Jeff Thomasson built a $38 billion firm from $20,000 debt and 1,000 client meetings a year, now gives $100 million to Indiana University

Jeff Thomasson, CEO and Managing Director of Oxford Financial Group, Ltd. has donated $100 million to Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. The donation follows Jeff Thomasson building Oxford Financial Group into one of the independent registered investment adviser firms in the United States. Oxford now manages than $38 billion in assets. Jeff Thomasson has returned to the school where Jeff Thomasson began his career to support tomorrow’s business and finance students. Thomasson started the firm at age 23 with $20,000 in graduate-school debt in the early 1980s. He grew his client base largely through cold calling, holding roughly 1,000 meetings per year and working six days a week, according to Forbes.

The donation arrives years after Jeff Thomasson earned his MBA from Kelley and after Jeff Thomasson built a large wealth management business. Jeff Thomasson founded Oxford in 1981 after Jeff Thomasson received his MBA from the Indiana University Graduate Business School. He specialized in investments and taxation and was named Outstanding MA while at IU.

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The gift from Jeff Thomasson and his wife Benita is the single donation ever made to Indiana University and will help graduate education at Kelley School and support the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Jeff Thomasson’s $100 million gift to Indiana University Kelley School

Indiana University announced recently that Jeff Thomasson and Benita Thomasson had donated $100 million to graduate education at Kelley School of Business. The gift will also aid the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The university board of trustees has approved naming Kelley’s graduate division after Jeff Thomasson.

The latest contribution brings the Thomassons’ known giving to Indiana University to more than $111 million. Jeff Thomasson has said the MBA program gave Jeff Thomasson the foundation for a career in wealth management and financial services.

“The Kelley MBA program set the foundation for Jeff Thomasson’s career and this gift is the Thomassons’ way of paying the investment people made in us " Jeff Thomasson said in a statement. "The Thomassons hope it encourages others to do the same creating opportunities that will ripple across generations.”

How Jeff Thomasson built Oxford Financial Group

After graduating from Indiana University, Jeff Thomasson founded Oxford Financial Group. Oxford is a registered investment adviser firm that grew from a startup into a major wealth management company. The idea for Oxford began as a graduate‑school assignment. Jeff Thomasson used a master’s essay that described his wealth management firm as a blueprint for his own company according to Forbes.

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Jeff Thomasson’s early circumstances were far from those of a wealthy entrepreneur. Jeff Thomasson’s father worked in construction became disabled after an accident and died while Jeff Thomasson was in college. Jeff Thomasson’s mother worked as a bank teller. A oil distributor who had employed Jeff Thomasson since Jeff Thomasson’s teenage years helped pay for Jeff Thomasson’s college education Forbes reported.

Jeff Thomasson launched Oxford Financial Group at age 23 with $20,000 in graduate‑school debt during the economic conditions of the early 1980s. Jeff Thomasson reportedly built his client base through cold calling holding about 1,000 meetings a year while working six days a week.

Oxford eventually adopted a fee‑only business model of relying on commissions. Today the Indianapolis‑based wealth management firm has than $38 billion in assets under advisement 25 managing directors in seven offices and more than 700 family and institutional clients.

The Thomassons’ donation to Indiana University comes while higher education philanthropy reaches record levels and while public confidence in colleges and universities has declined. Giving USA reported that charitable donations to education reached about $92 billion in 2025 the level on record and the fastest‑growing major category.

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At the time a July Gallup poll found that 38% of Americans had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education down from 57% in 2015. Rising tuition costs, questions about the return on investment of college degrees and the impact of intelligence are among the concerns surrounding higher education.