Jared Foster, 40, former Killeen city councilman at-large, and one-time Greater Killeen Young Professionals board member is now the Director of Development at A&M-Central Texas.
Foster’s many ties to the Central Texas community and his years of experience in leadership positions make him an ideal addition to the University following the retirement of former Development Director, Lana Carey, says A&M-Central Texas President, Dr. Marc Nigliazzo.
Credentials and experience aside, there is another quality that matters, says Foster.
Upon returning to the Central Texas area after working a number of years in the publishing industry in New York City, Foster was delighted by the scale of the growth and opportunity that had come to his hometown in his absence.
"It’s sometimes popular to think of coming back to a hometown as a retreat of a sort, but for me, and for a lot of other people, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We live in a military town, and we don’t know how to retreat,” he said.
“There are a lot of us who know that Killeen is a special place,” he continued. “Our community is evidence that the measure of a place is found in the quality of the hearts and minds of its people and their willingness to give back to the place that has given them so much.”
After returning, Foster met and married his wife, Lenna, and worked in the family businesses, Killeen Power Sport and Bell County Motoworks in Temple.
He also accepted a role as a board member with the Greater Killeen Young Professionals and went on to run and win an at-large spot in a 16-person race for city council in 2012.
“Even though it has been 10 years, I still remember being inspired by the fact that the region was realizing one of its most significant milestones: a public university that we could call our own.”
Foster applauds the many successes of the University’s foundation, noting that he is proud to be a part of such important work: funding student scholarship, recognizing faculty teaching excellence, and rewarding community and regional leaders who have played integral roles in the development and continued success of A&M-Central Texas.
He remembers a time, he says, when the University had not yet come into fruition, but was a long-term goal, not yet realized – and the impact it made on him to see that goal turn into reality.
“I had just returned to Killeen, seeing a video about the University which was then under construction,” he said.
“I had been hearing of the potential for A&M-Central Texas for years,” he continued, “and here it was, happening in real life, and I remember thinking, ‘This is really happening, and I would like to be a part of it someday.’”
Foster is the son of Jim and Linda Foster. He graduated from Ellison High School in 2000, Texas A&M University in College Station in 2004, and Southern Methodist University in 2008. His wife, Lenna, is the Vice President of Finance and Administration at the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce, and the couple has two children.
