Central College has named Sunny Eighmy vice president for advancement.
Eighmy, a 1999 Central graduate, has served in the position in an interim role since late September. Eighmy will oversee and help execute the college’s fund-raising strategies while cultivating relationships with alumni and other college constituencies.
Graduating with a degree in communication, Eighmy lettered in volleyball and track and field at Central, while also working as a student sports information assistant. Following graduation, she was assistant editor/sports editor at the Red Oak Express, then sports editor at the Oskaloosa Herald before a stint as William Penn University’s sports information director.
She joined the Central staff as assistant alumni relations director in 2003 before taking on the director’s position in 2004. She left the college in 2010, working independently as an external relations consultant in suburban Chicago and also held a temporary post as a retail field marketing specialist for Pella Corp. during 2011-12. She returned to Central in 2012 for her most recent position in president Mark Putnam’s office as director of college relations/board professional.
Last year, Eighmy completed a master’s degree in integrated media communications with a marketing emphasis from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Eighmy’s Central roots run deep. Her parents Scott ’71 and Bonna Evers Gonzales ’73, sister Abby (Gonzales) Larson ’02, and grandparents Clyde ’41 and Annie Williams Evers ’43, as well as other extended family members, are all Central graduates, as is her husband, Nathan ’99.
Journalism and communication are part of her family DNA as well. Her father, Scott, and grandfather, Charles Gonzales, owned community newspapers in Guthrie County from 1955-2014, most recently including the Guthrie Center Times, Guthrie County Vedette and Lake Panorama Times. Eighmy and her sister, Abby, each handled various duties for the papers while growing up. Abby later spent a year as Central’s interim sports information director before serving as the college’s media relations director from 2004-10.
But from Eighmy’s previous work in the advancement office and her duties in the president’s office, Putnam found her talents stretched far beyond her writing ability. As director of college relations/board professional she helped lead the college’s external relations efforts, including developing government and community relations and regional partnerships. She’s a member of Central’s marketing and branding leadership team, as well as a senior leadership team member, roles she will continue to fill. Eighmy also executed national media relations strategies and executive communications and helped foster Central’s cherished century-old relationship with the Reformed Church in America.
“Each time Sunny has been given a new challenge, new position or new set of responsibilities, she’s responded in remarkable fashion,” Putnam said. “Whether she’s working with the college’s board of trustees or central Iowa business leaders and government officials, developing relationships with higher education media contacts or crafting executive communications, she’s stepped forward and consistently performed at a high level.
“Sunny has been invaluable to me in the president’s office, but her skills are now needed to lead a talented team of advancement professionals at an important point in our college’s history. In serving in an interim role the past few months, it’s become clear she’s ready for this opportunity to help chart Central’s future.”
During her brief tenure in an interim vice president role, the college has reshaped its advancement team with the hiring of two new major gifts officers and a new alumni relations director. Eighmy is overseeing ongoing fundraising for the $15 million Forever Dutch initiative for athletics facilities and the college’s Journey Scholarship Fund. She also coordinated her team’s efforts in exceeding the college’s fundraising goal on Giving Tuesday in late November.
“Sunny has a deep and abiding passion for Central and the students we are privileged to serve,” Putnam said. “That’s a passion which our advancement team shares.”
Eighmy and her husband live in Pella with their four children.
