Tony Nicely. Photo provided.
When Tony Nicely thinks back on his 55-year career at GEICO, he invariably recalls wisdom given him by his grandfather, Minor Nicely, who advised him to never stop learning.
“Be curious,” Nicely said his grandfather told him, “and always be prepared so you can recognize opportunity when it comes along.”
That sentiment will help frame remarks GEICO’s chairman and chief executive will make on Dec. 21 as the keynote speaker at the afternoon session of George Mason University’s Winter Graduation.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila Johnson will speak during the morning session.
“It will be a pretty simple message about what people should think about as they look to the future,” Nicely, 73, said of his remarks. “That’s pretty simple in my mind. Do something you’re passionate about doing with people you are passionate about doing it with. And it has to benefit society.”
Nicely, from Allegheny County, Va., wanted to be a civil engineer when in 1961 he took what he thought would be a temporary position as a clerk at GEICO. But he enjoyed the insurance business, and following his grandfather’s advice to “learn, learn, learn,” Nicely rose through the company, the nation’s second-largest auto insurer.
He was elected an assistant vice president in 1973, was promoted to regional vice president in 1980, senior vice president in 1985, executive vice president in 1987 and president in 1989. He has held his current positions since 1993.
Nicely’s connection to George Mason is extensive. His daughter, Lori Reid, earned her BS in social work at Mason in 1983, and Nicely, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgia College, took statistics and calculus classes at Mason in the early ’80s. He is a former director of the George Mason University Foundation Inc. and received the School of Business’ Lifetime Achievement Medal.
“I have a special affinity for George Mason,” said Nicely, who lives in Gainesville, Va., with his wife, Sally. “I’m not a person who really likes to put themselves out there, but I couldn’t be asked to speak at a better place.”