Game-Day Building To Bear Name Of 1983 Grad

by Steve Daniel

Jeff Ainslie’s association with Old Dominion University began as a child, when his father would bring him and his brother to campus so that they could take lifesaving courses in the Fieldhouse pool while he taught a business class.

That association continued when Ainslie enrolled as a student at the university in 1978. He graduated in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing management.

Today, as a loyal alumnus, Ainslie is vice president of the Alumni Association board of directors, on which he has served for seven years, and he recently announced a major gift to his alma mater: $1 million for the new football game-day building. The facility is scheduled to open next fall in time for ODU’s first home football game at Foreman Field in more than 70 years.

“Jeff Ainslie is yet another alumnus who has recently stepped up to support our university,” said Alonzo Brandon, vice president for development and executive director of foundations. “He joins a special group of alumni supporters like the Kornblaus, Lobecks, Perrys, Haislips and Stantons who believe in the future of Old Dominion University and are committed to seeing us succeed.”

The family’s association with the university continued when Ainslie’s son, Joey Guth, enrolled at ODU, graduating last year with a degree in sport management. He is now a professional CrossFit trainer and has partnered in opening a CrossFit training studio.

Ainslie, the president of Virginia Beach builder/developer Ainslie-Widener, is well known in the area for his community service and philanthropy. He has served as president of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Foundation board, president of the Home Builders Association of Virginia and chair of the Opportunity Inc./Hampton Roads Workforce Development board. He is an active member of Tidewater Builders Association, and headed a task force charged with securing long-term funding for the TBA Building Trades Academy, which provides training designed to direct low-income residents into a career in the building trades. His company was the developer for The Estates of Pitchkettle Farms, site of TBA’s 2006 Homearama.

At ODU, he established the Jeff Ainslie Endowed Scholarship in Real Estate with a $100,000 gift in 2005, and he provided audiovisual equipment for the Kornblau Alumni Center. Of the scholarship gift, Ainslie said he was asked to participate in a group led by business college dean Nancy Bagranoff and local real estate icons Bob Stanton ’61 and Joan Gifford. “Each of them is a model supporter of ODU and Hampton Roads, and the chance to follow in their footsteps was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he remarked.

Ainslie said he was more than happy to make his latest gift to the university because he believes it will help contribute to ODU’s overall reputation. “I truly believe that adding a successful football program to the well-established winning reputation that each of our other sports has attained over the past decades, coupled with the exemplary academic programs we have created, will create the ‘buzz’ to make ODU the first choice for Virginians and others when selecting their university.

“ODU has grown to become a true destination university, with many advanced areas of study. The buzz that’s created when the community gets involved at all levels will certainly cement that reputation across the commonwealth and, ultimately, across the nation.”

Ainslie describes himself as a “professional football spectator.”

“I played football with the gang growing up, but when I went for tryouts in junior high, I realized I just didn’t have the mass necessary to survive,” he said with a laugh.

A longtime Big Blue Club member, Ainslie said he is grateful to be in a position to give back to his alma mater.