Donors Enhance Education For UM's Best And Brightest

Her interest? Biological science. His: business.

When it came time for Ian and Nancy Davidson to leave their most lasting mark on their alma mater, The University of Montana, there was the potential for disagreement on which program ought to benefit from their generosity.
Instead, every program on campus does. The Davidson Honors College serves the best and brightest students from all areas of study.

"It's such a good fit," Nancy Davidson says. "We're both strong personalities and it's such a wonderful meld. It serves the entire University instead of just one segment, and that's what we feel so good about.

The Davidsons both graduated from UM, Ian in 1953 and Nancy in 1959. Ian went on to earn a master's from the University of California, Berkeley, and taught business at UM before joining D.A. Davidson, his father's investment firm in Great Falls. He was one of three employees when he started.

Today D.A. Davidson Co. is one of the top 100 investment firms in the nation, with 855 employees at 45 locations in 14 states. The company manages $14 billion in assets for 123,000 accounts. That success has made it possible for the Davidsons to aid causes important to them. They are supporters of the Charles M. Russell Museum and the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls.

And they have long been active at UM, where both have served as president of the UM Foundation board of trustees, of which Ian has been a member for 25 years.

Their $1 million gift helped give the honors college a home.

"It's been a win-win in so many ways,"Nancy says. "We've gained so much from the University."

"The honors college was the best thing we've ever done," Ian says.

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