NSU Bids Farewell to Foundation Executive Director deSteiguer

TAHLEQUAH, OK Northeastern State University bids farewell to John deSteiguer, director of Development and executive director of the NSU Foundation. After serving Northeastern for nine years, deSteiguer is leaving the University in early January to join Oklahoma Christian University as vice president for advancement.

During deSteiguers tenure, NSU Foundation-related assets have climbed from $1.56 million in March 1993 to approximately $8 million as of late 2002, an increase of 400 percent. The NSU Foundation endowment has increased almost twelve-fold, from $590,000 in 1993 to approximately $7.4 million currently.

John will be a tough act to follow, said NSU President Dr. Larry Williams. Taking a position at Oklahoma Christian University is a wonderful opportunity for John and Darla (his wife), although it is a tremendous loss to NSU. He has simply done incredible work here and achieved tremendous success in fund-raising for this University that will benefit us for decades to come. Together, they are a wonderful inspiration to the students they advise through the Presidents Leadership Class and to the countless alumni whose lives they touch.

The 1984 NSU alumnus and Tahlequah native designed, directed, and managed NSUs two comprehensive fund-raising campaigns, both of which focused primarily on raising private support for student scholarships, academic programs, and the University library. Vision for the Future, a three-year effort initiated in 1994 with a challenge goal of $2 million, was followed two years later by the highly successful Building Opportunities, Creating Memories campaign. With an original goal of $3.75 million, the Building Opportunities campaign quickly exceeded expectations and the target goal was increased to $5 million less than half way through the campaign. Together, these two drives have garnered $3 million and $5.75 million, respectively, in current and deferred gifts.

In his capacity as director of Development, deSteiguer oversees the Office of Alumni Relations, directed by Lisa Turner, and serves as advisor to the Presidents Leadership Class, a four-year scholarship/leadership program involving about 50 outstanding NSU students.

Without a doubt, leaving NSU is the most difficult professional decision Darla and I have ever made, deSteiguer said. This University is a very special place to us. This is where we met, it is where we bring our children to enjoy the beauty of the campus, and it is a place where we have made many enduring friendships. This institution will always play an important role in our lives.

After graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Northeastern, deSteiguer attended the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, for one year on a Rotary International Scholarship. Together, he and Darla attended Pepperdine University Law School, where both graduated magna cum laude in 1989. The couple then moved to Dallas, where John was an associate in the Labor and Employment Law Section of the law firm Haynes and Boone until 1993. The deSteiguers are the parents of Joe, 9, and Abby, 7.

In addition to his duties at Northeastern, deSteiguer is vice president for the Oklahoma Planned Giving Council, a statewide organization that promotes charitable giving knowledge and techniques among charities and for-profit professionals. He is a deacon and Bible class teacher at the South College Church of Christ. John and Darla are active supporters of Sequoyah Elementary where his children attend school.

Ralph Manning will replace deSteiguer as director of Development for the NSU Foundation and comes to Northeastern from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

12/10/02

Published: 2002-12-10 00:00:00