Dr. Davis with Finance Minister His Excellency Yousef Kamal  at the Texas A&M at Qatar Engineering Building Celebration.

“This past year as interim president of Texas A&M has helped me appreciate the relationship between the Texas A&M Foundation and the university,” said Davis from his office in the Jon L. Hagler Center on campus. “As the primary fund raiser for academics, it is essential that the Foundation be fully integrated into the university’s planning and strategy.

To achieve the ambitious goals we have set for ourselves in Vision 2020, and to attain the excellence that all Aggies expect of us, the president of Texas A&M University must be committed to and engaged in major-gift philanthropy, and we at the Foundation must facilitate that commitment.”

Davis, who has been president of the Foundation for 14 years, was named interim president of Texas A&M in December 2006 after Dr. Robert M. Gates was appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense. Gates had been Texas A&M’s president since August 2002.

Davis embarked on his presidency in January 2007 with a severe ice storm that shut down roads in usually balmy College Station. “The students immediately loved me because we delayed classes for two days,” he said. “But we had plenty of fire storms during the year to make up for it. I explained going in that I did not know how to act as an interim, so I just carried out the duties of the president as I thought best.”

 During his year-long tenure, Texas A&M experienced record enrollment levels and overall gains in minority student recruitment. It continued progress on faculty reinvestment and initiated construction on several new campus buildings.

A distinct highlight for Davis was the 2007 legislative session, which yielded the highest appropriations for Texas A&M in the last decade, including $40 million to continue faculty reinvestment. The overall increase in state funding allowed the university to hold its tuition increase to only 5 percent.

He also encountered some extraordinary experiences in his role as president―some more enjoyable than others―such as: addressing a ban on all biodefense research at Texas A&M by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including testifying before Congress; speaking at the 2007 China-U.S. Relations Conference in Washington, D.C.; opening a new engineering complex at Texas A&M’s Qatar campus; and hiring new head football and basketball coaches.

Davis took it all in stride as just another day’s work.

“The experience was invigorating,” he said. “There were modest surprises, probably the most significant being the relentless demands on the president’s time. A two-event night is a day off in the life of the president. But the inspiration of the students, faculty and former students of Texas A&M gave me the energy and adrenaline to keep the university moving forward during this exciting time.”

Before joining the Foundation in 1993, Davis held every key financial position at the university and The Texas A&M University System, ultimately working as executive deputy chancellor. He is a tenured professor on the faculty of the Department of Educational Administration. All three of his degrees―including a bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D.―bear the Texas A&M University seal. Davis also served four years in the U.S. Army, including a tour with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam.

“From my university observation post, I would note that it is more important than ever for the Texas A&M Foundation, Texas A&M University and our philanthropic partners to maintain our vision and direction related to Vision 2020. Everyone is in favor of progress; it’s just the change they dislike. Change will inevitably create some discomfort, but the talisman of progress will be the achievement of those Vision 2020 goals set out by Texas A&M in the early 2000s. We will continue to work at the Texas A&M Foundation to attain those goals so this university can reach its enormous potential.”

John R. Stropp ’66, who served as interim president of the Foundation during Davis’s leave of absence, will resume his duties as the Foundation’s senior vice president for administration and operations, a position he has held since 1997. During his time as interim president of the Foundation, Stropp presided over the successful finale of the One Spirit One Vision Campaign, which raised more than $1.5 billion for Texas A&M, and also directed the best year in the Foundation’s financial history―a year in which it received more than $125 million in gifts.

“I have enjoyed the opportunity to be of service to Texas A&M and to lead the Foundation during the last year,” said Stropp. “It has been an immensely satisfying experience to work closely with so many special people. The greatest treasure of this great university is the committed and generous former students who keep coming back to be part of the Aggie experience and who share with us their resources because they believe in Texas A&M and what it stands for. It’s been a great ride!”

Since 1953 the Texas A&M Foundation’s fundraising and investment staff has worked with former students, corporate partners and other nonprofit organizations to invest in the Aggie Spirit and Mind. It does so through personal relationships—often forged over years—built on confidence, trustworthy financial stewardship, and an intelligent investment strategy. With $1.1 billion in assets, the Foundation funds faculty chairs, student scholarships, capital construction, student activities and other programs.

For more articles on his presidency, click the following links:

 A Roller Coaster of a Year featured in The Eagle.

Devotion Toward a Vision featured in The Batt.