Timothy Keefauver

The newest member of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees brings a special appreciation for his alma mater to the table.

Timothy Keefauver ’80 came to Monmouth as a student from nearby Cuba, Ill. While he is not nearby anymore, serving as a worldwide product director for Hewlett-Packard in Cupertino, Calif., he still has family in the Fulton County area, which helps him keep connected with Monmouth.

Those reconnections will be regularly scheduled now thanks to Keefauver’s new role as a trustee of the college.

“As do so many alumni, I care deeply about Monmouth and want to see it prosper,” said Keefauver. “Being a part of the board of trustees is an opportunity for me to give back.”

Keefauver directs the product management organization for the NonStop Enterprise Division of HP, including all hardware and software products. Bridging business and engineering, Keefauver’s professional expertise puts him in demand at industry conferences and as an international spokesman for HP. He is a former member of the Editorial Review Board of Windows NT Magazine.

The Silicon Valley executive draws often from what some would call the quintessential Monmouth College experience.

As an undergraduate, Keefauver did it all, studying economics but also taking the time to be involved in organizations that taught him about leadership and helped him grow spiritually. He was president of Dorm Council, served as a head resident, was a production editor for the Oracle and was an officer in a Christian fellowship group. Keefauver also stretched himself by playing a lead role in a Crimson Masque production and by studying off campus through the Oak Ridge Science Semester.

“I’ve seen examples of students who’ve attended state schools who have slipped through the cracks,” Keefauver said. “They get the education needed for a specific job, but they miss out on the many other ways that a college like Monmouth prepares you for life.”

He continued, “To use the jargon of the ’70s, Monmouth helped the students of my generation ‘find themselves.’ It raised our standards and opened up new dimensions of thought and possibilities. Ultimately, those are the things that make life more meaningful.”

And, Keefauver says, Monmouth does all the extras while still preparing its graduates for careers.

“I learned a lot about computing from Dr. (John) Arrison,” he said. “He would have once-a-week lunch sessions in the student center where we would talk about all sorts of issues related to computers. My first job out of college was a system manager position for a consulting firm. It would normally not be the type of job you would get until your second or third job after college. But I had such a breadth of related experiences at Monmouth that I had the courage to take that job.”

Keefauver went on to earn an MBA in business policy from The University of Chicago. Prior to joining Hewlett-Packard, he served as vice president of technical services for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Through the years, Keefauver has been a frequent contributor to the college. His gifts have often been targeted toward areas of campus life he enjoyed as a student, including one he made several years ago to help the college endow its chaplaincy. His contributions haven’t only been financial, though, as he wrote an entry in a college publication celebrating the now late Professor Charles Speel and has referred half a dozen students to his alma mater.

Speel and his religious studies colleague, the late Stafford Weeks, as well as economics professor Rod Lemon, were all faculty members who had an impact on Keefauver’s Monmouth experience.

Asked about his hopes for Monmouth over the next five to 10 years, Keefauver replied, “My time horizon is very long term. In the computer industry, it’s difficult to produce something that outlives you. By contrast, I hope the college is solidly improved long after I’ve left the board.”

Beyond continuing progress toward stated goals in enrollment and endowment, Keefauver said he would also like to see Monmouth rise in the national rankings of liberal arts colleges while keeping its “character,” which he referred to as “amiable, human and grateful to its creator.”

Keefauver has been impressed with all that has changed in the nearly three decades since his graduation, and he’s anxious to see what lies ahead.

“My niece is a sophomore there, and the school is notably improved from when I was a student. My hope is that the trajectory of that improvement continues.”