Fred Poust's legacy of return
CHC Class of: 1982
Majors: Economics
Coffee or tea: Coffee, with a little milk
Favorite music: Any band with brass — Earth, Wind & Fire is a favorite
What can we find you doing when you're not working: Hiking, traveling around the world, enjoying arts and culture in New York, and reading
Advice for CHC students: Explore as much as you can when you’re young. Live in foreign places, try jobs you’re not sure about, and do charity work.
The roar of McArthur Court still echoes in Fred Poust’s memory. It’s the 1970s, and he’s a kid sitting mid-court with his mom, Joy, and brother, Alex. He’s watching basketball legends Ronnie Lee and Greg Ballard tear up the hardwood, listening to the cacophony coming from front row-fans slapping the wooden baseboards in front of their seats.
His mother, a single mom who moved the boys to Eugene when Fred was in fifth grade, was finishing her degree and building a life from scratch. (Poust still isn’t sure how she got those season tickets, but they were good ones.) The crowd was electric, and Poust remembers taking it all in, still unaware that the UO campus would become part of his core.
Today, Poust is 66, and he makes the trip back to campus every eight to 10 weeks from his home in New York City. Sometimes, it’s for a University of Oregon Foundation board meeting. Sometimes, it’s for a Clark Honors College Advisory Council session. In the fall, it’s for a football game—he’s held season tickets for years. Always, he visits his mother, Joy. She turns 94 in March and still lives in Eugene.
The pull to return for him is connected to family, but also to the UO. Poust has woven his professional success—from jobs with Time Warner to the Clinton Foundation to Forbes Media—into an ongoing commitment to the university that gave him his start. He’s served as president of the UO Alumni Association. He’s in his final year on the UO Foundation board, which manages the university's endowment and ensures donor intent is honored. And he funds the Joy Poust Scholarship, named in honor of his mother, which has supported more than 60 Clark Honors College students in their academic endeavors.
“I firmly believe that the UO is critical to the future of the state of Oregon," Poust says. "Whatever tiny contribution I can make to helping the U of O put its best foot forward—whether attracting great students, stewarding its endowment, supporting marketing efforts or development efforts—I’m trying to do something to help.”
“I firmly believe that the UO is critical to the future of the state of Oregon. Whatever tiny contribution I can make to helping the U of O put its best foot forward—whether attracting great students, stewarding its endowment, supporting marketing efforts or development efforts—I’m trying to do something to help.”
Growing up a Duck
Joy Poust’s decision to move to Eugene wasn’t random. After a divorce and with little money, she sought a place to settle on the West Coast near the Bay Area, where she was born and raised. She wanted to be in a university town to finish her degree. And she wanted a sound public school system for her two sons.
“She sort of scoured the western states and decided on Eugene, despite not really having any support system,” Fred Poust says. “She finished her degree and built a little business here. She’s one of my heroes, because she did it all on her own without a lot of support.”
Joy earned her teaching degree from the UO and got her first job at the Clark Honors College, where she worked for about eight years. The campus became central to their family life in ways that went far beyond Joy’s employment.
Living just two blocks from campus meant the University of Oregon was Poust’s playground and cultural center. He attended sports camps there in the summers. The family went to campus events for arts and culture. And those Mac Court season tickets were “rocking,” Poust remembers. “That was a highlight.”
It all shaped Poust’s sense of what the university meant and could be. When it came time for college, staying at Oregon made sense. He was admitted to the Clark Honors College and graduated in 1982 with a degree in economics.
“(The degree) seemed general enough that it could lead to a job,” he says. And the Honors College gave him “something that had a little more theory behind it” than just pure business.
The degree opened doors. His first job was at what was then the fourth-largest bank in the United States, Manufacturers Hanover Trust Bank in New York, now Chase Bank. Of the 20-plus people in his training program, most came from Ivy League schools—Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, to name a few.
While it was intimidating at first, he quickly realized that his education from the Clark Honors College was every bit as valuable.
A curiosity-driven career
Poust’s career arc took him through media and beyond. At the bank, he was assigned to work with the media industry—motion picture studios, cable companies, Time Inc., Paramount Pictures and NBC. The fortunate placement sparked his love for the sector.
“There are more interesting and less interesting industries to be associated with,” he says. “The media industry is nothing if not constantly dynamic.”
After four years, he joined Time, where he ultimately oversaw corporate advertising revenue and marketing with a team of 100 people nationwide. He served in various roles at Time Warner, including stints with People Magazine and other properties. At one point, his job involved traveling the world to select sites for Warner Bros. theme parks.
