UB Bulls Go High-Tech to Win Football Games, Thanks to a Grad's Gift to the Division of Athletics

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Football coaches at the University at Buffalo are going digital thanks to a $250,000 gift from former UB football player Gerald H. Scriver to the Division of Athletics for a video-editing system.

Scriver, president, CIO and CEO of Westpeak Investment Advisors, L.P., was inspired by recent changes in the UB football program and asked how he could be of assistance. Told that a digital editing system would benefit the team, Scriver was quick to respond with a cash gift.

"I always thought that if I was ever in a position to make a contribution to the university," said Scriver, "I would be glad to do so because UB had a major impact on my life and the success that I have achieved."

Jim Hofher, UB Bulls head football coach, said he was "indescribably grateful for the gift from Gerry and Gaile Scriver."

He added: "This cutting-edge video-editing system will allow our coaches and players to do our best with in-season and off-season game-planning preparation, opponent study and self-study of our own performances. The possibilities are endless in what this state-of-the-art equipment can do for us."

Hofher said the Pinnacle Systems Team Sports' editing stations are good for digital video breakdown and analysis and provide an opportunity for the team to capture, view, edit and manage game and practice footage instantly.

Hofher, who was named head coach last December, is leading the Bulls into their third season at the Division 1-A level and the Mid-American Conference. He previously was head coach at Cornell University and previously worked as an assistant coach at Wake Forest University, Miami University(OH), University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Syracuse University.

Scriver, who graduated from UB in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in finance, was a dean's list scholar who was grateful for the scholarships that let him obtain an education while playing varsity football. He fondly remembers Bob Deming, UB assistant coach who later became head coach, as having a "significant impact on how I looked at the world by setting a great example for a young guy who came to Buffalo and was steered in the right direction."

After college, Scriver worked for Merrill Lynch and other New York Stock Exchange member firms. From 1973-78, he was senior vice president in charge of personal trust portfolio management for The First of Denver.

In 1978, he co-founded Alexander, Scriver and Associates, an investment-management firm that he sold to Chemical Bank in 1983, although he stayed with the firm as president and CEO. In 1987, the firm split into two entities and Scriver remained as president of Quantum Investment Management, Inc., Chemical Bank's institutional quantitative equity investment arm.

Scriver founded Westpeak Investment Advisors, L.P. in 1991. He created Westpeak to provide customized quantitative-equity management to institutional investors using a "well-defined, disciplined investment process that focuses on both risk and return when building portfolios."

Scriver is a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research and the Denver Society of Security Analysts.

Scriver and his wife, Gaile, live in Niwot, Colo.

His gift is part of UB's $250 million campaign, one of the largest ever conducted by a public university in New York and New England. Although it's the fifth major fund-raising campaign conducted by UB, it's the first national/international campaign, the first university-wide campaign and the first to be alumni-driven with campaign volunteer leaders from all over the country. Funds raised will be used to enrich academic programs, support students ranging from undergraduates to post-doctoral students and to enhance university life.

For information on how you can support the University at Buffalo, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/giving.