Investing in Opportunity: Eric Flowers MBA '04

Ensuring that others have access to a better life is a family tradition for Eric Flowers.

Ramsell Corp., the Oakland, Calif.–based company his father founded and he now runs as president and CEO, implements and manages health and drug programs for underserved popu- lations. The Flowers Heritage Foundation, which Flowers also created with his father, helps fight AIDS.

Flowers spends a large portion of his time and money on volunteer efforts. In addition to a busy work schedule, he has served on the board of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, now known as Health- Right 360, since 2001, sometimes devoting as many as 40 hours per month to that cause. He

is also a member of the Saint Mary’s College School of Economics and Business Administra- tion Dean’s Advisory Board and an active donor to the school.

Flowers gives money to Saint Mary’s because he wants to offer other African-Americans access to the same quality education he received while studying for an MBA at SMC, an education that helped him succeed in his career and in working with the nonprofits he has helped to manage.

Over the next five years, Flowers will con- tribute $50,000 to establish the Ramsell Corp. endowed scholarship, which, when fully funded, will offer financial aid to African-American gradu- ate business students.

“The reason I’m giving money to Saint Mary’s is to add more diversity to the student body and provide an opportunity for minority students to experience the school’s benefits — the small classes, the quality of the faculty and the ability to interact with them on an individual basis,” he said.

“I believe in hand-ups instead of handouts and want to contribute to making a better community based on the Christian values of lifting people up and helping those who may not have the bless- ings that I have.”