New Professorship Honors Former Dean

Former Marriott School of Management Dean Ned HillPROVO, Utah – Mar 11, 2011 – When former Marriott School of Management Dean Ned Hill leaves this summer to serve as mission president in Romania and Moldova, his contributions in this hemisphere will not be forgotten. This January a professorship in his name, funded by Brent and Bonnie Jean Beesley, was created to honor and recognize Hill's influence on students in Provo.   

"Whatever the monetary value is, it pales in comparison to the opportunity to recognize Ned Hill," says Gary Cornia, dean of the Marriott School. "This professorship will allow the Marriott School, the university, and Brent and Bonnie Jean Beesley to acknowledge the contributions of Ned Hill, which are many."

Professorships and fellowships are endowments that provide recipients with additional salary and research funds. Professorships are set aside for senior professors who are outstanding scholars, teachers and citizens.

These additional funds allow the Marriott School to offer more competitive salaries and funds, attracting high-quality professors from across the nation. The Ned Cromar Hill Professorship will be available to faculty in the finance department in 2012. Brent and Bonnie Jean Beesley, contributors to this professorship, not only have a long history with Hill, but are experts in the finance industry. Brent Beesley went to Bountiful High with Hill and also serves as the chairman and CEO of Heritage Bank in St. George, Utah.

Brent and Bonnie Jean Beesley funded a professorship to honor and recognize Ned Hill’s influence on students in Provo. Cecil O. Samuelson, president of Brigham Young University, recalled Hill's willingness to help others. With this endowment Hill's name will continue to be associated with providing opportunities for others. 

"There will be many who will not have known Ned Hill personally, but will know his name because of this wonderful professorship and the difference it will make for the students," Samuelson says. 

Hill currently teaches finance in the Marriott School, where he served as dean from July 1998­–July 2008. He has authored three books and more than 70 articles. Prior to teaching at BYU, Hill taught at Indiana University from 1977–1987. He came to BYU as the Joel C. Peterson Professor of Business Administration in 1987. Hill earned a PhD in finance from Cornell, a master's in chemistry from Cornell and a bachelor's in chemistry from the University of Utah. This July, Hill and his wife Claralyn, will begin their service in Eastern Europe where Hill will preside over the Romanian Bucharest Mission.  

In addition to serving as chairman of Heritage Bank, Brent Beesley is also chairman and former CEO of The Entrada Company, the master development of Entrada at Snow Canyon, a private golf community in St. George. Brent holds a bachelor's in economics from BYU, and an MBA and JD from Harvard. In the 1980s, Brent served as director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. He also served as the president and CEO of the Farm Credit Corporation of America in the mid-1980s. Bonnie Jean Matheson Beesley earned her bachelor's from the University of Utah in linguistics. Currently she serves as vice chair of the Utah State Board of Regents.    

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.