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Dr. Jason Penry joins Arkansas State as Chief of Staff

08/13/2012

JONESBORO — Dr. Jason C. Penry, the chief fundraising officer at Angelo State University, has accepted a position as Chief of Staff at Arkansas State University, ASU officials announced Monday afternoon.

Dr. Penry, who will officially begin his duties Tuesday, Sept. 4, will help the Chancellor and his leadership team establish university priorities, provide strategic leadership and support for university initiatives, and develop policy recommendations and actions. He will join Dr. Hudson’s executive council at a salary of $132,000.

“I am pleased that Dr. Penry has agreed to become a part of the Arkansas State University family,” said Dr. Hudson. “His vision, progressive leadership style and successful executive level experience will help us devise and implement strategies to move ASU toward even greater success.”


“I look forward to joining the staff at Arkansas State,” said Penry. "The Jonesboro campus has obvious momentum. Everyone has the desire to see the university grow.  I was immediately drawn to the friendliness of ASU and local community. I look forward to working closely with Chancellor Hudson and am proud to be a Red Wolf.”


Dr. Penry comes to ASU from Angelo State, a member of the Texas Tech University System. While there, he served as Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations and Executive Director of Development since 2009. He had the responsibility for heading Angelo State’s capital campaign to raise $25 million, a goal met nearly two years earlier than the projected date. Dr. Kent Hance, Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, said, “Jason Penry is an outstanding professional, one of the best and brightest in the TTU System.  We will miss him but we are happy for his new opportunity and for Chancellor Hudson at Arkansas State.”


Dr. Penry's many accomplishments include collaborating with the Texas Tech University System to increase the number of documented planned gifts by 350 percent and annual giving, including the participation rate of faculty-staff giving from seven percent to 27 percent in two years. This activity was featured in theJuly/August 2012 issue of CASE Currents magazine.


Before joining TTU, Jason worked as the Executive Director of POSSE, the official fundraising arm of Oklahoma State University Athletics. He helped the POSSE membership grow by 37 percent in his first year, the largest annual increase in the organization’s 45-year history and largest among Big 12 Conference members.


He secured $13 million in annual memberships and co-chaired OSU’s 2008 football ticket sales campaign that helped set all-time records in ticket revenue ($3 million increase from the previous year) and total ticket sales.


Over the past eight years, Penry served as a consultant for Carr Sports Associates, Inc., an intercollegiate athletics firm that specializes in management consulting and executive searches for head coaches, directors of athletics and other athletic administrators.


From 2004-07, he served with the 12th Man Foundation for Texas A&M as Development Officer for Major Gifts. He also spent two years as Assistant Membership Manager of the 12th Man Foundation, receiving and managing financial gifts and maintaining a membership database with over 23,000 and annual revenues over $17.3 million.


A native Texan, Penry holds his Ph.D. in higher education administration from Texas A&M (2008). He earned a Master of Science in Sport Management in 2002 from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education from LSU-Shreveport, where he was a member of the intercollegiate baseball team and student body president for the 2000-01 academic year.


He is a member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the National Association of Athletic Directors of Development.