UWG News Archive

UWG Alums recognized in Georgia Trend

October 28, 2004

CARROLLTON, GA - Three graduates of the University of West Georgia have been listed in Georgia Trend magazine’s eighth “40 under 40,” which recognizes Georgia’s “rising superstars” in the business, academic, political, entrepreneurial and nonprofit fields. According to Georgia Trend, the chosen 40 are changing the civic and economic landscapes for the better.

UWG News Photo Allen Nance (’98), founder and president of the Atlanta-based Mansell Group, a leading provider of technology and enabled marketing and customer relationship, Carlianne Patrick (’99), director of research and planning for Carroll Tomorrow, a public relations/industry recruitment organization to attract industry to Carroll County and Mike Miller (’95), an attorney with Douglasville-based Hartley Rowe and Fowler, were all included in Georgia Trend’s list.

“I certainly think that it is unique for the University to have three people on the list and I think West Georgia should take credit for that,” Nance said.

Nance, 29, founded the Mansell Group a year after graduating from UWG and claims clients such as AirTran Airways, Sony Music, Moen faucets, AARP, the American Cancer Society and 200 others. The Mansell Group annually helps companies leverage technology to connect 600 million marketing and customer communications for everything from products to frequent flyer programs. The company also offers database management and customer intelligence to its clients.

Nance credits the experience he had with UWG’s Legislative Intern Program and the school’s extra-curricular activities for spurring his business success.

“It’s a wonderful institution. I took a lot out of the programs that I participated in and the internships I participated in. Certainly I learned a lot in class, ” Nance said. “But I learned 80 percent of the skill sets that I use now out of the classroom. I think the University and the campus permits people who want to get involved, to be involved. That is the biggest difference.”

UWG News Photo Patrick, 24, graduated magna cum laude from UWG with a bachelor’s in international economics and psychology, and she was a UWG Advanced Academy and Honors College graduate. She also has a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, the youngest graduate ever from that program.

Her duties at Carroll Tomorrow include developing policies to stimulate economic and community development. During the past three years, Patrick has recruited more than $160 million in capital investments, including the new AirTran Airways call center.

Dr. Donald Wagner, dean of UWG Honors College, said Patrick typified the increased academic changes at the University.

“We would not have attracted a Carlianne without the Academy in the first place, Wagner said. “With her SAT scores and high school GPA (freshman and sophomore years only), I am certain she would have gone elsewhere. As it is, she stayed here to finish her undergraduate degree and then moved back to Carrollton after finishing her master's because she likes it here.”

Patrick agreed, saying that it was important to her to have an accelerated academic program. The late Pat Hughes, the original director of UWG’s Advanced Academy, recruited her while she was in high school.
“With the Advanced Academy I was able to graduate with my bachelor’s degree when I was 19,” Patrick said. “At (age) 24, it would be difficult to make that list because normally (most people) are just graduating from a master’s program. It really did allow me to get a jump-start so that I now have three years of work experience.”

Her good experiences at UWG drew her back to Carrollton when the opportunity with Carroll Tomorrow and the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce was available.

“It’s just a great community. I was fortunate that when I came back from my master’s there was something in my field that just started here and allowed me to both return to the community and work in my chosen field,” Patrick said.

UWG News Photo Douglasville native Mike Miller is an associate at Hartley Rowe and Fowler PC and is also the chairman of the Douglasville Downtown Development Authority (DDDA). Like Nance, he was also was part of UWG’s Legislative Intern Program and later graduated from Alabama’s Cumberland School of Law.

As chairman of the DDDA, he is a proponent of multi-type land uses, where residential, commercial and industrial land uses are combined.

“It takes a lot of salesmanship to change the paradigm that you need houses in one area, commercial in another and offices 20 miles away,” Miller said.

Miller said that he attended the University of Georgia for his first year but transferred to UWG to be closer to home.

“It made a huge difference in my life,” Miller said. “(President of UWG) Dr. (Beheruz N.) Sethna used a quote at graduation I had written about my mom, which was kind of neat.”

Sethna said that having three graduates named to the magazine’s list speaks well for the University’s programs, faculty and staff.

“Given that there are almost 60 degree-granting institutions in the Georgia Association of Colleges, plus the entire network of DTAE colleges, to have three graduates from UWG make Georgia Trend magazine's 40 under 40 list is outstanding,” he said. “We are proud of their wonderful accomplishments as we are of our University that helped them succeed.”

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