---
title: NetPlus Academy Funding
description: The NetPlus Academy is launching major education initiatives for our distributor members with Tooling U-SME and Texas A&M.
image: https://blog.netplusalliance.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Sam_Ward-300x206.jpg
---

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# NetPlus Academy Funding

 February 12, 2018 by [NetPlus Alliance](https://blog.netplusalliance.com/author/netplusalliance)

![](https://blog.netplusalliance.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Sam_Ward-300x206.jpg)

The NetPlus Academy may be the most significant program NetPlus Alliance has undertaken. We are launching major education initiatives for our distributor members with Tooling U-SME and Texas A&M.

As you have seen from our announcements about these two programs, NetPlus Alliance is funding a significant portion of each. I am pleased to announce that this funding is a legacy of my cousin, Sam Ward, who was the third generation leader of our company when he was president of Ward Beals and McCarthy. In the 1980’s, Sam included a Key Man insurance policy as part of the succession planning he was doing at that time. NetPlus Alliance is the beneficiary of that policy and it will be allocated to the NetPlus Academy programming. In addition, any royalties earned from Academy activities will be reinvested into the Academy.

Sam Ward died at the age of 94 in mid-November. He was still alert and always asking how the business was going and what’s going with our suppliers and distributors. He would be very pleased that an insurance policy he invested in over 40 years ago would be used to train our distributors from entry level employees up to and including company owners and senior management.

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