$2.5 Million Gift Endows the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services at The American College

BRYN MAWR, Pa., March 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With a generous $2.5 million gift from Cary M. Maguire, Chairman and President of the Maguire Oil Company and Maguire Resources Company of Dallas, TX, The American College, the nation's leading financial services educator, announced today the endowment of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services.

The mission of The Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services at The American College is to increase awareness of ethical issues and raise the level of ethical behavior in the financial services industry.  The Center will strive to promote ethical behavior through program offerings that go beyond the "rules" of market conduct in an effort to help executives and producers become more sensitive to ethical issues and think more critically about ethical solutions.

"The foundation of the relationship between financial professionals and their clients rests on building and maintaining trust.  Advanced ethics education provides today's practitioner with an important framework for analyzing and resolving ethical conflicts.  Financial professionals must be equipped to make well-informed decisions and take appropriate responsible actions," stated Larry Barton, Ph.D., CAP®, President and CEO of The American College.

Barton continued: "The Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services at The American College is working to give practitioners the tools they need to make the right choices. The generous gift we received from Cary will help us to elevate the quality of service and advice Americans receive from their financial advisors." 

Cary M. Maguire and his wife Ann, whose generosity is making the Center possible, have a long history of philanthropy.  Their gifts have helped to raise the level of ethical behavior in business and the professions.  In addition to the Center at The American College, the couple also funded the Maguire Center in Ethics and American History at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Cary Maguire stated, "I believe that a strong ethical financial services industry is vital to the economic health of our nation and our world.  We saw in the financial debacle of 2008 and 2009 how major banks and financial institutions were brought to bankruptcy largely due to unethical behavior.  As a leader in creating and maintaining a strong ethical climate in the financial services industry, The American College is the ideal partner to help promote professional integrity. We are very pleased to support their mission."

Julie Anne Ragatz will serve as the Director of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services.  She is also the interim holder of the Charles Lamont Post Chair of Ethics and the Professions and an Assistant Professor of Ethics at The American College.

Ragatz joined the Center for Ethics in Financial Services at The American College in 2006 as a doctoral fellow.  In 2008, she received a Masters of Arts degree in Social and Political Philosophy from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.  Ragatz is currently finishing her Ph.D. in Philosophy at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where she specializes in ethical theory and focuses specifically on ethical issues in the financial services industry.

Maguire, who was born in Bryn Mawr Hospital less than a mile from The American College's campus, also supports the Cary M. Maguire Fellowship in Applied Ethics at the institution.  This fellowship at The American College is currently held by Anthony H. Catanach Jr., Ph.D., CPA, an Associate Professor at the Villanova School of Business.  The Maguire Fellowship is an academic research position dedicated to examining instances of disclosure in financial markets and how "meaningful disclosure" can be promoted and encouraged.

The American College is the nation's largest non-profit educational institution devoted to financial services.  Holding the highest level of academic accreditation, The College has served as a valued business partner to banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies and others for over 85 years.  The American College's faculty represents some of the financial services industry's foremost thought leaders.  For more information, visit TheAmericanCollege.edu.

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Julie Ragatz

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SOURCE The American College