Nothing characterizes an exceptional learning institution more than dedicated financial support from successful alumni.

One establishment that enjoys such recognition operates amid the Appalachian foothills. Located a few miles from Greater Atlanta in the small city of Carrollton, the University of West Georgia has earned the patronage of former business student and current Management Consultant David Johnson. He graduated in 1996 from the Richards College of Business with a BBA and MIS before pursuing a Master’s degree at Georgia State. His years at UWG prepared him thoroughly for his far-reaching career in administration, risk management, consultation, marketing, and information technology.

In 2009, Johnson founded the renowned Cane Bay Partners, a company that operates out of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The David Johnson Cane Bay partnership operates concurrently as the international enterprise Strategic Link Consulting, for which Johnson is an associate. The highly demanded financial advisor still attributes much of his success to the education he acquired at UWG. 

Among David Johnson’s many contributions to his alma mater are endowments for scholarships and cutting-edge business programs. In 2011, he set up two funds that are greatly enhancing the university’s effectiveness. The Johnson Presidential Scholarship Fund supplies the Honors College with the means to provide a monetary award to one outstanding student each year. This project satisfies the sponsor’s desire to help aspiring undergraduates realize their goals by offering financial assistance.

Since Johnson’s own educational opportunities were afforded through the benefaction of others, he firmly believes that his donations are both practical and necessary. His Applied Econometrics and Analytics Fund enables the UWG Economics Department to train students in the area of programming with SAS Statistical Software. As a result of this innovative curriculum and hands-on experience, technologically skilled graduates of the Richards College of Business are well-equipped for internships and specialized positions.

SAS Certification is available at the undergraduate level through only a handful of universities. Nearly all the top performing companies, however, utilize the software for applications ranging from data entry to time series analysis. Since the sophisticated system is an integral part of the modern world of finance, Consultant David Johnson recently gave another significant grant to the Applied Econometrics and Analytics Fund. This contribution will guarantee the funding for a long-term professor over the SAS program and continue the achievement of tomorrow’s most promising entrepreneurs. His bequest is a legacy gift–a generous endowment that will etch the donor’s image into the minds of pupils and faculty members for years to come. Such gifts can also be administered in the form of property, insurance policies, trusts, and other types of assets.

Although Johnson personally attended several universities, he is partial to UWG because of the impact of his experience there as a young man. He was honored as Freshman Student of the Year and accepted into Kappa Sigma a short time after his arrival. He went on to participate in the Student Government and homecoming festivities. The memory of his early days in college motivates this dedicated alumnus to back his favorite place of matriculation and to promote the advancement of their College of Business. Administrators at UWG strive to oversee the best university in the U.S. In honor of his generosity, David Johnson is recognized by the McIntosh Circle, an exclusive group that actively preserves the notoriety of “legacy givers”.