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Vice President, Innovation and Growth
Marian University
The Leaders and Legends podcast helped Chris Creighton make a momentous career change. Creighton, who had worked for Gov. Eric Holcomb in one capacity or another for several years, was working as the Indiana Department of Transportation chief of staff and wondering what might be next as the governor’s final term was nearing an end. Then he heard Marian University President Daniel Elsener on the podcast. Creighton reached out. Now, as the university’s vice president of innovation and growth, he has spearheaded the fundraising and development of two major initiatives: the Riverside Education Innovation District community revitalization project and the Penny and Jock Fortune Institute for Civic Leadership and Capitalism. “When my career in state government ended, I knew I would want to work in a place where I could feel like I was part of something bigger than myself,” Creighton said. “Marian University has offered that to me on the other side of the Holcomb administration.”
Getting here: A 2010 Senate Republican internship led to opportunities to work on political campaigns for several candidates, which in turn led to a job at public-affairs firm Hathaway Strategies. While there, he worked as a key adviser to Holcomb. A job as Holcomb’s legislative director would follow.
First job: automobile detailer
Givebacks: board member of Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, member of the Indiana Gaming Commission, member of the McCordsville Economic Development Commission
Influential person: “There are many people I’ve tried to listen to and emulate over the years at each stage of my career, including Danny Lopez, Anne Hathaway, Cris Johnston and Earl Goode.”
Meaningful moment: “If I had to pick one, I would say it would be Anne Hathaway was always very critical of typos in documents and emails. It was one of those things where, in the moment, you feel like its importance is overstated.”•
Check out more Forty Under 40 honorees.
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