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Asheville Businessman Donates $2 Million to UNC Asheville's N.C. Center for Health & Wellness

Asheville, NC - Nov. 16, 2005 - Joe W. Kimmel, founder of the highly successful Kimmel & Associates executive search firm in Asheville, has pledged $2 million to UNC Asheville’s North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness. This first major private gift to the Center was announced by UNC Asheville Chancellor Anne Ponder at a public event Wednesday morning.

“We are thrilled to share in Joe Kimmel’s generosity, as demonstrated by this most recent gift. His extraordinary philanthropy, aligned as it is with the University’s initiative to promote a healthy citizenry in Western North Carolina, exemplifies his belief that in order for our University to become even better, we will need facilities that reflect a spirit of accomplishment,” said Chancellor Ponder.

The N.C. Center for Health and Wellness complex, funded in large part by the N.C. General Assembly through a $35-million appropriation, will serve as the academic center for UNC Asheville’s Health and Wellness Promotion course of study, a new degree program launched in January 2005. The program combines teaching, research and community outreach to help address three of the state’s most pressing health concerns: childhood obesity, workplace wellness, and senior wellness.

In addition to classrooms and research labs, the N.C. Center for Health and Wellness complex will include a multipurpose convocation center for commencement, convocation, guest speakers, health fairs and related events.

Kimmel’s gift is the first of $5-$7 million that UNC Asheville is raising in private support to outfit the multipurpose convocation center so it can also be used as a venue for the University’s intercollegiate basketball and volleyball teams and for student health and recreational programs.

To honor Kimmel’s long-time interest in and support of the University, the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees has voted to name the multipurpose convocation center the Kimmel Arena.

"I want everyone to know that this donation -- and the Kimmel Arena itself -- is only happening because of the hard work and giving spirit of the hundred-plus men and women employed at Kimmel & Associates, and their families. They support our contributions to Asheville, the University and the state: without their efforts and commitment it would not be possible," Kimmel said.

Kimmel established Kimmel & Associates in 1981, following successful careers in nuclear engineering and securities trading. His firm, which employs more than 100 people, specializes in executive searches for the transportation, construction, solid waste, freight forwarding and supply chain industries, and is the largest in the nation to specialize in the construction industry.

Kimmel’s relationship with the University is notable on several levels. Six of his seven children have attended or graduated from UNC Asheville. Three years ago, he established an endowed scholarship fund for first generation students of promise. Recently, he and his youngest son, Stephen, a 2003 UNC Asheville physics graduate, purchased the Speculation Land Company documents for Ramsey Library. The documents provide researchers with a unique window into the speculative buying and selling of Western North Carolina land in the early 1800s.

Media Contacts:

Merianne Epstein, UNC Asheville Public Information, 828/251-6676. UNCA Press Release

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