{"id":6132,"date":"2016-10-11T16:10:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T20:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/10\/14\/the-recruits\/"},"modified":"2024-07-23T14:10:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T18:10:00","slug":"the-recruits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/the-recruits\/","title":{"rendered":"The Recruits"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Dave Ellison \u201972 and Steve Grant \u201980 began building a Northwestern Mutual office nearly four decades ago in Greenville, the first and most important task was finding employees with the drive and confidence to start from the ground up. Luckily, they knew just where to look\u2014right up the road at their alma mater.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt that college athletes were good prospects for this because they\u2019ve needed to have coaching,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cIf they got to become an NCAA athlete, they were achievers. They\u2019ve had to work hard at something, and this business requires hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellison and Grant would know. A standout tennis player under legendary coach Paul Scarpa, Ellison was elected to the Furman Athletic\u00a0Hall of Fame in 1992, while Grant was a two-time baseball team captain playing for Tom Wall. Over the years, Ellison\u2019s recruiting efforts have produced a steady supply of Paladins at what now ranks as the fifth-largest Northwestern Mutual branch in the country.<\/p>\n

\"Dave

Dave Ellison \u201972<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI was volunteering at Furman and knew the coaches and was very proactive in trying to recruit Furman athletes to come into this office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

They have helped the company grow from a small life-insurance business into a full-service financial services operation, and as recently as a few months ago there were eight Furman graduates\u00a0roaming the Northwestern halls. But what Ellison is most proud of, as he eases back on handling the day-to-day operation, is not the money made, but of the lives changed by fellow alums who have become significant contributors to the Greenville philanthropic community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I encourage the young people to do is to get engaged in the community, but don\u2019t do it to be prospecting for your business,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cDo it because it\u2019s something that you\u2019re interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Practicing what he preaches, Ellison has been on the American Heart Association\u2019s Upstate Heart Ball Committee for the past two years in honor of his father, who died of a heart attack. Also a member of the Furman Board of Trustees, Ellison is a past trustee of the United Way of Greenville County, board member and chair of the United Way Palmetto Society, and commissioner of the Greenville Housing Authority\u2014among many other things.<\/p>\n

\"Don

Don Clardy \u201991<\/p><\/div>\n

Don Clardy \u201991, Mark Clary \u201994, and Jay Hatten \u201901 also carry the Furman banner at Northwestern, and all invest a great deal of time into activities nearer their hearts than their bank accounts. Clary is a past board member of the United Way of Greenville County, the Community Foundation of Greenville, and the South Carolina State Museum Foundation, as well as a current board member of Presbyterian Retirement Communities of South Carolina. Hatten, like Ellison and Clary was once a member of the Furman tennis team, volunteers at Miracle Hill Ministries and Mitchell Road Orphan Care Ministry and is a deacon at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church\u2014when he\u2019s not busy raising his six children with Betsy (Wilburn) Hatten \u201901.<\/p>\n

Clardy, who was a wide receiver on Furman\u2019s 1988 national championship football team and still holds the school record for single-game punt return yardage, was an attorney before coming to Northwestern, and he specializes in estate planning. He also has a special-needs child, and the experience compelled him to become involved in organizations that helped his own family.<\/p>\n

Clardy is a board member for the Advanced Institute for Development and Learning and a member of the GHS Children\u2019s Hospital Development Council, as well as a past endowment committee member for the Meyer Center for Children with Special Needs. But Clardy\u2019s biggest passion is offering his considerable expertise pro bono.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften\u00a0when someone has a child with special needs, they\u2019re on government benefits. So there are asset and income limitations, and it becomes very relevant once the children reach the age of 18,\u201d he said. \u201cIt purely is done out of giving back and helping people. Now I certainly do get some good clients out of it also, but I do a lot of work for no money as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

As does Grant, whose list of volunteer activities is far too long to highlight here. Tragically, much of the impetus came from the deaths of both of his sons to drug overdoses as young men, which fueled Grant to create Chris and Kelly\u2019s HOPE Foundation dedicated to financially assisting organizations and programs whose purpose is to help adolescents and young adults who are struggling with substance abuse, addiction, and depression.<\/p>\n

\"Steve

Steve Grant \u201980<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a great job raising money, almost without asking for it. It sort of just comes, and it always seems to come at the right time and for the right group,\u201d Grant said. \u201cEveryone in the office is very supportive about what I\u2019m doing, and I know everyone in the office has their own special place. New people come to me all the time and say, \u2018Steve, I want to be involved in the community. Where should I go? What should I do?\u2019 And I always say, ‘what\u2019s your passion?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelley Stovall has taken over the reins as Northwestern\u2019s chief recruitment officer, and though she is a College of Charleston graduate she\u2019s used to being surrounded by purple. Stovall\u2019s two sisters went to Furman, and her father, Pat McKinney, served on the university\u2019s board of trustees.<\/p>\n

But Stovall says Furman graduates would be a top target with or without family ties.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Furman grads) have had some pretty successful careers,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m responsible for sourcing and selecting candidates, and\u00a0I\u2019m definitely looking for polish. Typically our clients are the middle to upper class, so being able to speak with them with professionalism is really important. Any time I step on Furman\u2019s campus I feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Barker, Furman\u2019s director of career services for 17 years, says that, after years of students bolting Greenville upon graduation, the city has become the top choice for alumni to settle down. Northwestern was ahead of the curve, with Ellison making himself an annual fixture at university career fairs and networking receptions years ago when downtown was little more than boarded windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like Dave Ellison have created an atmosphere and an environment here in Greenville (for Furman graduates),\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate to\u00a0have those types of individuals in the corporate world who will come back and say \u2018this is something important; Furman grads tend to be some of the better individuals that we recruit.\u2019 It makes\u00a0selling Furman to these organizations easier because they know the caliber of candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about\u00a0Furman’s Malone Career Center<\/a>, or\u00a0for more information about the client services that Northwestern Mutual<\/a> provides, contact Stovall at kelley.m.stovall@nm.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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