Glessner Family Makes Major Gift to the HPU Fund for Extraordinary Education
Friends of High Point University, Gary and Melissa Glessner, of Wheeling, West Virginia, recently gave a major gift to the HPU Fund for Extraordinary Education.
HIGH POINT, N.C., May 26, 2022 – Friends of High Point University, Gary and Melissa Glessner, of Wheeling, West Virginia, recently gave a major gift to the HPU Fund for Extraordinary Education.
“As a university, our mission is to support our students throughout their educational journey,” says HPU President Dr. Nido Qubein. “With support from our HPU families, like the Glessners, we are able to provide $75 million in annual scholarship funding for today’s students through the HPU Fund for Extraordinary Education.”
Gary Glessner is the founder and president of the Glessner Group, a multi-service firm and agency group. Upon graduation from Wheeling College, Gary began his career as a CPA at a local firm. He did this for eleven years before he decided to start his own business. When he founded the Glessner Group in 1998, the company was a tax and accounting firm. Since then, it has expanded to include a property and casualty agency, a wealth management firm, and an advertising agency.
“We admire many of the values and philosophies that HPU teaches and instills in its students,” says Gary Glessner. “As a businessman and someone who has been very involved in educational institutions, I wanted to help HPU to grow as a university and to help shape the lives of the extraordinary students who attend the institution.”
The Glessners are involved in several organizations and institutions that reflect both their interests and community, such as the arts, nature, education and professional development. One of the institutions the family is involved in is The Linsly School, where their children Kelsey and Sydney, have both attended. Gary himself also attended the school as a child, when it was still a military academy. Gary continues to stay involved in the school as an active alumnus and member of the Board of Trustees. At The Linsly School, the Glessners learned about HPU through friends and faculty, and after learning more about HPU and the values the institution holds, decided to become involved to help promote the success to other families.
In addition to his own business, Gary helps to run the family’s gas station and convenience store locations, as well as their West Virginia Limited Video Lottery machine business. The company has their machines in 120 locations around the state and is the second largest video lottery operator in West Virginia. Gary also owns commercial real estate in West Virginia, including the Travel Centers of America truck stop that is located between Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The truck stop was built by Gary’s grandfather in the 1960s and was once the largest truck stop in America.