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« Dr. Greg McQueen, VP for Advancement, Mr. Tait Cruse and Dr. Bonita Jacobs, VP for Student Development at the reception honoring Tait and the new Northwestern Mutual Financial Network Career Suite in Chestnut Hall.
A UNT Alum Gives Back
Mr. C. Tait Cruse, '89 BBA alum in finance, is now a managing partner of the Texas Financial Group-Dallas, a part of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. Mr. Cruse began his career as a Northwestern Mutual representative in 1989 and has consistently been a qualifying member of the prestigious Million-Dollar Round Table (1995–2004) and a National Sales Achievement Award recipient (1994–2004). Mr. Cruse was also a member of Northwestern Mutual's Top 20 in 2001, the highest honor given by the company for sales performance. Under Mr. Cruse's direction, the Dallas office was the highest performing office in the Southern Region for 2007. He tells why giving back to UNT is important to him.
"My story is basically I am a typical state school kid who worked my way through high school full time, supporting a disabled parent, and worked my way through college full time at Wal-Mart, while going to the University of North Texas. What motivated me to give to the naming was that I believe in state schools. I believe in the University of North Texas. Originally I was declined admission to the University of North Texas in February of 1985. They gave me an opportunity in May of 1985, accepting me on probation, and I will forever be indebted to them for believing in me before anyone else did. I wanted to prove to them that they bet right. I've always been grateful for being accepted to the University of North Texas at that time and then eventually graduating from there. That is what motivated me.
"My thoughts on giving back now that I have the ability to give back - I feel that UNT should be the benefactor, since they believed in me, I want to return the favor by believing in them. My quote for this story is, 'I believe we must support state schools and our local university institutions, especially institutions like the University of North Texas because they help kids from the other side of the tracks and low or middle income kids who may not have a chance. The University of North Texas gave me an opportunity, and I wanted to show my gratitude with the naming of this suite."
