Steven “Cash” Nickerson, JD ’85, MBA ’93, believes lawyers are uniquely trained to lead. “Law is not the sole provenance of leadership,” he says. “But, if you look at the people in key positions throughout the world, a lot of them have legal training.”
Nickerson’s own trajectory justifies this conclusion. He launched his professional life at Washington University, where he earned graduate degrees in law and business. After briefly practicing law, he assumed various leadership roles in business, serving as president of PDS Tech Inc., a talent acquisition management company, and as chair of the North American unit of AKKA Technologies, an engineering consulting firm. He is now chairman and CEO of Nickerson Stoneleigh Inc., a Dallas-based private investment firm.
Nickerson argues that his early legal training translates directly to his leadership success. “When I look back, whether I was making legal, business, or personal decisions, I relied on the critical thinking skills I developed in law school,” he says. “Great leadership, like great lawyering, is thoughtful.”
Critical assessment also motivates Nickerson’s philanthropy, including his most recent commitment to the university. Together with his wife, Evie, Nickerson has pledged $5 million to establish the Nickerson Deanship in the School of Law because he recognizes WashULaw as a unique locus of leadership training. “Law is an agent of social change,” Nickerson says. With this pledge, the couple seeks to advance WashULaw’s vital role in cultivating the strategic thinking and innovative legal scholarship necessary to address pressing global challenges.
Over the past decade, WashULaw’s profile has risen rapidly. The school is now ranked No. 16 by U.S. News and World Report and No. 6 by the legal news website Above the Law. With a highly competitive pool of students, WashULaw attracts and retains top-tier faculty members who pursue first-rate research and develop leading-edge clinical pedagogies. Their output draws the most promising applicants to the school, propelling the cycle of academic achievement.
“The university’s broader future rests upon the strength of our community, and Cash and Evie Nickerson’s gift taps into that strength. Investments from alumni and friends like them help fuel our continued excellence.”
Provost Beverly Wendland
The Nickerson gift will help the law school reach even greater heights. The deanship, which will be vested at a later date, marks the fourth endowed position of its kind at WashU. Annual payout from the endowment will give future WashULaw deans fiscal resources to proactively pursue projects and initiatives that benefit the school, its students, and its faculty.
Such flexibility is integral to the success and distinction of the law school and its students, explains Provost Beverly Wendland. “This generous pledge will enable the School of Law to continue its ascent as one of the top law schools in the United States,” she says.
“The university’s broader future rests upon the strength of our community, and Cash and Evie Nickerson’s gift taps into that strength,” Wendland adds. “Investments from alumni and friends like them help fuel our continued excellence.”
Nickerson hopes to further elevate WashULaw as a paramount program by empowering its leadership. “One thing I’ve learned in four decades of working in law, business, business law, and entrepreneurship is that leadership drives results,” he says. “The dean is the leader of the school. Taking that leadership to the next level means we’re going to attract and deliver leaders back into the world.”
Delivering back is a common thread in Nickerson’s life. Over the course of 11 years, he has contributed significant time advising three deans as a member of the School of Law National Council and School of Law Board of Advisors. The Nickersons have also made substantial financial investments in the law school, funding endowed and annual scholarships and supporting the launch of the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative at the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute.
The couple’s support extends across the university. Nickerson sits on the Board of Trustees and is chair of both the Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth regional cabinets. Through their David H. Nickerson Foundation, the pair has also supported cancer research at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center. Perhaps most important, they entrusted WashU to educate their children: Kate Nickerson O’Connell, BS ’07; Stephanie Nickerson McDermott, AB ’09, JD ’13; and Andrew “Cash” Nickerson, AB ’13. All three earned undergraduate degrees from WashU, and daughter Stephanie followed in her father’s footsteps to study at the School of Law.
Nickerson himself has reentered the classroom as both a professor and a doctoral candidate in the law school. Each fall, he teaches “Business Lawyering: Listening, Drafting, and Negotiating,” an introduction to the art of real-world negotiation. Describing this current work, Nickerson says, “I’m giving back. I love these students, and I think they love spending time with someone who’s been out fighting battles. They know it’s been 40 years of fighting dragons.”
As the Nickersons’ generosity helps take WashULaw to the next level, it likewise ensures future graduates are primed to take on dragons and negotiate 21st-century challenges with the skill, character, and integrity of true leaders.
Contact us to learn more about establishing an endowed position at Washington University.
