Baylor Line Foundation names veteran fund-raiser Holt executive VP

WACO—The Baylor Line Foundation named Allen Holt executive vice president of the organization, effective Nov. 1.

Allen Holt Holt served the Baylor Alumni Association—predecessor to the Baylor Line Foundation—as development director from 2008 to 2013, and he worked the last three years as development director for Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

He was a regional director in Baylor University’s Houston development office from 1986 to 2000.

“We could not be more proud to have Allen Holt rejoin our team,” said Fred Norton, Baylor Line Foundation president, adding he is “perfectly positioned” to lead the foundation.

“He has a long history serving Baylor alumni and models the character and timeless values of Baylor’s founders,” Norton said.

Holt has worked in development for the Memorial Hermann Foundation in Houston, the Baylor College of Medicine and the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin as its director of annual giving.

“I’m honored to have been chosen to lead this great organization, which has played such an important role in supporting Baylor University over the years,” Holt said.

“I look forward to working with the board of directors, our members and all alumni to continue building on our efforts to tell the stories of the Baylor family through the Baylor Line and our new Oral Histories project, increase the number and size of our legacy scholarships, and speak with an independent voice committed to preserving the values that drove the creation of this association of Baylor alumni and friends by President Rufus Burleson in 1859.”

A native of Mexia who grew up in Houston, Holt and his wife, Gail, have a blended family of seven children ranging in age from 19 to 29. 

The Baylor Line Foundation was formed as part of a legal settlement between the Baylor Alumni Association and the university. Under terms of the settlement, the alumni association agreed to remain an independent nonprofit entity and change its name. The renamed entity was granted authority to continue to publish the Baylor Line with editorial and operational independence. Also, the regents agreed to add three alumni-selected representatives to the university’s governing board.