Bowling Green State University Athletics
BG Athletics Celebrates Women's History Month: Valerie Newell
March 09, 2017 | General, Women's Swimming & Diving, Falcon Club, Student-Athlete Services
Throughout the month of March, BGSUFalcons.com will be highlighting some of the women who have impacted the University, the community and the athletics department. From pioneers to more recent members of the department, Matt Markey will be providing the stories of our history. Our second story of this series highlights Falcon swimmer Valerie Newell.
Part One - Hayley (Wiemer) Bradford
A year ago, BGSUFalcons.com produced a similar series for Black History Month. Fans can review and re-read those stories by CLICKING HERE.
Managing multiple portfolios that are worth millions of dollars of other people's money, in a consistently volatile financial market, would appear to be a challenge fraught with stress and intense pressure.
But for Valerie Newell, that is essentially another day at the office, in her role as the chairman of RiverPoint Capital Management.
She trusts her education, her training, her skill set, her drive and the sound counsel and advice she has received during a highly successful career as an investment advisor. Those same general elements – instruction, training, talent, motivation and coaching – made her an exceptional student and a two-time All-American swimmer at BGSU.
"The student-athlete experience was really important for me, because it teaches one to accept direction, to plan ahead, to set goals and then be strategic about how you are going to achieve them, with the determination to follow through," the 1975 Magna Cum Laude Business Administration graduate said. "You call on those same fundamentals in many career fields, and they have been critically important in mine."
Besides her All-American honors in 1974 and 1975, Newell was a three-time team captain, and played a key role in Bowling Green's team victories in the Ohio and Midwest championships. She also was named BGSU's "Outstanding Woman Graduate" in 1975.
"As a student-athlete, you learn that success is always earned, and with it comes a lot of confidence," she said. "The lesson of athletics is that if you have the determination, the right strategy, and work hard, then you are going to get where you need to be. Winning is an encouraging thing, whether you are getting ready for a meet, or walking into a room to speak. Athletics provides an opportunity to develop confidence that will serve you well after you are done with competition."
Newell calls on that student-athlete experience, and the rock solid foundation it put in place, as she leads her Cincinnati-based company that was ranked as the top wealth advisor in Ohio in 2016 by Barron's. Newell, a former chairman of the BGSU Board of Trustees, was honored individually by the prestigious financial publication as one of the top 20 Independent Wealth Advisors in the country.
She said the student-athlete experience taught her the importance of giving her maximum effort on a day-to-day basis, at practice and in competition, and that success would only come to those motivated to make that type of commitment.
"You learn that in spades in sports," she said, "and as one of the leaders here, I see that in the success RiverPoint has had as a firm. That sustained high level of effort every day that you learn as an athlete -- that distinguishes the very successful from the others."
Newell credits former BGSU swimming coach Jean Campbell with providing some critical life lessons while women's sports were pushing toward the implementation of Title IX regulations that were intended to level the playing field for female athletes.
"She was an inspiration because she found ways for us to be successful at a time when things were not fair and equal. She had to be very careful, because not everyone in leadership was onboard for the type of change that was coming," said Newell, who as a student, met with University President Dr. Hollis A. Moore to discuss the issue.
"My BG experience taught me that you do have to understand what is possible within the environment, and it also taught me that there is usually a way to get things done, if you are strategic enough, and smart enough," she said. "I learned that sometimes change needs patience mixed with determination, and that turned out to be a very important business lesson, as well as a cultural lesson."
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Part One - Hayley (Wiemer) Bradford
A year ago, BGSUFalcons.com produced a similar series for Black History Month. Fans can review and re-read those stories by CLICKING HERE.
Managing multiple portfolios that are worth millions of dollars of other people's money, in a consistently volatile financial market, would appear to be a challenge fraught with stress and intense pressure.
But for Valerie Newell, that is essentially another day at the office, in her role as the chairman of RiverPoint Capital Management.
She trusts her education, her training, her skill set, her drive and the sound counsel and advice she has received during a highly successful career as an investment advisor. Those same general elements – instruction, training, talent, motivation and coaching – made her an exceptional student and a two-time All-American swimmer at BGSU.
"The student-athlete experience was really important for me, because it teaches one to accept direction, to plan ahead, to set goals and then be strategic about how you are going to achieve them, with the determination to follow through," the 1975 Magna Cum Laude Business Administration graduate said. "You call on those same fundamentals in many career fields, and they have been critically important in mine."
Besides her All-American honors in 1974 and 1975, Newell was a three-time team captain, and played a key role in Bowling Green's team victories in the Ohio and Midwest championships. She also was named BGSU's "Outstanding Woman Graduate" in 1975.
"As a student-athlete, you learn that success is always earned, and with it comes a lot of confidence," she said. "The lesson of athletics is that if you have the determination, the right strategy, and work hard, then you are going to get where you need to be. Winning is an encouraging thing, whether you are getting ready for a meet, or walking into a room to speak. Athletics provides an opportunity to develop confidence that will serve you well after you are done with competition."
Newell calls on that student-athlete experience, and the rock solid foundation it put in place, as she leads her Cincinnati-based company that was ranked as the top wealth advisor in Ohio in 2016 by Barron's. Newell, a former chairman of the BGSU Board of Trustees, was honored individually by the prestigious financial publication as one of the top 20 Independent Wealth Advisors in the country.
She said the student-athlete experience taught her the importance of giving her maximum effort on a day-to-day basis, at practice and in competition, and that success would only come to those motivated to make that type of commitment.
"You learn that in spades in sports," she said, "and as one of the leaders here, I see that in the success RiverPoint has had as a firm. That sustained high level of effort every day that you learn as an athlete -- that distinguishes the very successful from the others."
Newell credits former BGSU swimming coach Jean Campbell with providing some critical life lessons while women's sports were pushing toward the implementation of Title IX regulations that were intended to level the playing field for female athletes.
"She was an inspiration because she found ways for us to be successful at a time when things were not fair and equal. She had to be very careful, because not everyone in leadership was onboard for the type of change that was coming," said Newell, who as a student, met with University President Dr. Hollis A. Moore to discuss the issue.
"My BG experience taught me that you do have to understand what is possible within the environment, and it also taught me that there is usually a way to get things done, if you are strategic enough, and smart enough," she said. "I learned that sometimes change needs patience mixed with determination, and that turned out to be a very important business lesson, as well as a cultural lesson."
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