A gift from Betsy and Mitchell Oakley has made possible the renovation of the Alumni House’s large reception room. The University, with a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees, announced its new name: “Oakley Family Reception Room.”
Betsy S. Oakley ’69, who chairs the Board of Trustees and the UNCG Endowment Fund Board, is a member of the Light the Way campaign cabinet. She has served on the UNCG Human Environmental Sciences Foundation Board of Directors, the UNCG Legislative Network, the Centennial Campaign planning board, and as chair of the UNCG Friends of the Libraries. She began her career at Piedmont Natural Gas, and later joined the family business as vice-president and co-owner of Charles Aris Inc., an executive search firm headquartered in Greensboro.
C. Mitchell Oakley Jr., nationally recognized as a leader in his industry, is founder and chair of Charles Aris Inc. He has ties to the University, as well; his great-grandfather Charles Brockmann and Charles’ sister, Laura Brockmann, were the first directors of the Special Department of Instrumental Music at State Normal and Industrial College, the forerunner of UNCG. In the past four decades, their focus of giving to UNCG has included the Betsy Suitt Oakley Travel Fund, the Collage Performance and Chamber Series Scholarship Fund, the School of Music Enrichment Fund, the Spartan Athletics Scholarship Fund, and the Chancellor’s Greatest Needs Fund.
The room will bear the name of a family, Betsy Oakley notes. “Mitchell and I have always tried to give back, and pay it forward. We feel blessed – and we really treasure Greensboro. We want to set examples for our children and grandchildren, and for our friends as well.”
See more stories on major gifts at Light the Way campaign site.