USD Magazine Summer 2013

“MY FORECAST IS THAT THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO’S POSITIVE IMPACT ON SOCIETY WILL BE INCREDIBLY STRONG.”

For independent marketing consultant and USD Trustee James D. (“Jamey”) Power, IV ’85, the liberal ar ts education he received as a histor y major gave him the bedrock foundation that allowed him to succeed in life.

“For me, my parents really had the biggest impact on my life. We’re all on this earth to make a difference, and that is one of the core values of J.D. Power and Associates. I started working at a very young age, simple tasks like preparing surveys for mailing by taping quarters onto cover letters. Little fingers can do things like that pretty well. The tasks progressed as I got older. Those days had a huge impact on me. It’s trite to say, but I really learned the value of a dollar, of responsibility, of seeing how a business worked. Both my parents went to Catholic colleges, and that was an important influence on them. I knew I didn’t want to go back east. I was won over by the university when I came to campus on Admit Student Day. It wasn’t until sophomore year that I really understood the concept of a liberal arts education and how it was meant to prepare me for life. My favorite professors helped me open my mind to understanding how history has an impact on where we are today as a society and culture. Through the years, what I’ve found in business is that history is a tremendous foundation, because business is ultimately about people and why they do what they do. Being involved today is my way of reminding USD that alumni matter. I wanted to make a difference, and felt that the university was ready to move up to the next level. I believe that USD is in a wonderful spot right now. This relatively young university has made tremendous progress and its best days are still ahead if it. What the University of San Diego does is produce successful alumni, and the more successful alumni that USD creates, the more of an impact they will have on the world.”

18