Wright State provost, trustee named to DBJ Bizwomen Power 50 list

Amy Thompson is the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Wright State.

Wright State University Provost Amy Thompson, Ph.D., and Trustee Dawn Conway were named to the Dayton Business Journal’s 2022 Bizwomen Power 50 list.

Six Wright State alumnae, including Andrea Kunk, a member of the Wright State University Foundation Board of Trustees, were also named to the 2022 list.

Compiled by the Dayton Business Journal’s editorial board, the Bizwomen Power 50 list recognizes many of the region’s most influential women in the business community.

Thompson joined Wright State as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs on June 1.

She oversees academic affairs at both of Wright State’s campuses, including the undergraduate and graduating degree programs, faculty affairs, accreditation, the University Libraries and research programs.

Thompson takes a student-centered approach to her work and decision-making, ensuring that students are supported, find success and graduate in a timely fashion.

She also takes pride in supporting faculty, staff and administrators and helping them overcome the obstacles and challenges they face to meet their goals.

Before joining Wright State, Thompson served as the senior vice provost of academic affairs, acting dean of the College of Graduate Studies, vice provost and associate provost of faculty affairs, and professor of public health at the University of Toledo.

Thompson earned a Ph.D. in health education, with a minor in public administration, and a master of education in public health from the University of Toledo, and a bachelor’s degree in community health and health promotion, with a minor in family life and human sexuality, from Central Michigan University.

Dawn Conway joined the Wright State Board of Trustees in 2021.

In 2021, Conway was appointed to the Wright State Board of Trustees for a term ending in 2029.

She is the chair of the university’s Academic and Student Affairs Committee and is a member of the Special Committee on Medicine and Health and the Special Committee on Aerospace and Defense.

As the CEO of Boost Engagement in Dayton, Conway is responsible for Boost Engagement’s corporate leadership and execution of the brands in the company’s portfolio, which includes Shumsky, Boost Engagement and Outta the Box Dispensers.

Previously, she was the chief operating officer of the public relations company Cision, where she led sales, marketing, finance, analysis, research and content acquisition, and held key leadership positions at LexisNexis over a 20-year career.

Conway is a member of the District of Columbia Bar. She received her J.D. from California Western School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Regis College.

Wright State alumnae who were named to the Bizwomen Power 50 list:

• Kathleen Carlson, CAPTRUST, M.B.A., 1983
• Carly Cox, JJR Solutions LLC, B.S., 2007
• Sarah Hackenbracht, Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, B.A., 2003
• Andrea Kunk, Peerless Technologies and member of the Wright State Foundation Board of Trustees, B.S.B., 2004, M.B.A., 2007
• Lesley Ott, James Investment, B.S.B., 2004, M.B.A., 2011
• Marya Rutherford-Long, Fifth Third Bank, M.U.A., 2000