Birmingham-Southern College will welcome C.T. Fitzpatrick, founder of Vulcan Value Partners, to present the annual B.A. Monaghan Lecture in Economics at 11 a.m. Nov. 5 in Bruno Great Hall in Norton Campus Center.

Fitzpatrick earned his bachelor’s degree in commerce and business administration from the University of Alabama in 1986 and immediately began an investment banking career on Wall Street.

“I have been fascinated with value investing from a young age, before I even attended college,” he says. “I started reading the Wall Street Journal every day as a teenager. At Alabama, I dove into finance and took every investment course that was offered.”

From there, Fitzpatrick received his MBA from Vanderbilt University and joined Southeastern Asset Management as a principal and portfolio manager. Here, the idea to develop his own company as an experience value investor began to take form.

“In the mid-2000s, my personal investment philosophy had evolved to the point that I felt like I needed to go out on my own and put those ideas into practice without any constraints,” Fitzpatrick says.

This drive led him to found Vulcan Value Partners in 2007, originally to manage his personal capital and later to share his expertise with outside clients. The company has developed top-ranking investment strategies and embodies Fitzpatrick’s philosophy and values of service, discipline, and integrity.

“Everyone is passionate about our mission, which is not to be the biggest but to be the best money manager in the world,” he says. “We have an environment where everyone works hard and has a positive attitude. We really are a team working together for our clients.”

During his lecture, Fitzpatrick plans to speak about the process of launching his Birmingham-based company as well as the conditions that are needed to create more jobs, improve the community, and better the economy.

The annual lecture was established by Vulcan Materials Company in 1981 to honor Marine Corps veteran and former CEO of Vulcan Materials Bernard A. Monaghan ’34. Monaghan earned degrees at BSC, Harvard Law School, and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar before beginning his law career and military service. Under his leadership as executive vice president and then chief executive officer, Vulcan Materials Company grew to become a Forbes 500 company. Monaghan passed away in 1987.

The B.A. Monaghan Lecture is free and open to the public, but we do need your reservation if you plan on attending. Please RSVP to [email protected] by Tuesday, October 29, so we can plan for you, as lunch will be provided.