Dr. Marta Loyd, vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, has resigned her UAFS job to accept a position as executive director of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute in Morrilton.
Loyd will begin her new position on Feb. 10 at the institute, which was established by the University of Arkansas System in 2005. As executive director, Loyd will be responsible for managing an annual budget of more than $6 million, working with constituents to establish strategic directions for future programming that meets the institute’s mission and vision statements, and maintaining strong communications with the Board of Directors and Charitable Trust.
Loyd worked at UAFS for 17 years, 12 of them being in the role of vice chancellor. During her 12-year tenure as vice chancellor, she guided volunteers, development officers, University leaders and the chancellor to raise gifts and pledges totaling $57 million.
Loyd also worked at UAFS since 2002 as the executive director of the University Foundation, serving the foundation’s 35-member Board of Directors in strategic and financial planning, coordination of communications efforts and organization of Board functions. In a 10-year span, she transformed the Westark Community College Foundation, with $20 million in assets, into a comprehensive university foundation with an endowment of more than $60 million and assets of more than $75 million.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, a master’s in higher education leadership from the University of Arkansas and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri.
Loyd said she looks forward to the challenges that lay ahead.
“The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute has established itself as a first-class conference center that brings diverse populations and thought leaders together to discuss important ideas affecting our state and nation, especially those ideas that are important to honoring the legacy of Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller,” Loyd said in a UAFS statement. “The institute has the past success, skilled staff and key resources to move toward greater national recognition and significance, and I am excited to be a part of that.”
UAFS Chancellor Dr. Paul B. Beran said that Loyd will be truly missed.
“I’m very sad to see Dr. Loyd go, but I’m also excited for her and the opportunity she’s pursuing,” he said. “Dr. Loyd will be excellent as the executive director for the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, and will provide a kind of insight and intellectual depth that will make the institute a world-class operation.”