BACKElizabeth H. King, Ph.D.
President & CEO
Elizabeth King started her tenure at Wichita State in 1991 as Vice President of University Advancement and CEO of the Foundation. She was the second female vice president in Wichita State’s history at the time. In 2007, she was appointed President and CEO of the Foundation and now serves the recently merged Foundation and Alumni Engagement team in the same position. King’s current role focuses on empowering a team of more than 50 employees devoted to advancing the university’s mission through developing connections between Wichita State’s dedicated alumni, donors, and students. She led the Shock the World Campaign that raised nearly $308 million on a goal of $250 million and included the majority of the funding for Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall, the Student Athlete Center, and the creation of the Bill and Dorothy Cohen Honors College. Since her arrival, the WSU Foundation has raised over $800 million and grown its endowment from $53 million to over $400 million.
King was selected as an “Executive of the Year” by the Wichita Business Journal in 2020; inducted into the “Wichita Women in Business Hall of Fame” in 2018; named one of the “50 Kansans You Should Know” by Ingrams Magazine in 2012; and in 2009 was one of two recognized by the CASE Common Fund Institutionally Related Foundations for her executive leadership in 2009.
Among her leadership roles, she currently serves as a board member for the University of Kansas Hospital Authority – a position appointed by the governor of Kansas, and as a board member and representative on the executive council of The Kansas Society of Children with Challenges. She is also the past board chair of the Salvation Army and the past president of the Wichita Downtown Rotary.
King earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College (Illinois) and a Master of Education and Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of North Texas. She is married to her husband, Don, and they have two adult sons, Lance (married to Paula) and Brandon.