Faculty Profile

Marshall Meek, mba '17, has served as president of the Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation since 2017 and previously as the executive director of major and planned giving from January 2015 to April 2017. In addition to his role at the Foundation, from September 2022 to January 2023, he served as interim president of Washburn University.

While serving as the president of the Alumni Association and Foundation, Meek has worked with the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors to set the vision and strategy for the organization. For the past five years, he has also served on the executive staff at the University and worked with the University President and the Board of Regents to identify future fundraising needs. As the face and voice of the Foundation, he has spent his time focusing on fiscal responsibility, donor and fundraising strategy, and developing a strong organizational structure.

According to the NACUBO Commonfund Study of Endowments, the Foundation ranks in the top 50 nationally among all public institutions for endowment dollars per full time equivalent student. The organization engages with 52,000 living Washburn alumni and friends of the University and has more than $200 million in assets. During Meek's time at the organization, fundraising commitments have averaged more than $16 million a year with an additional $6 million raised annually in planned giving commitments. The Foundation successfully completed 150 Forward: The Campaign for Washburn University in 2017 raising more than $144 million during the 7-year campaign.

Before coming to Washburn, he previously served as executive director of the St. Francis Health Foundation and was the senior development officer at the First Hand Foundation at Cerner Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. He received his master’s in business administration from Washburn University and his bachelor's degree in mass communications from Kansas State University.

In the community, Meek was named honorary commander of the National Guard's 190th Air Refueling Wing in 2020, and he has served as board chair of the Marion Dental Clinic Board of Directors and as a past board member of the United Way of Greater Topeka. He has been the co-facilitator of the Brenneman Leadership Series at Washburn for the past several years and is a 2016 Leadership Washburn graduate. In 2017, he was honored with the Boy Scout Jayhawk Area Council's 20 under 40 award.

Meek and his wife, Amy, have five children and have resided in Topeka, Kansas since 2011. Together, they have served as licensed foster parents and as a support family for YouThrive, a support program to help foster children who have aged out of care.