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Columbia firm's gift honors founder & supports students
June 13, 2012
When the partners in Columbia-based accounting firm Brittingham, Brown, Prince & Hancock, LLC wanted to honor founding partner J.T. Brittingham Sr., a gift to the Darla Moore School of Business in support of accounting student scholarships and fellowships seemed like a natural choice.
“Some members of our firm are not long out of a university accounting program, and others struggled to find the resources to complete their education” says BBP&H partner Scott Hendrix. “So you might say the firm has a collective heart for helping students finance their college years.”
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BBP&H Partners (l to r): Kerry Brown,
Scott Hendrix, Ken Prince, Truitt Brittingham |
The firm’s generous gift of the J.T. Brittingham Sr. Endowed Fund, which supports graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in careers in local or regional accounting, is also, Hendrix says, a good investment in future talent. “Gifts like this one give small to mid-sized accounting firms like ours a platform to accentuate the opportunities and life balance that we can offer,” he notes. “That’s important because while we may not compete with the mega firms for clients, we do compete with them for talent. And we’d obviously like to keep quality accounting graduates here in the Midlands.”
That desire to invest in top talent made a gift to the Moore School an obvious choice. “Dean Teegen is known for her creativity, innovation, and eagerness to build links to the community,” Hendrix says. “And we perceive Moore School students to be among the best in the nation among public universities. That perception is based not on loose observation but upon real-life experience. We have utilized Moore School students for a number of years and have found them to be quality intellects with solid character and integrity: a watch word for accountants everywhere.”
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| Dean Hildy Teegen and Evelyn Brittingham |
Those words also describe J.T. Brittingham Sr. himself. Raised on a farm in rural Maryland, Mr. Brittingham was one of the first members of his family to graduate from college. He founded Brittingham, Brown, Prince & Hancock in 1957 and was a prominent figure in the Midlands community for many years. “Mr. ‘B,’ as he is affectionately known, was the proverbial self-made man,” says Hendrix. “He is renowned for his gregarious personality, his candor, honesty and integrity. And the processes, technology, staff and infrastructure that he personally built support over 1500 business, trust, governmental and individual clients today.”
The firm’s gift in his honor will help Moore School students follow in Mr. Brittingham’s footsteps, says accounting department chair Brad Tuttle. “Our students are increasingly competing with students from places like the Universities of Georgia and North Carolina for jobs,” Tuttle notes, “and those schools have traditionally had more resources for students. So endowments like this one help us to be competitive when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best students. And that in turn creates a strong pool of talent for the local accounting community.”
What makes this gift particularly meaningful, says Tuttle, is not just the impact it will have on the accounting program but also the spirit in which it was given. “The partners in Brittingham, Brown, Prince & Hancock have really done something remarkable, putting together a gift of this size during a recession,” he says. “For a small firm to raise so much money, it takes a lot of hard work, tenacity, and dedication to the University. They are a model for anyone else who wants to make a difference by helping students, and they and their clients, many of whom also contributed to the fund, have shown that a few people working hard can really make an impact on students’ lives and futures.”
Written by Leslie Haynsworth
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