Eugene R. Tempel
President and CEO
Professor of Philanthropic Studies and Higher Education
Gene Tempel is a nationally recognized expert in the study and practice of philanthropy and nonprofit management. Dr. Tempel has been named by The NonProfit Times to its list of the country’s 50 most influential leaders in the nonprofit sector each year since the list was created. He assumed the presidency of the Indiana University Foundation on September 1, 2008.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr. Tempel served for 11 years as Executive Director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and was closely involved with the Center since its inception in 1987. The Center is headquartered on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus and serves as a leading national resource for education, research, training, and public service programs pertaining to the nonprofit sector.
Dr. Tempel’s career as a nonprofit professional includes more than two decades in higher education administration, fundraising, and teaching. Prior to leading the Center on Philanthropy, he served IU as director of external affairs for the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, vice president-Indianapolis for the IU Foundation, executive director of The Fund Raising School, and vice chancellor for external affairs at IUPUI. Dr. Tempel holds faculty appointments in higher education and philanthropic studies in the IU Schools of Education, Liberal Arts, and Public and Environmental Affairs.
A member of several nonprofit and for-profit boards, Dr. Tempel is a past chair of the Indiana Commission on Community Service and Volunteerism. He was the first elected president of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, a national organization of university centers dedicated to teaching, research, and service related to philanthropy. INDEPENDENT SECTOR named him to its Expert Advisory Panel that created national guidelines for nonprofit governance and ethical behavior.
Often quoted as a spokesperson for the philanthropic and nonprofit sector, Dr. Tempel is an author and co-author of several works in the field and an award-winning leader. The late Indiana Governor Frank O’Bannon recognized Dr. Tempel's service to Indiana by naming him a Sagamore of the Wabash. In 2007, he received the prestigious James L. Fisher Award for Distinguished Service to Education from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Dr. Tempel was also awarded the IUPUI Alumni Association’s Maynard K. Hine Medal, which honors distinguished alumni for continuous service to IUPUI and Indiana University, and the IU School of Education Robert H. Shaffer Distinguished Alumni Award.
He earned a BA in English and philosophy from St. Benedict College, and an MA in English and a doctoral degree in Higher Education Administration from Indiana University. He also holds the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) professional designation.
