Alumni Spotlight

Samuel GinnIn 2001, Anniston, Ala. native Samuel Ginn donated $25 million to Auburn University with the goal of advancing his alma mater into the ranks of the nation's top wireless engineering research and teaching institutions. Ginn's donation is the largest single gift in the 148-year history of the university and is believed to be the largest single cash gift in Alabama higher education. In recognition, the college was renamed the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

Ginn decided to make the gift after reflecting on his meteoric career in telecommunications that began following his graduation in 1959 from Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University.

"As I began to think about my own life, how rewarding my career has been and how much fun I've had, I asked myself what's been important to me," says Ginn. "Auburn was among the things I immediately thought of. I want the young men and women in Alabama to have a shot in an industry that's likely to grow and be fascinating in the years to come. I see Auburn as the vehicle to provide the background and training to give them that opportunity."

Ginn set the bar high with his gift by challenging College of Engineering alumni and friends to raise an additional $100 million in endowment and to generate a minimum of $50 million for 25 new endowed chairs in engineering. He also requested that the college develop an undergraduate program in wireless engineering.

"I think that one of the things we have to do at the College of Engineering is make sure we have the kind of faculty that can do wonderful research but also teach students to go out to industry and make valuable contributions to wireless in the technical arena," says Ginn. "As the research drives more capability into wireless devices and comes up with systems to make wireless more affordable, I would like for Auburn students to be leaders in that revolution."

According to Larry Benefield, dean of the College of Engineering, Ginn's commitment to the college has already made a tremendous difference in the ability to work toward a top ranking among engineering institutions nationally.  In 2002, the college launched the first undergraduate wireless engineering degree program in the nation. 

"Ginn's vision for Auburn Engineering reflects our own faculty's perception that we must move from a leadership position among the South's public engineering programs into an arena where we are perceived as a quality program on the national level, second to none," says Benefield. "His dedication to Auburn University will go a long way in moving the college's vision of excellence into a reality for our students today — and for promising young scholars of tomorrow. His challenge to alumni and friends is to respond in a way that will augment his own gift to Auburn Engineering."

Throughout his career, Ginn has shared with and exhibited to others the values his family cultivated in him — honesty, integrity, fairness, and competitiveness — values instilled in him by a family he holds dear, whose roots in rural Anniston date back to America's harships after the Great Depression.

"My family was poor economically, but rich in values," shares Ginn. "They set high standards and put a premium on always representing the family well."

Ginn began his career in the telecommunications field, starting with AT&T shortly after graduating from Auburn. In 1969, he was a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University's School of Business and rose rapidly up the corporate ranks, becoming vice president of network operations for AT&T Long Lines in 1977. A year later, he joined Pacific Bell as vice president for Los Angeles operations. His last position at Pacific Bell before the divestiture was vice chairman, strategic planning and administration, for what would later become Pacific Telesis Group.

George Fender, now retired in Jacksonville, Fla., was a colleague of Ginn's at the time he left for his Sloan Fellowship. "The impression that Sam made upon people, I'll never forget," recalls Fender. "He was very liked, very considerate, very fair, but very competitive. I guess that competitiveness is what led him to what he achieved in the corporate world."

Ginn was president and chief operating officer of Pacific Telesis Group from 1987 to December 1993 when he founded AirTouch Communications, created to concentrate on commercial development in the emerging field of wireless technology.

AirTouch merged with Vodafone in 1999 and Ginn was made chairman of the new company, Vodafone AirTouch Plc., a post he held until resigning in May 2000. He now serves as senior partner of the Freemont Group, managing telecommunication investments.