James E. Rogers is the founder and owner of Intermountain West Communications Company, which owns and operates 11 NBC and FOX affiliate television stations in five Western states. Rogers was in active law practice in Las Vegas from 1964 through 1988, when he began to devote all of his time to the development of the television and radio stations of Intermountain as well as various banks. In May 2004, Rogers was appointed by the board of regents to serve as the Nevada System of Higher Education’s ninth Chancellor. The System consists of eight institutions including two universities, one state college, four community colleges and one research institution. It has approximately 110,000 students and 14,000 employees. Rogers served as Chancellor through June 30, 2009.
An active supporter of education, he and his wife, Beverly, have made substantial financial contributions to various colleges and universities. Their gift of $137,000,000 to the University of Arizona College of Law is the largest gift to the University of Arizona and the largest gift to any American law school. In November 1998, the Arizona Board of Regents renamed the University of Arizona college of Law The James E. Rogers College of Law. In 1999 Mr. Rogers was listed as one of the top 11 philanthropists in the Nation by Time Magazine having given or pledged more than $275 million to various colleges and universities.
Rogers received a B.S. in accounting and an LL.B. from the University of Arizona and an LL.M. from the University of Southern California. He served as a teaching fellow at the University of Illinois, College of Law from 1963 to 1964. In 2010 he was an Executive in Residence at Johns Hopkins Business School.
Rogers holds honorary doctorates from the University of Arizona, Gonzaga University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, Albertson College of Idaho, Carroll College of Montana, and Kentucky Wesleyan College, and a master of laws in International Law from the University of Arizona. He is a member of the State Bar Associations of Nevada, Arizona and California.
Rogers became a member of the board of directors of Nevada National Bank in 1981 and was chairman of the board from 1985 to 1987. He then served as a member of the board of directors of Security Pacific Bank. He was a 1995 founder and served on the board of directors of Community Bank of Nevada. He left that bank to form Nevada First Bank in 1998. Nevada First Bank merged with the Bank of Nevada, where Rogers served on the board of directors. He served on the board of directors of Meadows Bank.
Rogers has served on the Board of Trustees of the New York University School of Law, the Board of Councilors of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, the Board of Councilors of the University of New Mexico School of Law, the Deans’ Finance Committee of the University of Idaho School of Law, the Executive Committee of the Board of Councilors of the University of Southern California School of Law, the Board of the USC College of Business, the Dean’s Council of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Law, the Dean’s Finance Committee of the University of Arizona School of Law and the Gonzaga Law School Board of Trustees.
Rogers is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Law Center in Tucson, Arizona, and was the President of the Idaho State University Foundation. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Claremont School of Theology. He served as a Board Member of the Motion Picture and Television Fund and is one of the first nine elected to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Business Hall of Fame.
