FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The University of Saint Francis is pleased to announce the hiring of Dr. Ronald (Ron) Turpin as Interim Vice President for Advancement and Strategic Initiatives.
“Ron was a member of the USF Board of Trustees for the past five years, so he is very aware and engaged in the work we have done with strategic planning and program evaluations over the past year,” said USF President Sister M. Elise Kriss, OSF.
Turpin recently retired from Gibson Insurance, where he was Principal, CFO and Market President. Prior to joining Gibson, he was VP – Head of Financial Operations at Lincoln Financial Group, where he worked for 14 years in a variety of leadership positions in the retail sales division. He also served as CFO of Lincoln’s three broker-dealers. Throughout his career, he has been recognized for his results-oriented, team-focused leadership.
“I recently retired from Gibson so that I could spend more time in my passion areas of giving back to a community that has given me, and my family, so much. I can think of no better way to start this journey than with Saint Francis in this interim role. The opportunity to serve the university community in this way is one I am very excited about,” Turpin said.
Turpin is a licensed CPA in the State of Indiana and has extensive background in finance and strategy. He is also a licensed attorney in Indiana. Among Turpin’s honors are 2019 Distinguished Hoosier Award from Governor Eric Holcomb, 2018 Greater Fort Wayne, Inc. Service Award, 2017 Outstanding Community Service Award from Indiana CPA Society, 2016 Northeast Indiana CFO of the Year by Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly and 2016 Athena Award for outstanding support of women leaders.
Turpin has been involved in several community boards over the years and is currently on the board of the Fort Wayne Zoological Society, Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana, The Indiana Association of United Ways and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Turpin and his wife, Kathleen, have two children: Madi, a sophomore at Taylor University and Cameron, a senior at Leo High School. Kathleen is Vice President of Human Resources at Brotherhood Mutual Insurance.
For more information, please contact Melissa Studebaker at 260-399-7700, ext. 6912, or email mstudebaker@sf.edu.
Founded in 1890 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, the University of Saint Francis offers more than 70 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs through the School of Health Sciences, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Keith Busse School of Business and Entrepreneurial Leadership and School of Creative Arts. In addition to its traditional programs, USF designs focused curricula for working adults in Fort Wayne, Crown Point and online. USF Downtown houses the university’s business and music technology programs while offering enhanced internship and networking opportunities for students. The University of Saint Francis campus experience includes 16 athletic programs boasting two individual and four team NAIA national championships and is recognized as an NAIA Five-Star Champion of Character institution. Approximately 2,200 students from a broad geographic region attend USF.