students.
Prince, who was a Golden Hurricane student-athlete and met his wife, Sharon, while attending UTulsa, said the school’s size is advantageous. “To have a small school with big-time activities and programs and sports is really unique,” he said. “It is small but impactful.”
Prince also spoke about his decades at Bridgewater, where he has worked since 1986. He has been a partner in all aspects of the investment process and products at the Connecticut-based asset management firm.
He told the audience, particularly the students, to think about compounding their capabilities the way they calculate compounding money. “After 40 years, if you compound your capabilities at 10% a year instead of 5%, the difference is six times,” he said. “Also, I don’t think anybody has enough discipline to push themselves hard for 40 years if they don’t love what they do.”
Roberta Preston, former CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma and current vice president of the Friends of Finance, said over the years, the organization has hosted speakers from world-renowned CEOs to professional athletes. Preston (B.S.B.A. ’83, MBA ’88) is an adjunct faculty member in UTulsa’s Collins College of Business and had a long career with Amoco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and IBM before moving into nonprofit management.
“People walk away learning something – and learning something they wouldn’t have learned someplace else,” she said. “We’ve got knowledge about industry, and you can tell that it’s affecting people in their lives and their careers because they’re coming back. We fill this room once a month, so it’s great for the university, but it’s also great for the business community. They wouldn’t return if we weren’t adding value to their members.”
To learn more about Friends of Finance, memberships, and the list of prestigious speakers who will highlight the 40th anniversary, visit utulsa.edu/fof.