At Your Service

Scott Macdonald’s student experience inspired him to get back involved and lend his expertise.

Like many alumni, Scott Macdonald attended University of Wyoming sporting events from time to time, but otherwise his involvement was limited. He was busy raising his three children with his spouse, Anne, and enjoying a successful career in the cable and satellite television industry.

Macdonald grew up in Rock Springs and earned his degree in accounting in 1984. He began his career at the accounting firm of KPMG and from there held positions of increasing responsibility at Tele-Communications Inc., PrimeStar, AT&T Broadband and Adelphia Communications before moving to Starz Entertainment in 2006, where he now serves as the chief financial officer. In this role, he is responsible for the accounting, treasury, budgeting, planning and internal and external reporting activities for Starz.

A phone call reconnected Macdonald with the university. In the early 2000s, then UW College of Business Dean Brent Hathaway invited Macdonald to lunch. That simple invitation created a fruitful connection between Macdonald and UW that started with his service on the College of Business Advisory Board and led him to the UW Foundation Board, where Macdonald now serves as vice chair before taking on the chair position two years from now.

“It’s never too late to get involved,” says Macdonald, who currently lives in Centennial, Colo. “The more you can get involved, the more joy it brings to your life.”

Macdonald has served on many boards in his career but finds the UW Foundation Board exceptional: “This board is very active, and the intelligence level on the board is beyond anything I’ve seen.”

He appreciates that each board member is given real responsibility. Macdonald is especially excited for the foundation’s endowment to reach $1 billion, which he expects will happen in the next couple of years.

“We punch well above our weight compared to our Mountain West peer schools, some of which have three times our enrollment,” Macdonald says. He credits UW’s generous donors as well as the significant state support. The foundation is a great steward for donor investments, which engenders trust, he adds.

Like most alumni who give of their time and talent, Macdonald is driven by his amazing student experience. Part of that is UW’s ideal size, he says, which offers big-school opportunities including Division 1 athletics and cutting-edge research paired with small-school access. Here, students can take on leadership roles and really get to know their professors. That’s one reason the Macdonalds’ son, James, also attended UW.

“I work with a lot of people who were educated at places like Stanford and other Ivy League schools,” he says. “I feel like I was just as well prepared. I couldn’t be happier with my UW experience.”