UNM Press Release

The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627

November 22, 2005

UNM Inaugurates Speaker Series with Medal of Honor Recipient

The University of New Mexico will host Colonel Jack H. Jacobs as the first lecturer for the UNM Presidential Speaker Series. Jacobs received the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action during the Vietnam War. In addition to the Medal of Honor he also earned three Bronze Stars, and two Silver Stars.

Jacobs will speak Thursday, Dec. 1 at 3 pm at Keller Hall in the Center for the Arts on the UNM campus. The event is free. Jacobs will sign books published by the Medal of Honor Foundation following his talk.

Jacobs will speak about leadership and give a provocative overview of the current state of the Army in Iraq. He will also talk about his Army career and work with the foundation.

He will also be the featured speaker at a special, public breakfast on Friday, Dec. 2, at 7:30 a.m. at the Hotel Albuquerque (formerly the Old Town Sheraton). The cost of the breakfast is $20. For tickets call (505) 277-3066 or raquelr@unm.edu.

Jacobs has taught at the National War College in Washington D.C. and at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1987 and founded AutoFinance Group, Inc., one of the firms that pioneered the securitization of debt instruments. He has been a managing director of Bankers Trust and Lehman Brothers. Currently, he is a principal of The Fitzroy Group, a firm that specializes in the development of residential real estate in London. Jacobs is an on-camera consultant for MSNBC, and serves as vice president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation.

The UNM Presidential Speaker Series has been initiated to bring internationally known speakers to the campus and is sponsored by the UNM Board of Regents.

The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.