Kevin and Rita Hochstedler have designated a $3.7 million bequest to benefit accounting majors. The couple also provided an office in the Lockie and Augustus Chinworth Center through the 学生们首先! campaign, and they are supporting a future project to promote physical fitness.
凯文·霍克斯特德勒，83年 traces much of his professional success back to his Manchester roots. 现在 the accounting graduate is paying his gratitude forward with gifts that will benefit MU students for generations to come.
Hochstedler and his spouse, Rita, have designated a $3.7 million bequest to the University in a combination of unrestricted funds and an endowed scholarship fund to benefit accounting majors. The couple also provided an office in the Lockie and Augustus Chinworth Center through the 学生们首先! campaign, and they are supporting a future project to promote physical fitness.
年前, Hochstedler was attending a different college when he heard that “a friend of a friend was having a really good experience at Manchester with accounting.” Hochstedler was interested in accounting, 太, so he transferred in time for the second semester of his sophomore year.
“It was a warm environment and very accepting,” recalls Hochstedler, who grew up near Wakarusa, Ind. “I felt like there was support all around me, including in the accounting program and throughout the school. It was a great fit with strong academic programs and the individual attention to help with my development as a student and a person.”
阿特·吉尔伯特, William Day and John Bales led the accounting program at the time and set the standard. “I felt like they were a complementary team of professors and the program was just outstanding,Hochstedler说. “I was challenged academically but, at the same time, they were very supportive.”
Support also came from Manchester alumni who were already achieving success in the business world. They came to campus and talked to students like Hochstedler about the accounting profession, 期待什么，如何成功. “That really helped someone like me who had no business background,” he said. “这对我来说都是全新的.”
His education wasn’t limited to business. While Hochstedler says he didn’t understand the value of the liberal arts as a student, it did reveal itself as he advanced in his career. “I saw the importance of critical thinking skills,他解释道, “and the ability to understand and respect people with different backgrounds and beliefs.” The liberal arts teach you to be a lifelong learner, he adds. “It’s about developing into the best person you can be. I felt like Manchester did, and still does, a wonderful job of that.”
A CPA, Hochstedler started his career in public accounting, where he met Rita, who is also a CPA. He spent most of his career as the chief financial officer (CFO) for several manufacturing companies that specialized in building products. 现在, 当他即将退休时, he is doing some consulting work including service to not-for-profit entities.
The Hochstedlers live in Mishawaka and Rita continues to work at the South Bend office of Kruggel Lawton CPAs. The couple’s daughter, Kimberly, is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, studying statistics with a concentration in health research.
Though Rita attended Indiana State University (both Hochstedlers earned MBAs from Indiana University), Kevin says she is a “big supporter” of Manchester. 她的妹妹, 艾米·泰勒·卡尔顿, is a former director of news and sports information at MU and is now the commissioner of the American Southwest Conference.
Rita “has been really impressed by what goes on at Manchester,凯文说。. Their shared passion for physical fitness inspired their recent gift for a fitness facility at MU because they recognize the relationship between physical activity, 心理健康和减轻压力. “当你上大学的时候, 压力很大,凯文说。, who was an avid intramural participant as a student. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to have facilities right there to help students relieve that stress and, 希望, help them through their journey at Manchester.”
As a past member of the 校友 Board and current member of the Board of Trustees, Hochstedler pays close attention to that journey. “Anytime I get to visit campus, I feel this energy,” he says. “Then you hear these students’ stories, their plans and how hard they’re working. It inspires us to support higher education. But then Manchester’s version of that is just something to behold. 我真的对他们印象深刻.”