In 2011, Gary Young, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was nominated to serve on the Executive Committee of Louisiana’s Flagship Coalition. The Coalition is made up of business leaders and citizens from across the state of Louisiana supportive of maintaining and enhancing Louisiana State University as a flagship institution by empowering the school with fundamental business practices to better utilize taxpayer and student dollars.

Partnering with other Coalition founders, Gary Young has identified several areas of opportunity to bring fundamental, common-sense business principles to the university.

These include:

PROCUREMENT

Allowing LSU to adopt generally-accepted, market-driven methods in procuring goods and services.

FACILITIES

Allowing LSU to take advantage of its unique size and resources to manage certain capital projects.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Providing LSU the option of administering its own insurance program (e.g., worker’s compensation) or continuing to participate in the state’s Risk Management program.

INVESTMENT

Granting LSU limited flexibility on its short-term investments to maximize interest gains.

CONSULTING SERVICES

Granting LSU limited flexibility to execute and manage consulting services contracts on campus, as opposed to sending all paperwork downtown for approval.

 

Based on detailed calculations provided by LSU, the Coalition believes implementing the plan would improve LSU’s financial position by $50 to $60 million over the next five years, with the bulk of that amount coming from savings.

Gary Young and other Coalition co-founders believe that the parents, students and citizens of Louisiana deserve a nationally-recognized flagship that can compete with other outstanding universities in the South and across the country.