Alumni of the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business who went on to great success in the investment industry are now investing their own money in future business graduates.

The group is contributing a total of $2.5 million to help launch the UO's new Securities Analysis Center, which will educate students for careers in the investment industry.

"This new center will be one of only a handful of such programs in the country and will provide a unique focus," said UO President Dave Frohnmayer in a Portland announcement of the donations that will launch the new Oregon MBA specialization in Fall 2008. "The program's graduates will also help fuel the growing investment industry in Oregon."

The initial donors to the program are Ron Sauer, a 1980 UO graduate in finance, and president of Mazama Capital Management in Portland; James Rippey, a 1953 UO graduate in business administration, and founder and retired president of Columbia Management Group in Portland; Eli Morgan, who attended the UO College of Business until 1958 and is chairman and CEO of 2030 Investors LLC in Portland; Chuck Lillis of Castle Rock, Colo, who earned his doctorate from the UO in 1972, and is co-founder and principal of LoneTree Partners, a private equity investing group, and a managing partner of Castle Pines Capital; and Eric Sorensen, who earned his doctorate from the UO in 1977, and is CEO of PanAgora Asset Management in Boston.

"These donors are making a smart investment in the growth of Oregon's economy and in the futures of hundreds of young people," Frohnmayer said.

"There are three things that will make our program unique," said Lundquist College of Business Dean James Bean. "One, a balance between finance and accounting courses; two, students will learn about a wide variety of investment vehicles, not just stocks and bonds; and three, our program will take advantage of the UO's close ties to Pacific Rim countries by highlighting the investment landscape in Asian countries."

Bean said the only other program in the country that resembles the UO's is the MBA program in applied security analysis at the University of Wisconsin.

Sauer, whose Mazama Capital Management in Portland is the country's largest institutional money manager in small-capitalization growth equities, says the new center will help UO business graduates get top jobs around the country and will provide better trained employees for Oregon companies. "If these students stay in the Northwest, they're more likely to start other money management firms, and this will be good for the Oregon economy," Sauer said.

Rippey, the co-founder and former president of Columbia Management Company and Columbia Trust Company in Portland, where Oregon's first mutual fund was established, said the UO Securities Analysis Center "will further advance Portland's reputation for money management, and I'm pleased to support the college's efforts in this regard because it's the kind of business that is perfect for Oregon. It's non-polluting. It's high income, and you can have clients all over the world."

Bean said that eventually the Securities Analysis Center will serve about 150 students a year, including about 30 graduate students. In addition to new courses, the program will provide experiential learning opportunities such as managing real portfolios and student internships with companies in the industry.

The $2.5 million in gifts announced Thursday will fund start-up costs of the new center, such as hiring a director. Bean said that eventually he hopes to raise enough money to fund a $15 million endowment to support the center.

The Securities Analysis Center is one of four Centers for Excellence in the Lundquist College of Business. The others are Sports Business, Technology Innovation/Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Supply Chain Management.