Angelo State University's College of Business to be Named to Honor Major Backers

SAN ANGELO, TX — Angelo State University’s College of Business landed major donors, and the college will be named in its benefactors’ honor next week.

The University has received a combined $5 million gift from ASU alumni Lloyd Norris and Blake and Bryan Vincent to benefit ASU’s College of Business. The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents approved changing the name of the college to the “Norris-Vincent College of Business” at its quarterly meeting earlier this month. This is the largest gift ever received to benefit the College of Business, according to ASU.

Norris graduated from ASU in 1973 and began his career at the former Town & Country convenience store chain. He rose from a supervisor of stores for locations around Brownwood to eventually become its chairman of the board. Like most who were at Town & Country in 2007 when the store chain was sold to Susser Holdings for $359 million, several principles there became multi-millionaires and reinvested their wealth into other businesses and non-profit endeavors locally.

Blake and Bryan Vincent are brothers and partners at Principal LED, one of the Top 3 LED lighting manufacturers in the world and its headquartered in San Angelo. The company was launched in 2010 after an earlier run at the industry with the Red McCombs-backed company called Agilight, which they sold in 2009.

Bryan is a ’94 grad of ASU and holds a Ph. D. from Texas A&M in Material Science and Analytical Chemistry. The chemistry knowledge comes in handy in other ways. The brothers also run the Christoval Winery with their parents, Drex and Nancy Vincent.

The Vincent brother’s grandfather, the late Lloyd D. Vincent, was the longest-serving president of ASU, from 1967 until 1995.

Dr. Clifton T Jones heads ASU’s Norris-Vincent College of Business, and has since 2015. Jones, who holds a BA in economics from the University of Texas, earned his Ph.D. at Texas A&M in economics. His research is published and concentrates in energy economics and business education.

Dr. Brian J. May, president of ASU, and Jamie Akin, vice president for development and alumni relations, will host a news conference to announce the naming of ASU College of Business on Tuesday, June 5.