Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury is like a lot of graduates of the school. A member of the class of 1984 and the holder of an industrial management degree, he feels fierce pride and deep gratitude to the school for how it prepared him for life after college.

“I came here for all the wrong reasons, but, because I wanted to play a game, I was able to earn a Georgia Tech degree and get an incredible opportunity, a launch pad that has provided me a totally different life than I would have had otherwise,” he told donors at a gathering last week.

Hired last September from Oregon State, Stansbury is ready to act. On the job since late November, Stansbury has been fact finding and learning more about the department, a process that included meeting with all 177 staff members in the department. He presented his vision for Tech at last week’s gathering, a presentation to major donors at McCamish Pavilion.

Stansbury emphasized four strategic priorities for the department – brand, culture, structure and revenue growth. A thread of that vision is to spread the story of Tech as a powerful institution capable of changing lives in the way it did his – to Atlanta, to donors and, not least, to recruits.