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ATLANTA—Tom Lewis, senior advisor to the president, and Walter Massey, vice president for development and alumni affairs at Georgia State University, will retire in the coming months.
Lewis, who joined Georgia State in 1991 after serving as chief of staff in the office of Gov. Joe Frank Harris, will retire on June 30 and Massey, who joined the university in 2007 after 22 years at Florida State University, will retire at the end of August.
“As a vice president, senior vice president and senior advisor to the president over the past 28 years, Tom has been key to the success of the university’s government relations programs and activities,” said Georgia State President Mark Becker. “He has built valuable relationships at the Capitol and has long been a respected and trusted resource for the executive and legislative branches of the state and federal governments.”
Lewis has been active in civic affairs throughout his career. He has served the State of Georgia as a member and chairman of the board for the Jekyll Island Authority Commission and as chair of the Georgia Charter School Commission Foundation. Tom is on the board of directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Century Bank of Georgia, the Rollins Child Development Center and the Zell Miller Institute, and is chairman of the State Charter School Commission. Prior to joining the governor’s staff, Lewis was president of the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce, where he guided economic development during a critical period of the county’s growth. He also was executive director of the Georgia Franchise Practices Commission, where he developed new standards to regulate this fast-growing franchise industry.
Julie Kerlin, senior director of government and community affairs, will continue to lead the university’s government relations and community affairs office.
Massey has been vice president of development and alumni affairs and president of the Georgia State Foundation since 2009. He led the most successful capital campaign in the university’s history, the recently completed Burning Bright campaign, which raised more than $329 million and attracted more than 41,000 new donors for the university.
“Walter’s work will have an enduring impact on Georgia State,” Becker said. “His leadership has been a key to the fundraising success the university has enjoyed in recent years.”
He joined the university as associate vice president of development in 2007 after eight years as vice president of development services at Florida State University. Massey retired from Florida State, his alma mater, after 22 years in which he held a number of important development positions, including director of leadership gifts, director of major gifts and donor relations, and senior director for constituent fundraising. He began his career at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.
The university will begin a national search for Massey’s successor.