Alumni Board President Christopher Finley looks back on his three-year term
When work first brought Alumni Board President Christopher Finley ’96 to western North Carolina, it had been nearly 20 years since he had last visited his alma mater Lees-McRae. Family responsibilities, a graduate program, career advancements, and part-time teaching had kept him busy since graduating with a degree in communications, and he had not been able to stay as engaged with the college as he would have liked.
Finding himself in the area two decades later, Finley decided to reach out to Program Coordinator for Business Administration Amy Anderson about presenting a workshop on resume writing and interviewing to her class. Katie Talbert, the executive director of institutional advancement and alumni relations at the time, and former Alumni Board member Gail Miller ’72, attended the session and encouraged him to join the Board.
Since then, Finley has remained engaged, even stepping up as Alumni Board president in 2023.
“Given the breadth of my professional experience, I felt called to share what I’d learned with students, the college, and fellow Board members. My green and gold roots run deep—they’re woven into every part of my life. Lees-McRae instilled in me the importance of serving the greater community, and the timing felt right to pay it forward,” Finley said.
Finley (in green) at a volunteer site during the college's Mountain Day of Service event in the spring of 2025. The event was a ONE Lees-McRae effort which benefitted the community following damage from Hurricane Helene the previous fall.
Finley’s professional experience prepared him well for this high-demand role which oversees not only the Alumni Board but acts as a representative and spokesperson for the entire Alumni Association. Currently, he serves as Assistant Vice President for HCA Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare systems in the country. His role there includes overseeing corporate philanthropy, strategic partnerships, and employee engagement initiatives—responsibilities that translate well to the Alumni Board president role.
Throughout his career Finley has also worked as the Executive Director of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, held senior marketing and communications roles with BAE Systems and Hubbell Lighting, and spent two decades as a part-time adjunct communications professor at Radford University.
He has also fostered a life-long passion for community service and involvement through board positions for organizations such as United Way of Greater Richmond and Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia, and by serving as president of the Blue Ridge Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and director-at-large for the Radford Chamber and the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber.
These professional experiences, and the skills he has gained, helped him forge a new path for the Alumni Board when he began his tenure in 2023. Throughout his three-year term, Finley has remained invested in better aligning the Alumni Board with the college’s larger visions and goals.
“In terms of engagement, we introduced the Young Alumni Award to recognize exceptional graduates from within the past 15 years. The College’s 125th-anniversary Homecoming in 2025 brought new traditions and the presentation of alumni awards,” Finley said. “On the career development front, the Board played a key role in supporting graduating seniors during the signature ‘100 Days Until Graduation’ event through mock interviews, résumé reviews, and career coaching. Finally, the Alumni Association was instrumental in the success of Giving Day 2025, activating networks as both ambassadors and donors to help achieve record-breaking support for the Hurricane Helene Scholarship and The Fund for Lees-McRae.”
Finley (right), along with President Lee King, presented the college's first Young Alumni Award to Cami Belin '24 at the Green and Gold Banquet during Homecoming and Family Weekend 2025. He also led the Board as they engaged with one of the college’s newest initiatives, ONE Lees-McRae. ONE Lees-McRae is an engagement initiative designed to unify the college’s various stakeholders, from students and alumni to donors and community members. The Alumni Board has played an important role in establishing the vision for ONE Lees-McRae by strengthening alumni involvement, creating opportunities for networking and mentorship, and facilitating fundraising support.
Before his time as president of the Board officially concludes later this year, he has some final goals to achieve, including modernizing the Alumni Board bylaws and launching a new constituent society to engage and inform former executive leaders from the college.
While Finley has helped lead the Alumni Board into a new era, he said he has been continuously inspired by the enthusiasm and dedication with which his fellow board members and alumni engage with and support the college. One of the college’s greatest strengths is its alumni network, and he looks forward to seeing how his fellow alumni build upon his legacy as Board president.
“We have established a strong leadership succession plan, and I am confident that future Board members will continue the longstanding tradition of giving back, whether through time, talent, or resources,” Finley said. “Once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat. The connections we made at Lees-McRae are lifelong, and staying engaged only strengthens them. Return for Homecoming, support the college through giving, or volunteer as a mentor or guest speaker. Bobcats give back—that’s who we are. And by giving back, you help inspire today’s students to aim higher and continue that legacy of service.”
