Stephanie Dempsey

Stephanie Dempsey began her development career at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston where she worked with the pediatric program funded by the proceeds from the children’s Christmas Card Project. She then raised funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as a development associate. Stephanie returned to Austin and became the first Executive Director of the Austin Community College Foundation and served in that capacity for 26 years before retiring in 2019. During her tenure, the Foundation’s assets grew from $3,000 to $11.4M with $8.7M in endowment funds. Under Ms. Dempsey’s leadership, the Foundation awarded over $10 million in scholarships, with more than $1 million awarded in 2019-20 alone. Scholarship awards grew over the years from 14 scholarships in 1995 to over 650 scholarships in 2019-20. Stephanie is a native Austinite and graduated from Austin High School. She received her degree in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin.