Columbus State hires new chief fundraiser amid $100M campaign

Amid its campaign to raise more than $100 million, Columbus State University has a new chief fundraiser.

CSU announced Friday it hired Paul “Rocky” Kettering III as vice president for university advancement and executive director of the Columbus State University Foundation Inc.

Kettering is vice president for development and external relations at the Texas State Aquarium. After he starts his new job early next month, his priority will be finishing CSU’s $106.15 million “First Choice” comprehensive capital campaign, envisioned to conclude by 2019 and “cement CSU’s status as a favored destination for top students and faculty,” according to the March 2015 news release that announced the campaign.

And his background indicates he is prepared for the challenge. Kettering has directed more than $150 million in capital campaigns and fundraising initiatives during 17 years as an institutional leader, according to Friday’s news release from CSU.

“We had a great deal of interest in the position because of this campaign, this university and this community,” CSU president Chris Markwood said in the release. “With his experience and his expertise, Dr. Kettering stood out to many of us as the best person to come in and continue to cultivate the amazing tradition of public-private partnerships here. I am very excited to have Rocky join our CSU family.”

The CSU campaign has about $85 million in commitments, CSU assistant vice president for university relations John Lester told the Ledger-Enquirer. A search committee and Markwood interviewed five finalists, Lester said. The number of applicants wasn’t available before the L-E’s deadline.

Kettering succeeds Alan Medders, who left CSU five months ago to become president of Myers McRae Executive Search and Consulting, the Macon firm that helped CSU hire him in March 2012 from the University of North Alabama, where he had a similar job. CSU again used Myers McRae in this search, Lester said. Spence Sealy, CSU’s associate vice president for development, has performed Medders’ duties during the interim.

Columbus and CSU impressed Kettering during his visit here, a place that’s been familiar to him.

“The more I learn about the people there and the legacy that’s been created, the more fortunate I feel about joining the team,” he said in the release. “My uncle, Dr. Ron Kettering, was a professor in the business school for many years and still lives in the community. Having family connections in Columbus and Atlanta is not only important to us, but I get a real sense that the family culture is very important and evident at CSU too. My wife, children and I are very excited about joining the CSU family.”

Kettering has worked since 2013 at the Texas State Aquarium, where he led a $50 million campaign to expand the nonprofit facility in Corpus Christi. That’s the same city where Markwood was the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi before he became CSU’s fifth president June 1, 2015. He succeeded Tim Mescon, who retired Dec. 31, 2014, and led CSU for six years.

Kettering’s previous jobs include leading the fundraising at St. Mary’s University and Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and development positions at the University of Southern Mississippi, Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta and Cathedral High School in Natchez, Miss.

He earned a doctorate in organizational leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a master’s degree in philanthropy and development from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University. (His undergraduate major isn’t noted in the release.) He also is a certified fundraising executive.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Columbus State hires new chief fundraiser amid $100M campaign."