Jeff Davis, a veteran alumni association executive at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, is being named Mississippi State University’s executive director of the alumni association.
Davis succeeds Jimmy Abraham, who retired earlier this year after a 38-year career in alumni affairs and student affairs. He is set to begin his duties on November 18.
Davis will serve as the key liaison between the university and its more than 127,000 living alumni around the state and across the nation. The 135-year-old land-grant institution has more than 95 alumni chapters in locations across the U.S. and overseas.
In his new role, Davis will develop and implement programs to maintain lifelong interactions between Mississippi State graduates and the institution and provide feedback from alumni about their concerns, said John P. Rush, MSU vice president for development and alumni.
Davis served as SFA’s executive director of alumni affairs since 2008. He also was chief executive of both the SFA Alumni Association and the SFA Alumni Foundation.
At the comprehensive regional institution, Davis was responsible for the direction and management of an SFA alumni relations program that serviced nearly 100,000 alumni worldwide. He also was charged with raising funds to support student scholarships and alumni programs. Prior to the executive director post at SFA, he served as director of development for the SFA Alumni Association. The Clear Lake, Texas, native also worked for the University of Alabama at Birmingham as assistant director of new student orientation and parent programs.
Davis holds a master of business administration in management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Business. He is a 2002 graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University where he earned a bachelor’s in business administration from the Nelson Rusche College of Business.
Davis belongs to the Council of Alumni Association Executives, which is made up of 100 chief executive officers of the top 100 alumni organizations that support four-year institutions of higher education. He is an active member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Alumni Professionals of Texas, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Nacogdoches Jaycees, the Fredonia Rotary Club and the alumni chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.
Joining Davis in Starkville will be his wife, Jenny, and two daughters Campbell and Collins.
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