Office of the President

Biography of President Jay Dowd

Prior to assuming the role of President of Wofford College, Dowd was the president and chief executive officer of The Citadel Foundation, a position he held since 2013. He is a graduate of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he earned a B.A. in history. He holds an M.Ed., with a focus on student personnel services, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of South Carolina. He has more than 30 years of experience in higher education strategy, fundraising, institutional advancement and executive leadership.

Previously, Dowd served as vice president for development and executive director at the Francis Marion University Education Foundation, where he was a member of the senior staff and the college’s chief fundraiser. He also has served as vice president for advancement at Columbia College, assistant vice chancellor for university advancement at University of North Carolina at Wilmington and vice president for institutional advancement at Methodist College. In each community, he was a leader and collaborator, discovering a passion for service and building and sustaining relationships based on transparency, communication and respect.

He has served in national leadership roles with the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and in community leadership with the Boys and Girls Clubs, the YMCA, youth little league baseball, the United Methodist Church and the United Way. He recently completed service on the University of South Carolina College of Education Dean’s Advisory Board and the South Carolina Humanities Board of Directors. In 2010, Dowd received the Winthrop University Alumni Professional Development Award, and in 2025, Gov. Henry McMaster awarded Dowd the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, in recognition of his service to public institutions of higher education in the Carolinas.

Dowd and his wife, Kim, have two adult children, Gibson, a 2023 Wofford graduate and a research technician in the Department of Biology at the University of South Carolina, and Brauer Dowd Kittrell, director of youth ministries at Clemson United Methodist Church. The Dowds served as co-chairs of the Wofford College Parents Leadership Council from 2021 to 2023, reestablishing that group as a force for college philanthropy and engagement.