Take Charge America Founder and CEO Receives Honorary Doctorate

Michael Hall Bestowed with University of Arizona’s Highest Honor

Tucson, Ariz. – (May 24, 2007)… The University of Arizona (UA) is pleased to announce that Michael Hall, chief executive officer of Take Charge America, received the University Doctorate at its May 2007 commencement.

“The honorary doctorate degree is given only to those who have substantial impact on a field or society,” said UA President Robert N. Shelton. “Mike Hall’s vision to educate young people about financial literacy is being realized through the TCA Institute he helped us establish at UA, and we are now able to make a state-wide and national impact. His vision for and commitment to this mission have been exceptional.”

For more than a decade, Hall has worked closely with UA faculty and students to form an institute that focuses on consumer financial education and research. With a $10 million endowment and hundreds of thousands more in supplemental program funding from Take Charge America, the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences created the Take Charge America (TCA) Institute for Consumer Financial Education and Research – the first of its kind nationwide.

With help from Hall, the TCA Institute has become recognized around the country as a leading source of personal financial education to thousands of college students annually, as well as a conduit of financial research and community outreach. In addition, the TCA Institute is reaching out to middle and high school students through the Family Economics and Financial Education (FEFE) curriculum and teacher training program. The FEFE program, wholly funded by TCA, was developed through a TCA/Montana State University partnership several years ago and has recently been relocated to the TCA Institute at UA. The FEFE curriculum has been widely adopted in more than 30 states by more than 8,000 teachers.

“After more than 40 years of working in the credit industry, I’m deeply honored to be recognized by a scholarly institution of the caliber of UA that shares in Take Charge America’s mission of promoting consumer finance education,” said Hall.

Phoenix-based Take Charge America has also partnered with UA and the worldwide Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization to sponsor the annual Duel in the Desert competition. The Duel is a personal case study competition where teams of four students from colleges across the US and around the world are provided with a case study about a hypothetical family facing severe financial dilemmas. In 36 hours, competitors must research the situation and design a workable, creative solution and present it to a panel of qualified judges.

Each year, the Credit-Wise Cats, a component of UA’s SIFE team, manage up to 12 regional qualifying Duels and the top teams in each region are brought to Tucson every March for the national championship event, the Duel in the Desert.

Since the Duel’s inception five years ago, Take Charge America has contributed more than $750,000 to sponsor the event. Hall, a Phoenix resident, was also honored by SIFE in May 2006 as the “Most Supportive Business Advisory Board Member of the Year” – a testament to his involvement in and support of the Duel.

“Mr. Hall has lent more than his financial commitment; he has been genuinely interested and committed to a hands-on approach, wanting to make sure that the TCA Institute will become preeminent among institutes dedicated to financial literacy,” said Soyeon Shim, director of the Norton School.

Hall founded Take Charge America in 1987 with the vision of not only assisting individuals and families with financial challenges, but also developing pro-active educational programs that promote financial literacy. Currently, the organization provides credit counseling, debt management plans and educational services to nearly 200,000 households annually. In addition, through the administration of more than 50,000 debt management programs, the company returns nearly $500 million every year to the national economy.

“I’ve witnessed the positive and negative effects of the democratization of credit that has occurred in the US over the past 40 years and the ever increasing use of unsecured personal lines of credit. I’ve always felt that consumers need more help when making financial decisions that will have a profound impact on their quality of life and that education in personal finance can have the greatest impact in filling the gap. Financial literacy needs to remain a primary focus,” said Hall. “The work we do at Take Charge America is extremely fulfilling, and I’m grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to partner with other organizations that value consumer education as much as we do.”

Hall serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the American Association of Debt Management Organizations (AADMO) and serves on the Take Charge America Institute Advisory Board.