From financial insight to student empowerment: Overmire gift advances financial literacy at SFSU

Throughout his career, Charlie Overmire (B.S. ’87, International Business) saw firsthand how many young people struggled with basic financial concepts. As he approached retirement, he and his wife, Diane, decided to address the problem.

In 2025, they established the Overmire Family Endowed Internship in Finance and Economics at San Francisco State University. The program enhances the Finance and Economics Department curriculum with content, events, and activities that promote financial literacy and healthy money habits, helping students become more confident and responsible decision-makers.

Charlie built his career from the ground up. While attending Diablo Valley College, he started working at a big box retailer in Pleasant Hill, CA, taking on roles in merchandising. At that time, the company was developing plans for stores in Europe, Indonesia and Singapore. Seeing the opportunity for overseas advancement Charlie chose to study International Business at SFSU.

After graduating from SFSU, he entered the company’s management program and steadily advanced, eventually managing stores and hiring staff, including for new stores in Hawaii and Guam. When the company later refocused on only the domestic U.S. market, Charlie was promoted to a role in store operations finance, which included training new district and store managers. When the company later merged with a traditional retailer, Charlie continued in the same role supporting both retail formats.  

Early in his management experience, Charlie noticed a troubling pattern: many hourly associates lacked even basic financial knowledge. “They really didn’t have any personal finance literacy, let alone training,” he says. “It was kind of like trying to get them to understand basic things. It was all new to them.” Charlie also saw a similar personal financial literacy opportunity later on when working with new store managers on how to interpret their store profit and loss statements.

“They really didn’t have any personal finance literacy, let alone training. It was all new to them.”

—Charlie Overmire (B.S. ’87) on colleagues he encountered early in his management experience

Today, financial literacy has become a national priority. Thirty states, including California, now require public high schools to offer financial literacy courses. California plans to launch its program in the 2027–28 academic year, with the course becoming a graduation requirement by 2030–31.

When the COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity for early retirement after 37 years, Charlie began thinking about how to give back. He and Diane saw the endowed internship as a meaningful way to equip SFSU students with essential financial knowledge.

Under the leadership of fund director Venoo Kakar, professor of Economics in SFSU’s Lam Family College of Business, the program has already hosted events such as a campus screening of the award-winning documentary This Is Not Financial Advice. The March event drew about 100 attendees, mostly students, and featured a live interview with director Zach Ingrasci and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) director Jacob Yunger.

“College students often navigate financial decisions with limited resources, making them one of the more financially vulnerable populations on campus,” Kakar says. “This endowed internship is designed to meet them where they are, equipping them with practical knowledge and confidence in financial decision-making.”

The film examines crypto investing through the story of Dogecoin investor Glauber “Pro” Contessoto, offering a cautionary look at modern investing and social media influence. Overmire intern Ling-Fong Chung, a first-year master’s student in SFSU’s Quantitative Economics program, helped organize the event, which sparked strong engagement from students.

“College students often navigate financial decisions with limited resources, making them one of the more financially vulnerable populations on campus. This endowed internship is designed to meet them where they are, equipping them with practical knowledge and confidence in financial decision-making.”

—Venoo Kakar, professor of Economics in SFSU’s Lam Family College of Business

Professor Kakar hopes the program will expand its reach across campus through additional events and programming.

“The internship represents a unique opportunity to advance student-centered financial literacy programming at SFSU,” Professor Kakar says. “It provides hands-on experience in translating financial concepts into accessible, relevant initiatives that resonate with peers. Through the intern’s role, the initiative empowers students to normalize conversations about money and fosters a culture of informed financial decision-making across the SFSU community. This is especially relevant at a time when many Gen Z and millennial students turn to social media for financial advice.”

“The initiative empowers students to normalize conversations about money and fosters a culture of informed financial decision-making across the SFSU community. This is especially relevant at a time when many Gen Z and millennial students turn to social media for financial advice.”

—Venoo Kakar, professor of Economics in SFSU’s Lam Family College of Business

Ling-Fong, who graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a degree in biophysics, has already seen that interest grow. “Students from across the campus are interested and want more education on financial literacy and personal finance,” she says. “I personally spoke with clubs as diverse as the Financial Technology, Black Student Union and Cinema student orgs, who are considering putting on their own financial literacy events because their members were asking for some guidance.”

She is also launching, under Professor Kakar’s guidance, a book club centered on The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, with copies distributed at the March screening through the Overmires’ gift.

“The book club is happening not only to take advantage of this gift, but also to talk about the emotions that are, many times, behind personal finance decisions,” Ling-Fong says. “I appreciate that as the Overmire Family Endowment intern, I was given a chance to learn more about financial literacy, student leadership, salesmanship, and behavior.”

“The book club [centered on The Psychology of Money] is happening not only to take advantage of this gift, but also to talk about the emotions that are, many times, behind personal finance decisions.”

—Ling-Fong Chung, Overmire Family Endowment intern & first-year master’s student in SFSU’s Quantitative Economics program

For Charlie, the motivation to give back reflects his gratitude to SFSU.

“SFSU helped me be successful and get to a point where I could give back, so hopefully we can create some skillsets in students so that 30, 40 years from now they’re doing the same thing for the University,” he says.

“I don’t think that I would have progressed as far in my career without a degree from San Francisco State, as getting promoted up through the management ranks would have been a lot tougher. Also, we didn’t have financial literacy (courses) back then, but San Francisco State taught me how to think critically. It taught me how to communicate professionally and manage people. So now we’re just giving back to the institution that helped me throughout my career.”

“I don’t think that I would have progressed as far in my career without a degree from San Francisco State. [...] San Francisco State taught me how to think critically. It taught me how to communicate professionally and manage people. So now we’re just giving back to the institution that helped me throughout my career.”

—Charlie Overmire (B.S. ’87)