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Murray Couple Honored as MSU Grand Marshals

Murray Couple Honored as MSU Grand Marshals
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By WestKyStar & MSU Staff
Oct. 17, 2017 | MURRAY, KY
By WestKyStar & MSU Staff Oct. 17, 2017 | 06:19 PM | MURRAY, KY
Once Upon a Homecoming has proven to be the perfect theme for Murray State University’s Homecoming 2017 as this year’s grand marshals’ story is nothing short of a fairytale. The Alumni Association is ecstatic to present David and Ashley Dill the honor of being named grand marshals in celebration of their involvement and passion for the University. 
 
Once upon a time, a love story began at Murray State when David Dill, then a junior, developed an unexpected crush on senior Ashley Hall. David admitted he had wanted to ask Ashley out on a date for several months, but felt very intimidated.  
 
“I got up the nerve to ask her out on her last day on campus,” David said. “The only money I had was enough to buy a movie ticket, popcorn and a Coke.”
 
David’s charm and small but romantic gesture in the spring of 1989 won Ashley over. They were later married in August of 1991.  
 
“I always tell everybody that he about waited too long,” Ashley said. “But we had our first date on graduation night and, as they say, the rest is history.”
 
At Murray State, both David and Ashley were highly involved on campus and in organizations within their respective majors. David was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and competed on the Murray State golf team, while Ashley was active in the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. Once married, the couple relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue their careers: David in accounting and Ashley in interior design.
 
In the subsequent years, Ashley worked in commercial interior design, which required quite a bit of regional travel. Then, when their first child was born in 1996, the couple decided that Ashley would stay home to manage their growing family. David, meanwhile, first put his Murray State accounting degree to work with global firm Deloitte & Touche. However, in 1996, he had an opportunity to begin a career in healthcare with Renal Care Group. David rose through the ranks at the latter company before ultimately assuming the role of chief financial officer. 
 
In 2007, David then joined Life Point Hospital Group to serve as the organization’s executive vice president and chief financial officer before being named president and chief operating officer in 2009 — roles he still holds today. With all of David’s success and achievements, he credits Murray State with preparing him to take advantage of the many opportunities afforded to him. And so, since graduating from the University, David and Ashley have continued to make it a top priority to give back to the school that gave them so much. 
 
“It’s the place I met the love of my life, a place where I met the mother of my children and it’s a place that prepared me professionally and personally to accomplish a lot of dreams,” David said. “In exchange for that we made a commitment that we wanted to give back financially to what we’ve been involved in. And, whether it’s church, other charities or the University, we also require ourselves to give back our time. It’s easy to write a check; it’s harder to get involved. So if we’re going to get involved financially, we have to get involved with our time.”
 
The Dills did just that when they joined Murray State’s Hold Thy Banner High capital campaign, an initiative that ran from 2005 to 2012 and raised nearly $72 million for scholarship endowments to benefit students at Murray State.
 
“We jumped in with both feet,” David said. “We were a part of a large fundraising effort. We got involved that way and then, through that process, [we were asked] to join the Board of the Murray State Foundation.”
 
Subsequently, David has also been honored as a recipient of the Alumni Association’s most prestigious awards: the Golden Horseshoe Award in 2003 and Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015. Both awards celebrate alumni achievements and the impact they have made on their communities and alma mater. 
 
“[Murray State] was such a great experience,” Ashley said. “Not only did we feel like we got a great education — one that let us work in professions we were prepared for — but it was also a great experience for us. It was easy to step in and say, ‘absolutely, we need to give back to a place that provided so much for us.’”
 
The Dills have become strong advocates for all that Murray State has to offer to students and alumni. In fact, they believe that when you open yourself to all of the opportunities the University and professors have provided, growth will not only happen professionally but personally as well.
 
“It’s a great place to grow, be nurtured and connect with professors and other students,” David said. “If you are willing to invest, you will be prepared to do whatever you want to do. And, you will stack up very well with anybody else from any other university around the country.”
 
Tim Miller, professor emeritus in the department of accounting at Murray State and a grand marshal at Homecoming 2016, said he could not think of a better couple to have been selected this year. 
 
“David excelled as a student and now, as an alumnus, has shared his expertise and financial wealth with students and faculty in the department of accounting as well as by providing leadership to the University as a trustee on the MSU Foundation Board,” Miller said. “It is alumni like David Dill that have made the teaching profession so rewarding as a career.”
 
The Murray State Alumni Association invites the public to join the Dills in celebrating Homecoming Oct. 26–28 on the campus of Murray State. The Homecoming Parade featuring the Dills will take place Saturday, Oct. 28, at 9:30 am. For more information on the activities surrounding Homecoming weekend, please visit murraystate.edu/homecoming or call the Office of Alumni Relations at 270-809-5600.

 
 
 

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