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Steve Sokany named interim vice president of institutional advancement

Gene Finn is departing from his role as ����ɫ��ҹ University’s vice president of institutional advancement and executive director of the ����ɫ��ҹ University Foundation for a similar position with Columbia University in New York.

During his tenure at ����ɫ��ҹ, Finn led the successful completion of the $250 million Centennial Campaign, which raised more than $265 million for the university’s endowment, capital projects and current-operating funds, with particular emphasis on student scholarships. Most recently, Finn managed the foundation’s construction of the new ����ɫ��ҹ University Hotel and Conference Center that opened last year in downtown Kent, Ohio. 

Finn’s final day with ����ɫ��ҹ will be July 31, 2014.

With Finn’s departure, Steve Sokany has been named the university’s interim vice president of institutional advancement and executive director of the ����ɫ��ҹ University Foundation, effective Aug. 1, 2014. 

Sokany currently serves as ����ɫ��ҹ’s senior associate vice president for institutional advancement, a role he has held since 2002. He first joined the university in 1993.

“Steve Sokany knows firsthand the positive impact that the Division for Institutional Advancement has made on the university, and he’ll continue that momentum,” says ����ɫ��ҹ President Lester A. Lefton. “Steve is a strong, personable leader, and he is well-versed in the needs of our university community and in the relationships that have led to strong success for the division and the ����ɫ��ҹ Foundation.”

Sokany earned his Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in nonprofit management from ����ɫ��ҹ in 1996, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing Management from the University of Detroit Mercy in 1990. He also has served as a board member for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland since 2006 and is currently co-chair of the Board of Directors for Gay Games IX, which will be held in Cleveland and Akron this summer.

Sokany lives in Cleveland.

Finn was appointed ����ɫ��ҹ’s vice president for institutional advancement in April 2007. As a member of the president’s Cabinet, he is responsible for the university’s Office of Institutional Advancement and Office of Alumni Relations.

For more information about ����ɫ��ҹ’s Division of Institutional Advancement, visitwww2.kent.edu/advancement.

For more information about the ����ɫ��ҹ Foundation, visitwww2.kent.edu/advancement/ksufoundatio