UNCW students take one bell of a trip
By Judy Royal
Article reprinted with permission, Wilmington Star-News, published Nov. 2, 2007

For an undergraduate business major, there aren’t too many college experiences that could top going to New York to ring the Nasdaq closing bell.

Two University of North Carolina Wilmington students got to do just that Nov. 1, thanks to the generosity of a local banker.
Seniors Mary Patman and John Davenport had a whirlwind 24-hour trip to the Big Apple with Rick Willetts, president and CEO of Wilmington-based Cooperative Bank. In addition to the bell-ringing ceremony, the group toured the trading floor of the brokerage firm Sandler O’Neill + Partners and planned this morning to attend the America’s Community Bankers’ Community Bank Investor Conference, where Willetts, who is second vice chairman of the group, gave a presentation about his company.

“The Nasdaq is just a whole production here,” Patman said just after the closing bell. “You’re standing there clapping and cheering for about 40 seconds. It’s definitely an experience.”

“It’s broadcast all over Times Square,” said Davenport, who added that the experience seemed more like being on a movie set than a trading floor. “We were right at the front with all the other community bank representatives behind us.”

The bell ringings, held in a Manhattan studio, are symbolic ceremonies that represent the open and close of the Nasdaq trading day, which brings together investors and market participants from around the world to trade electronically, according to the Nasdaq Web site.

Cameron School of Business faculty members chose Patman and Davenport out of the Economics and Finance Department’s more than 300 undergraduate students to travel to New York with Willetts, courtesy of the bank.

“These two students stood out to the Economics and Finance Department as being two of our very best,” said Rob Burrus, department chairman. “This is truly an opportunity for these students that doesn’t come around all the time, so we are very, very appreciative of Rick Willetts for thinking about us and being so kind.”

Willetts said he got the idea for the trip after touring UNCW’s new Computer Information Systems Building, which includes a trading room.

“I was just blown away by it,” Willetts said. “It was so realistic. It just suddenly hit me.”

He asked business school Dean Larry Clark to pick two students who would like to fly on the company plane to New York with him for the bell ringing and other activities, including the chance to see a real trading floor.

“He out of the blue said he was doing something that he would really love to share with the students and we were thrilled, obviously just very, very happy for the opportunity for our students to be able to do that,” Clark said. “He’s fulfilling some dreams that these kids didn’t even know to dream of.”

The students said the invitation caught them off guard.

“I was blown away,” Davenport said Tuesday. “I couldn’t believe it. I have no expectations, but I have all the expectations. I’m just very excited to see it firsthand.”

“It’s a wonderful experience, and I still can’t really believe it,” Patman said Wednesday. “It’s awesome. Most people wait a long time to do something like that. It’s really going to be fun.”

Davenport, a senior economics and finance major from Raleigh, grew up watching CNBC and the stock market with his father, who spent years working in the financial industry. He has received a number of academic awards and interned for two summers at Captrust Financial Advisors in Raleigh.

Patman, a finance and marketing major from Pinehurst, studied economics in Germany last summer and is writing a senior thesis about mergers and acquisitions. She is leading the school’s efforts to use a grant it received to put podcasts of lectures and interviews with professors on a server.

Willetts had a chance to meet the students during lunch two weeks before the trip. “They were both intelligent, charming, outgoing,” he said this week. “They’re just magnificent young people.”

After the Nov. 1 festivities, Willetts said the trip had been a big success, indicating there may be some future job possibilities for the students.

“It’s going just great,” he said. “This was quite an experience for all of us. I’m just glad I was able to provide it for them.”
While Willetts downplayed his achievements to keep the focus on the students, those in the business school say his recent appointment to a new banking industry leadership role is highly significant, especially for someone from a small community bank.

Because of the merger of America’s Community Bankers with the American Bankers Association, Willetts will become chairman of the ABA in 2009. The ABA has traditionally appealed to larger banks, said William Sackley, associate dean of the business school.

“The ABA is the premier lobbying and educational arm of the commercial banking industry,” he said. “Mr. Willetts’ future administrative role is quite prestigious and indicative of the stature in which he is held.”

(Photo courtesy Wilmington Star-News)

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