From 2009 to 2013, he served as chief marketing officer for the Clinton Global Initiative at the Clinton Foundation. His role was to drive revenue—sponsorships, attendance, whatever it took to make the annual conference successful.
“The conversations in rooms that I was in were unlike anything I had been in before,” he says. “We were talking about making the world a better place with really smart people.”
He found himself in meetings with former President Bill Clinton, his wife, Hilary, and their daughter, Chelsea – all of whom served on the board. He describes President Clinton's grasp of complex issues—from nuclear versus thermal energy to the Middle East to China—as stunning in its breadth.
“With no notes, he’d answer questions about all of it, and what he said made so much sense and was so articulate,” Poust recalls. “It was pretty inspirational.”
The job also meant attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as part of President Clinton’s delegation. The experience underscored for him what’s possible when powerful, intelligent people commit to tangible action. In 2024, he was mentioned in the acknowledgement of President Clinton’s second book, “Citizen: My Life After the White House.”
After his time with the Clinton Foundation, Poust held roles at Forbes Media, where he developed the global conference business. Currently, he operates Intrevent, an event management software company he founded. The tool helps organizations manage the back-of-house operations of events, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Through all his roles, one constant remained. “The thing that hasn’t changed for me is that I’ve stayed really curious about everything,” he says.
Paying it forward
Carol Stabile, dean of the Clark Honors College, remembers connecting with Poust in 2021 when she was first serving as interim dean and had recently inherited the CHC Advisory Council. Though some had encouraged her to disband it, Stabile decided to look to alumni for their insight to better understand the college’s past, challenges and potential.
“I reached out, super nervous, cold calling people,” Stabile remembers. “I don't know why Fred agreed to join the council, except he’s the nicest guy in the world and is so committed to the CHC and UO.”
Their first meeting was over Zoom, Poust calling in from his Manhattan apartment. “He was so gracious and so generous with his time and his advice,” Stabile says. “There are all these things he knew about the Honors College and the university that I just had no knowledge of.”
What struck Stabile most was Poust’s wisdom about how institutions function—particularly universities, which don’t operate like businesses. When more enthusiastic advisory board members pushed for rapid changes, Poust explained the constraints within which higher education operates while still identifying what could be accomplished.
“He can see that there are things you can do despite the constraints that are really impactful,” Stabile says. “And that connects to his overall philosophy. We can’t change the broader scenario of the funding of higher education in the short term, but there are things we can do in the meantime that transform people’s lives.”
The Joy Poust Scholarship has distributed more than $120,000 to over 60 Clark Honors College students since its inception. Recipients have gone on to careers across fields—media, medicine, law, and beyond.
Lorie Acio (who recently received the UO’s 2025 Distinguished Young Alumni Award) was a Poust Scholar. She rose to become vice president of communications at NBC News and MSNBC while in her early thirties.
“That scholarship was important to me because it helped support me through my education,” Acio says. “It’s come full circle because now I get to work with Fred on the advisory council to help shape the Honors College for future students.”
Looking at a recent report showing all the scholarship recipients and their accomplishments, Poust was moved. “No one’s going to confuse us for Phil and Penny Knight,” he says. “But it still has made a difference in a bunch of people’s lives.”
Last month, Poust visited campus to speak with the CHC Student Advisory Council. He gave members his email and told them to follow up—a lesson in the importance of networking and making connections.
“He is the very definition of a mensch. Fred loves talking to students and alumni,” Stabile says. “He is so generous in sharing his expertise and knowledge. Every time we go to New York, he opens his home to recent alums.”
Today, the pattern holds
Poust still makes chili for every Oregon football game, gathering friends and their families to watch at his New York City apartment. His schedule revolves around the Ducks’ season.
When the team traveled to Northwestern and Rutgers this year, he went to both road games. He still cheered on the Ducks, despite his son having attended Northwestern.
His stepdaughter, Amanda, remembers going to the 2010 Rose Bowl when she was in fifth grade—the whole family dressed up, meeting the group that performed the then-viral “I Love My Ducks” rap before their performance. Poust was as excited as the kids.
“He loves bringing people here,” says his wife, Jodi Kahn. “He loves the university, and he loves his time there. It really shaped who he is.”
Even with all his roles and involvements, he’s never lost sight of the importance of family. Last month, the Poust family all gathered in Eugene to visit his mom for Thanksgiving. At nearly 94, she’s fiery as ever. Recalling the raucousness they caused in their youth, she still reminds her two sons that they’re not the bosses of her.
Poust admires his mother's legacy and looks forward to continuing to steward it. “I love coming back to visit my mom,” he says. “She's a great pull. Well, her and the roar of a Duck crowd.”