Gene Tempel
Eugene R. "Gene" Tempel assumed the presidency of the Indiana University Foundation on September 1, 2008. A nationally recognized expert in the study and practice of philanthropy and nonprofit management, Dr. Tempel has been named by The NonProfit Times to its list of the country’s 50 most influential leaders in the nonprofit sector each year since the list was created.
Executive Director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University since 1997, Dr. Tempel was closely involved with the Center since its inception in 1987. The Center is headquartered on the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus and serves as a leading national resource for education, research, training, and public service programs pertaining to the nonprofit sector.
Dr. Tempel’s career as a nonprofit professional includes more than two decades in higher education administration, fundraising, and teaching. Prior to leading the Center on Philanthropy, he served IU as director of external affairs for the College of Arts and Sciences at IU-Bloomington, vice president-Indianapolis for the IU Foundation, executive director of the Fund Raising School, and vice chancellor for external affairs at IUPUI. Dr. Tempel holds faculty appointments in higher education and philanthropic studies in the IU Schools of Education, Liberal Arts, and Public and Environmental Affairs.
A member of several nonprofit and for-profit boards, Dr. Tempel is a past chair of the Indiana Commission on Community Service and Volunteerism. He was the first elected president of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, a national organization of university centers dedicated to teaching, research, and service related to philanthropy.
Often quoted as a spokesperson for the philanthropic and nonprofit sector, Dr. Tempel is an author and co-author of several works in the field and an award-winning leader. The late Indiana governor Frank O’Bannon recognized Dr. Tempel's service to Indiana by naming him a Sagamore of the Wabash. In 2007, he received the prestigious James L. Fisher Award for Distinguished Service to Education from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Dr. Tempel was also awarded the IUPUI Alumni Association’s Maynard K. Hine Medal, which honors distinguished alumni for continuous service to IUPUI and Indiana University.
He earned a BA degree in English and philosophy from St. Benedict College, an MA in English, and a doctoral degree in higher education administration from Indiana University, and holds the Certified Fund Raising Executive professional designation.