“As the longtime leader of an organization that has hired scores of Hampden-Sydney graduates, Frank understands well the value of the educational experience we offer, and we are grateful for his and Mary’s interest in further strengthening the College’s curricular and cocurricular offerings that prepare our students so well to be competitive for the best career and graduate school opportunities,” said President Larry Stimpert. “By devoting this generous gift toward the creation of a new professorship, Frank and Mary are investing in the most essential aspect of our transformative educational experience—the faculty members who teach and mentor our students.”
This gift commitment is unique and special in that the funds will be invested in the Tiger Fund, the College’s student-managed investment fund. This will give Hampden-Sydney the distinction of offering its students one of the largest student-managed investment funds in the country, and income generated through the student management of these funds will be used to offset the salary of the professor holding the professorship.
A former College trustee who now serves as a member of the James Madison Society, Roach retired in 2017 as the chief executive officer of Ferguson Enterprises, the largest distributor of plumbing and waterworks supplies in the United States, as well as a leading distributor of industrial, HVAC, and MRO products. He is currently a Senior Advisor for Redwood Capital Investments and serves as chairman of ThompsonGas.