A UT center with a national reputation for its work in corporate governance has been named for its founder, former business dean C. Warren Neel.
The UT Board of Trustees today approved the naming of the C. Warren Neel Corporate Governance Center during its winter meeting at UT Martin. The center is based in the College of Business Administration.
Neel served as dean of the College of Business Administration for twenty-five years. He co-founded the Corporate Governance Center in 2003.
“Warren Neel has been an important partner in the development of this center, and so it is fitting and appropriate that this center bear his name,” said Steve Mangum, dean of the college and Stokely Foundation Leadership Chair. “His leadership has made a significant impact not only on corporate governance but also on the college’s mission of innovative business education.”
Mangum said UT continues to be a leader in corporate governance through the leadership of Director Joe Carcello, the EY & Business Alumni Professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Management.
Several alumni and friends honored Neel with gifts to help the center advance its mission of conducting and disseminating research on aspects of corporate governance.
Neel served as director of the center from 2003 to 2013. He remains a center fellow. He also served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration from 2000 to 2003.
“Warren has invested over 45 years of his life at UT, and his efforts have improved the lives of thousands upon thousands of Tennesseans,” said Carcello, executive director of the center, who replaced Neel as the center’s head in fall 2013. “Naming the Corporate Governance Center after Warren will provide a permanent tribute to the lasting impact that Warren has had on higher education in the state of Tennessee.”
The Corporate Governance Center focuses its research in areas that affect public policy such as boards of directors’ corporate audit committees, compensation committees, and nominating committees and institutional shareholder activism. Its research has been cited in SEC rulings and speeches and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board rulings.
To learn more about the center, visit the website.
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CONTACT:
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)