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Whitworth University Board of Trustees Elects Two New Members

November 22, 2017
The Whitworth University Board of Trustees is honored to welcome Nancy Fox and Octavio Morales, who were elected during the board’s meeting in October.


Nancy Fox

Nancy Fox, D.Miss., M.Div., is a parish associate at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Both she and her husband, Quinn, served as associate chaplains at Whitworth during the 1980s.

Fox recently completed her doctorate in missiology from the Fuller School of Intercultural Studies. Prior to moving to the East Coast, she served as missions coordinator and parish associate at First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs. She’s also served churches in Nashville, Tenn.; Longmont, Colo.; and Austin, Texas.

Fox is the vice president of product development of Celebration Greetings, a division of Leanin’ Tree Inc., a card and gift company founded by her father in 1949. She and her three siblings run the day-to-day operations.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Nancy to the board, and I’m confident that her deep love for Whitworth and her support for its Christ-centered approach to education will enable her to serve the university
well," says Whitworth President Beck A. Taylor. “Our alumni and friends in the Washington, D.C., area will be pleased to know they are well represented at Whitworth. I know Nancy’s inspired leadership will impact Whitworth for years.”

Fox chairs the board for The Outreach Foundation, an organization that connects Presbyterians globally to increase the church’s capacity for God’s mission. Her particular focus has been the churches in Egypt and more recently also Lebanon and Syria. She and her husband have two children, Jonathan, ’10, and Christina, a Middlebury College graduate.

Octavio Morales

Octavio Morales is a respected business leader with more than 30 years of accomplishments at leading startups and established companies. A member of the Whitworth Business Advisory Board, he has broad experience that encompasses executive management, marketing, sales, business development and engineering.

The Colorado State University graduate is the Senior Vice President of TierPoint’s West Operating Region. TierPoint, originally co-founded in 2003 by Morales in Liberty Lake, Wash., is now headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., and has 42 data centers across the U.S. including facilities in Liberty Lake and Seattle. The company is a national provider of cloud and managed services designed to help organizations improve business performance and manage risk.

Morales has released multiple successful networking solutions, winning several “Best of Breed” industry awards for product innovation while directly contributing to creating well over $1 billion in value. He has published and presented in various international publications and events.

“It’s not often that Whitworth is able to bring to the board someone with Octavio’s impressive and diverse experience in the business sector, and someone with his steadfast commitment to providing our students the absolute best mind-and-heart education possible,” Taylor says. “With his long-standing service to Whitworth’s School of Business and his love for interacting with our students, I’m sure Octavio’s leadership will strengthen many areas of the university.”

Octavio and his wife, Diana, have two daughters, Alexa and Taylor, and a son, Andres.

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students, offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Contacts: 

Scott McQuilkin, vice president for institutional advancement, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4386 or smcquilkin@whitworth.edu.

Trisha Coder, media relations manager, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4703 or tcoder@whitworth.edu.