At times his story of success sounds like a marketing message for TU -- and perhaps that's not surprising since Nevins touts 30 years of experience in the field of marketing and public relations. He graduated in 1975, but he remained connected to the campus ever since. Now, as chairman of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, he is in a position to support higher education all across the state.
"I came to school a relatively shy, kind of back-of-the-room young student," he said. "And the environment at Towson, which I found to be very warm and welcoming, brought me out of my shell and truly launched whatever success I've had since."
Nevins is also the founder and chairman of Nevins & Associates, a Hunt Valley-based marketing and public affairs firm. Last year, he traded his role as president of the firm for the position of senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Constellation Energy.
He said marketing is vocation, but public higher education is his avocation, "because of the effect it had on my life and my career."
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Nevins described his high school years in Montgomery County, Md. as "confused, and" â€" he pauses to search for the right phrase â€" "not academically successful."
But at Towson University, then known as Towson State College, he became motivated.
"I not only became a great student -- well, great might be an exaggeration -- I not only became a good student, but it taught me about leadership and so many things," he said.
Nevins joined the Student Government Association as a freshman, and he worked his way up to president his senior year. He helped launch an SGA lecture series that brought prominent speakers like Ronald Reagan, David Brinkley and Truman Capote to campus.
At the time, Towson's SGA and groups from other schools were busy lobbying lawmakers in Annapolis for a student seat on the Board of Regents (It was known as the Board of Trustees back then).
The lobbying efforts were successful and the legislature supported the push for a voting student member of the board. The bill was signed into law by then-Governor Marvin Mandel, and Mandel subsequently selected Nevins to serve as the first student regent.
Nevins and Mandel now serve on the board together.
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Nevins managed to graduate from Towson in three and a half years with a degree in business administration and a minor in political science.
Towson President Robert Caret was a new assistant professor when Nevins was SGA president. "He was committed to higher education and the needs of the students from the very beginning and that desire to help students achieve their educational goals has grown over the years," Caret said. The two men are now close friends. In fact, much of Nevins' success can be attributed to the relationships he has fostered with prominent people.
As an SGA member, Nevins worked closely with Towson's President at the time, Jim Fisher; Nevins counts him as a mentor. When Nevins graduated, Fisher called to talk about employment opportunities on campus.
Nevins turned down other job offers to become the assistant manager of auxiliary services, overseeing the student union and residence halls. A couple years later, he became assistant to the vice president for administration and finance, and a couple years after that, he was named director of marketing.
In 1982, he moved to a marketing position at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
"I had met a number of business and civic leaders, and a couple of them convinced me that I had some talent in the marketing area," he said. "Instead of spending my entire life at a not-for-profit, they said I should consider opening my own business, and if I did, they would send some business my way."
Nevins & Associates started as a two-person team and grew to employ about 15 people.
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Even as Nevins transitioned to the private sector, he retained an interest in public institutions. He was "pretty active" in Parris Glendening's first campaign for governor in 1994. Glendening later appointed him the chairman of Maryland Public Television.
His public involvement didn't end there: In 1999, Glendening, a Democrat, appointed Nevins to the Board of Regents. He was re-appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, a Republican, in 2004.
The Ehrlichs and the Nevinses are apparently quite fond of each other; Nevins has known Ehrlich's wife Kendel for many years due to their mutual involvement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. "We base all of our positions and arguments on what's best for the students," Nevins said. "But the fact that we get along well is, I think, icing on the cake in that regard."
Nevins' colleagues on the board chose him to be chairman in July 2005.
He said he has been "extraordinarily careful" about avoiding conflicts between his personal and professional roles. But last week, State Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch questioned if Nevins violated a lobbying ban when he introduced the legislators to the CEO of Constellation at a "meet and greet" breakfast in Annapolis. The Washington Post first reported the accusations.
Regents are prohibited from lobbying. On Wednesday Nevins said he doesn't believe he violated any board policies, and mentioned that the state ethics commission will review the policy at an upcoming board meeting.
Nevins' ties to Towson are wide-ranging. He is the former president of TU's Alumni Association, and a former member of the University's Board of Visitors.
"The pillars of my career were formed at Towson," he said. "My passion for schools like Towson remains so strong because I think it is schools like Towson that take kids of average means and sometimes of average ability and often give them the tools to change the world.
"And that's what Towson does. That's no small feat, I might add, for an institution. And I want to make sure that the Towsons of the world continue to excel."
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