We are delighted to welcome Donna Covington to the community as the Vice President of Formation on the Kentucky Campus. Covington lives a life of personal formation, exhibited through an infectious passion for Jesus Christ and a love for students. Covington officially joins the community July 1, 2018.
“I am delighted that Donna is joining the Asbury team,” Dr. Timothy Tennent, President of Asbury Theological Seminary, said. “She is a high-level systems thinker who can bring our formation to a whole new level, yet also has the capacity to compassionately work one-on-one with students. Her experiences and expertise within the corporate world, church and academic world are great assets to our community and will help us meet our goal to integrate the academic and spiritual dimensions of a worshipping, serving and learning community.”
Covington spent most of her life in the corporate world, serving in managerial positions at Texas Instruments and IBM from 1979-1991. From 1991-2007, she worked at Lexmark International, Inc., in a succession of positions from director to Vice President of Customer Service. After an early retirement in 2007, she worked as Executive Director at Bethel Harvest Church (Nicholasville, Ky.) and as Administrative and Leadership Development Director for Consolidated Baptist Church (Lexington, Ky.), while pursuing an M.A. in Christian Leadership with an emphasis on spiritual formation from Asbury Theological Seminary.
In 2010, her son, a former Division 1 football player, was killed in an altercation over a racial slur. Covington decided she wanted to spend the rest of her life helping in the spiritual and professional formation of future leaders. As a first-generation African-American college student, Covington prioritizes student success through student-focused initiatives. From 2010-2014, she worked at Kentucky State University, enhancing the university’s commitment to academic excellence, research and community service.
In her role as Dean of the College of Business at Delaware State University, Covington developed a model for student success that included paid internships, mentoring, business competitions, conferences and professional development activities. She increased paid internships for qualified students by 315 percent in three years.
“Donna brings to the Seminary a host of gifts to help us serve the global church, train leaders and equip pastors for missional engagement in diverse regions,” Tennent said. “Her proven global experience in strategic leadership, organizational development and people management, as well as her expertise in guiding high-performance teams will be a great fit for Asbury Seminary.”
Covington has been trained in Design Thinking at Stanford University, chaired Lexmark’s first Diversity Initiative, as well as the Black Achievers for Central Kentucky, and was recognized nationally by the President’s Award for Women of Color in Technology.
