In March 2018, Terry Fergus, a prominent financial executive and community leader, donated $1 million to create the Fergus Family Endowed Chair in Accounting in Cleveland State University’s Monte Ahuja College of Business. The effort seeks to enhance Cleveland State’s leadership in business education, scholarship and engagement while promoting innovative training and research in accounting and financial economics.

The College of Business plans to appoint a highly qualified faculty member to hold the inaugural chair and will make an announcement on the selection criteria and recipient at a later time.

“Accounting is an extraordinarily important component of finance and business administration and plays a central role in the overall success of a business,” Fergus says. “Through this professorship I hope to enhance education and scholarship in the field while giving back to an institution that was so important in my own career success.”

“Through this generous gift, the Ahuja College of Business can continue to enhance its reputation as a leader in innovative, career-focused education that will help prepare our next generation of business leaders,” adds Sanjay Putrevu, Dean of the College of Business at CSU.

Fergus serves as the President of FSM Capital Management with over 35 years of experience serving the financial needs of a broad array of clients. His specialties include insurance consulting; executive compensation; financial estate and retirement planning and qualified and non-qualified retirement plans. He frequently lectures to boards of directors, corporate executives and professional groups and has been quoted in scores of local, regional and national publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Fergus earned his bachelors of science in accounting from CSU in 1982 and spent over a decade as a partner at KPMG where he headed the Personal Financial Planning practice for Northeast Ohio. While at KPMG, he served on the firm's Innovation Strategies Committee and was the firm's national director of Career Transition Services and Insurance Consulting Services.

As a dedicated supporter of the Viking community, Fergus also serves as a community member of CSU’s Board of Trustees, on the CSU Foundation Board of Directors and the Visiting Committe for the Monte Ahuja College of Business.