Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2005

Contact: Angie Joe
713.743.8153 (office)
713.617.7138 (pager)
ajoe@uh.edu

Stanford Financial Group Chairman R. Allen Stanford will talk about leadership during the C.T. Bauer College of Business undergraduate spring commencement address May 14.

After achieving his bachelor’s degree in finance from Baylor University in 1974, Stanford pursued his career with his family’s company. Stanford’s grandfather, Lodis, established the first Stanford Company during the Great Depression in 1932 in the small central-Texas town of Mexia.

As chairman of the private Houston-based Stanford Financial Group of companies, Stanford leads a global wealth management and financial services organization with offices spanning across North America, Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean. Stanford companies operate in relation with more than 50,000 clients from 91 countries. Based on the founding mission, all Stanford companies strive to be active supporters of important causes in their respective countries and greater communities.

Stanford is a member of the Houston Board of Public Trusts and supports several Houston-based cultural and sporting organizations, including Theatre Under the Stars; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Houston Polo Club; United States Polo Association and the ATP Professional Men’s Tennis Association. Stanford is also an active member of Caribbean Latin American Action (CLAA), which promotes private-sector-led economic development in the Caribbean Basin and throughout the Hemisphere and is a strong supporter and contributor to the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) and the Inter-American Economic Council (IAEC).

For more than 20 years, Stanford has flourished among the leading investors in the Eastern Caribbean. He recently launched the $1.8 billion Stanford Caribbean Investment Fund, which is allocated for upscale development projects aimed at the tourism sector.

Free parking will be available for graduates and guests in the Robertson Stadium Parking Lot, located at Lot 15D. For more information about the commencement ceremony, call (713) 743-4900.

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