Gifts in Action - Mark Vonnahme

MEET MARK VONNAHME

In April 2006, Mark Vonnahme was named as the first holder of the Fox Family Distinguished Clinical Professorship in the Department of Finance.

A member of the faculty since early 2004, Vonnahme teaches courses in the areas of property and casualty insurance and risk management and is an active mentor. He also plays a leadership role in the Office of Risk Management and Insurance Research (ORMIR).

Prior to joining the College, he spent over thirty years in the property casualty and surety industries, retiring in September 2003 as the president and CEO of CNA Surety Corporation, the largest publicly traded surety organization in the US. He started his career with CNA in 1972 after obtaining a graduate degree in finance from the University of Illinois.

A CPA, he is a member of the Illinois CPA Society and past chair of the organization’s Construction Accounting Committee. He has served on the board of directors of CNA Surety Corporation and DeMontfort Insurance PLC, a UK-based insurance and bonding company. Vonnahme is a past chairman of the board of directors of The Surety Association of America and has served on the American Insurance Association’s Fidelity and Surety Committee as well as on the Surety Information Office Policy Board.

THE FOX FUND

The purpose of the Fox Fund is to stimulate entrepreneurship and economic development in Champaign County. Fox Professors will be individuals who combine an outstanding record of academic achievement with business acumen and demonstrated success in the private sector.

“Entrepreneurship spans a spectrum of disciplines, and the Fox Fund was created to seed entrepreneurship through professorships in several of them at the University,” said Peter Fox.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“The Fox Family Distinguished Clinical Professorship has been made possible by an endowment established by Peter and Kim Fox,” said Dean Avijit Ghosh. “We are indebted to the Fox family for their generous financial support of the College.”

Story courtesy College of Business.