From the 2021 Collegian | For Brand Elverston, going to The University of Alabama was the chance of a lifetime. Now, he wants to help other students have that chance through the Brand L. Elverston Endowed Eminent Scholarship in Criminal Justice.

“My biggest desire is to help a student who wants to go to college, but maybe can’t afford it,” Elverston said. “I want to help the Brand Elverston of 2021.”

Elverston graduated from UA in 1983, after transferring to the school for his junior year. He was a member of the ROTC, and helped form the Criminal Justice Student Association. His mother, who raised Elverston and his brother as a single parent, encouraged him in every way possible. Elverston says that his experience at UA and his mother’s support helped shape him into the person he is today.

“To this day, those two and a half years when I was a transfer student really changed who I am,” Elverston said. “It was an incredibly positive experience.

After graduating, Elverston served in the United States Army as a Field Artillery officer until 1995, when he took a position with Walmart’s operations management. In 2003, Brand was recalled to active duty, assigned to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. After he returned to the States, he continued his role at Walmart, eventually becoming the Director of Asset Protection Strategic Initiatives for the corporation. When he retired in 2017, he became a business consultant and a self-described “serial mentor.

“I have a real deep-seated desire to pay it forward,” Elverston said. “I want to tell students that I was them 40 years ago, I was in the same chair that they’re in now, and I didn’t have everything figured out. I had no plan. But with a good moral foundation and the ability to do what’s right, chances are it’s going to work out just fine.

Elverston “pays it forward” by both visiting campus and meeting with students and funding a scholarship to help students in the major from which he graduated. He also mentors students and professionals all over the world through his book, Proclivity: It’s more intuitive than you think, resist making it hard. The book, released in June of 2021,  has sold hundreds of copies all over the world and explores how Elverston’s life experiences shaped his worldview, motivations, and business knowledge.