­George Nichols III, President and CEO of The American College of Financial Services, was recently named one of Forbes magazine’s inaugural Cultural 50 Champions, writes Aaron Mudd of Bowling Green Daily News.

Nichols, who is a Western Kentucky University graduate, was also named to the Savoy magazine list of 2021 Most Influential Black Corporate Directors

Before coming into his current role in King of Prussia, Nichols worked in Kentucky. He became the first Black insurance commissioner, where he led reforms of a multi-billion-dollar industry. Nichols also worked at New York Life–one of the largest insurance companies in the country–for nearly two decades.

Despite his many accomplishments, Nichols has remained quite humble and views himself as a man of deep faith. His faith has become all the more important to him in recent years due to the number of high-profile killings of black men by police and instances of police brutality that have set alight protests against racism.

“I do not feel it’s a coincidence that here I am, the first African American president of The American College of Financial Services, appointed a year before social unrest revived urgency for actual change, with a platform to address the wealth gap in America,” George Nichols said.

Read more about George Nichols III in Bowling Green Daily News.