Virginia Tech Foundation CEO to retire next spring

John Dooley will have been with the university for nearly 40 years

Published August 11, 2020 by Sydney Lake

The Virginia Tech Foundation announced Monday that John Dooley, who has served as chief executive officer for the foundation since 2012, will retire during spring 2021. He will have been with the university for nearly 40 years.

Dooley joined Tech in 1982 at age 27 and directed the then-brand new Northern Virginia 4-H Center in Front Royal. During his time with the university, he has focused on broadening the university’s impact across the state in several leadership positions.

“John Dooley exemplifies Ut Prosim [“That I may serve],” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, said in a statement. “He has been a tremendous partner to me and many others, and we wish him the very best in his well-earned retirement.”

The Virginia Tech Foundation manages the university’s endowment and oversees economic development by working with university partners. While Dooley has been in charge of the foundation, the endowment has more than doubled to more than $1.3 billion (as of June 30). The foundation’s value also increased by approximately $1 billion to $2.2 billion, and the amount of real estate managed by the foundation has increased by nearly 2 million square feet.

Dooley has also played key roles in large economic development projects for the state, including Carilion Clinic expansions and landing Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2 headquarters.

“We realized our only shot at winning centered on our wonderful higher education system, including a major role for Virginia Tech,” Stephen Moret, president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, said in a statement. “John Dooley was part of a small group of senior leaders at Virginia Tech that made an instrumental contribution to Virginia’s ultimately successful Amazon HQ2 bid.”

While earning his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from what is now Alderson Broaddus University, Dooley created a sports information office at the school. He then went on to work as a public information officer at the school and eventually became a fundraiser for the institution. 

Dooley earned his master’s degree and doctorate from Tech while working for the university, with his research focused on the land-grant university system.

“I have been shaped by, and hope that I have been able to shape to some degree what it means to be a contemporary land-grant university,” Dooley said in a statement.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.