Purdue IE welcomes new Chief Development Officer

Photo of Philip & Emily Thornton
Emily & Philip Thornton in Greece
The Purdue School of Industrial Engineering welcomed Philip Thornton as the new Chief Development Officer on July 22, 2019.

Philip comes to us from the Theta Chi Fraternity National Foundation in Carmel where he has been responsible for managing their $14.5M+ endowment and increasing the Foundation’s assets by 32%. He also developed and executed Theta Chi Fraternity’s first-ever national capital campaign and helped to oversee its Board of Directors, recruiting a current Fortune 500 CEO and a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his role with Theta Chi, Philip worked with Pursuant, a full-service fundraising agency, where he was the lead development officer for several multimillion dollar campaigns.

Additionally, Philip holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, where he completed several courses overlapping with IE such as supply chain management, statistics, and work analysis and design. He also completed the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) credential.

Philip has been to all 50 states, and has visited 19 countries across 4 continents. He and his wife, Emily, live in Indianapolis and spent their honeymoon last summer in Italy and Greece. Philip is passionate about enhancing the collegiate experience for students and has done so for his entire career. He is excited to support our IE Boilermakers!

Welcome, Philip!