Hall of Fame - Gordon Allen

Gordon E. Allen Gordon Allen served as a financial aid manager, trainer, counselor, auditor and consultant for thirty years in Texas. His work has had a significant impact on financial aid delivery. From 1969 to 1974, as senior accountant and auditor in the Office of Accounting at the University of Texas at Austin, he successfully installed new systems and procedures to improve the administration of the University's student loan program. He assumed the responsibility for the monitoring and reporting of endowment funds. In this capacity he became very familiar with endowed scholarships and worked closely with financial aid programs. In 1974, he joined the management staff of the University's newly reorganized Office of Student Financial Assistance. Until 1981, he supervised all operational and financial functions of the department and lead the successful installation of an automated financial aid and accounting system, a two-year software development and database conversion project. In 1981 during their second year of operation, he joined the management staff of Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation where he continued his career in managing operations and developing automated systems. In 1990, he joined the staff of Texas Commerce Bank as Vice President. Since then, he has managed the student loan portfolio for several large financial institutions. His work with the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TGSLC) and Texas financial institutions has established him as one of the most experienced financial aid professionals in Texas, especially in educational lending. He supported the programs of TASFAA and NASFAA for years in a variety of ways. He was instrumental in helping deliver a summer employment program for TASFAA entitled "Project Set". He developed and implemented the TASFAA Hall of Fame and Service Award programs. He was a trainer for the NASFAA Training Program, advisor to the Department of Education on B.E.O.G. and a member of the NCHELP Program Operation Committee. He is one of the founders and past President of the Association of Texas Lenders for Education (ATLE). He served as Chairman of the Lender/School Advisory Committee of TGSLC during that committee's formative years and again as Lender Chairman in 1999. He was one of the pioneers of automation in the financial aid delivery. Some of the systems he designed are still in use. He holds an MBA in Public Administration from St. Edward's University and a BBA in Accounting from Southwest Texas State University. In 2000 he officially retired from financial aid, but has since returned to his "chosen" career.