Virginia Tech alumnus Matthew Winston named senior associate vice president for alumni relations

23 Sep 2015

Matthew M. Winston Jr., assistant to the president at the University of Georgia, has been named senior associate vice president for alumni relations at Virginia Tech.

Winston will succeed Tom Tillar, who announced earlier this year that he would step down from his position after 40 years of serving Virginia Tech alumni. Winston will start his new position on Nov. 1.

“I am delighted Matt has stepped forward to lead our alumni relations program,” said Charlie Phlegar, vice president for advancement, in making the announcement. “Not only does Matt have an impressive and distinguished record of accomplishment at the University of Georgia, but he has remained highly engaged with Virginia Tech, providing dynamic leadership for our alumni association and the Pamplin College of Business. His passion for and commitment to Virginia Tech will expand and deepen alumni engagement. He will be an essential person in our integrated advancement model.”

The Virginia Tech Alumni Association encompasses more than 240,000 living alumni throughout the United States and around the world.

“Virginia Tech alumni are passionate about our university,” said Winston. “And as President Sands and other university leaders seek to refine and expand Virginia Tech’s role in higher education, our alumni must be more involved in what we are doing now and into the future. Thanks to the work of Tom Tillar and the current alumni relations team, our alumni have told us they want to contribute to the university's future success. I look forward to creating new avenues for alumni to deepen and strengthen their connection to our beloved alma mater.”

As assistant to the president at Georgia since 2000, Winston has provided counsel to university leadership in many critical areas, including community and alumni relations, intercollegiate athletics, student life, institutional diversity, institutional advancement and campus safety issues. He has worked closely with student groups and organizations, faculty-led programs and university governance, as well as alumni and community organizations.

Since 2013, Winston has been the president of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association board of directors. A board member since 2007, Winston has also served as the chair of the Alumni Services and Communications Committee, the Nominations and Awards Committee, and served as vice president.

In addition, he has served as president of Virginia Tech’s Athens, Georgia, area alumni chapter since 2008, and is a member of the Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation Board of Directors and the Pamplin College of Business Advisory Council. He was a member of the Virginia Tech Black Cultural Center advisory board from 2003 to 2006. He is an active member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), having served on its International Board of Trustees from 2010 to 2013 and its Commission on Communications and Marketing from 2009 to 2011.

Winston has been at the University of Georgia since 1998, serving initially as the news bureau manager for two years. From 2005 to 2006, he was the acting director of Georgia’s Office of Institutional Diversity.

He began his professional career in 1991 as a member of Virginia Tech’s University Relations office. He received his bachelor’s degree in marketing management from the university’s Pamplin College of Business in 1990.

A native of Virginia Beach, Winston is a second-generation alumnus of Virginia Tech. His father, Matthew Winston Sr., received his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering in 1959 and is one of the university's early black graduates.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.