COLUMBIA, S.C. (courtesy allenuniversity.edu) — Allen University is pleased to welcome new additions to its leadership team as it continues to experience steady growth. Dr. Eric Gamble, Vice President for Planning, and Information Technology; Dr. Gee Lockhart Sigman, Associate Vice President for Planning, Assessment, and Research; and Mr. Jasher Cox, Director of Athletics joined Allen University in September of 2021.
Dr. Eric Gamble, the new VP for Planning and Research & Information Technology, worked in the hi-tech industry for more than 15 years with Fortune 100 companies such as IBM and Oracle, and with venture capitalist funded startups in Silicon Valley. In addition, Dr. Gamble has held a variety of senior sales, application engineering, and systems engineering positions with Fortune 500 companies over the course of his career. He has managed technical relationships, implemented multi-million-dollar contracts, and served as a liaison between business and technical groups. Dr. Gamble specializes in managing projects to build-out last-mile connections for fiber-optic, and he’s highly skilled in process engineering/redesign, network design and implementation, and rapid database application development. Prior to joining the AU family, Dr. Gamble was employed as an Assistant Professor and Instructor of Management at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Gamble’s academic credentials include a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; an MBA in International Trade from Johnson & Wales University; and a B.S. in Computer Systems Management from Johnson & Wales.
Dr. Gee Lockhart Sigman is Allen’s new Associate VP for Planning, Assessment, and Research. Her career spans over 20 years in higher education at 2-year, 4-year, public and private colleges, and universities. In her most recent role as Associate Provost for Institutional Research and Registrar at Converse College, Dr. Sigman automated processes in the Office of the Registrar, moved the college to an online catalog system, worked with faculty and staff to implement a new learning management system, and served as the Institutional Accreditation Liaison for the SACSCOC Fifth-Year Interim Report. Prior to her position at Converse, Dr. Sigman served as Director of Student Outcomes Assessment at Spartanburg Community College. Dr. Sigman’s academic credentials include a B. S. in Criminal Justice, a M. S. in Criminal Justice, and an Ed.D. from the University of South Carolina. She has earned additional graduate degrees from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (Columbia, SC) and Emory University Candler School of Theology (Atlanta, GA).
Mr. Jasher Cox is the University’s new Director of Athletics. Prior to Allen, Mr. Cox served as Athletics Director at Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) in Harrogate, Tennessee. In his first year at LMU, Cox oversaw an athletics department that witnessed four teams ranked in the top-15 nationally in their respective sport (men’s basketball, men’s golf, softball, and men’s bowling) for the entirety of 2019-20, as well as a department growing in the number of sports being sponsored. Mr. Cox was a vital component in the process of adding field hockey and men’s and women’s wrestling to LMU’s athletics portfolio. Prior to LMU, Cox was an assistant athletics director at Tuskegee University where he managed all internal operations of the department, including coordinating game management, game operations, facility maintenance, home event scheduling, fiscal and personnel management, as well as special projects. Before arriving at Tuskegee, Mr. Cox was the assistant commissioner of the Horizon League in Indianapolis, Indiana. He also previously served as assistant commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Cox received his B.A. in Communication and Media Studies from Auburn University, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Strayer University.
In commenting on the new hires, President Ernest McNealey said, “We are fortunate and pleased to continue widening and deepening the talent in the leadership pool at the university. Not only are Dr. Gamble, Dr. Sigman, and Mr. Cox highly-credentialed and experienced to assume the positions they now hold, they embrace the philosophy all that can be imagined can be achieved.”