McVey honors well-rounded Miami experience with scholarships
Richard McVey
written by Vince Frieden, university advancement and development communications
While he has gone far in the world of finance, rising to founder and CEO of a groundbreaking company, Richard “Rick” McVey (Miami '81) has never forgotten the important role that Miami University played in contributing to the traits and skills that have enabled his success.
McVey recently returned that favor to future generations of Miami students by contributing $240,000 to create two new Miami scholarships—the Richard McVey Farmer School of Business Scholarship and the Richard McVey Golf Scholarship.
“My experience at Miami was the perfect combination of academic, athletic and personal development,” McVey reflected. “Partly as a result of that experience, I have found interesting opportunities throughout my business career and have had the confidence to take risks when the right career opportunities have presented themselves.”
The CEO of MarketAxess, which operates a patented electronic trading platform, McVey is also the parent of a recent Miami graduate, Taylor ’11, and a member of the Miami University Foundation Board.
He was drawn to Miami as a student by the beautiful campus, true college town feel, academic reputation and the opportunity to try out for the varsity golf program. What he found was a journey of personal growth and development that was supported and enhanced by the people around him.
“The quality and diversity of people in the Miami community create a unique opportunity for personal and social development,” McVey said. “Miami is filled with quality individuals who share a passion for life. In any aspect of Miami life, you learn to operate in a team environment.”
As a letterwinner on Miami’s varsity golf program, McVey went from failing to make the team as a freshman to serving as a team co-captain and helping lead the team to a Mid-American Conference Championship as a senior.
After earning his MBA from Indiana University, McVey worked his way from trading futures for a Cleveland-based regional bank to serving as an institutional futures broker on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Eventually J.P. Morgan, one of his clients, hired him to run the company’s Chicago futures business and later promoted him to lead North America Fixed Income Fund sales in New York. He started MarketAxess in 2000 with J.P. Morgan as its first investor.
McVey’s gift is an investment in Miami’s larger Miami Promise Scholarship Campaign, which seeks to raise $100 million in new scholarship support by 2019. Both scholarships qualify for Miami’s Match the Promise program, which provides an expendable university match for newly created recruitment scholarship endowments of at least $50,000.
“I feel great about giving back to Miami so other students have the same opportunities I did,” McVey said. “I’m a strong believer in education for the advancement of individuals and our society, and scholarships make a big difference for many worthy students.”
