Paul McNamara came to SFSU in 2026 from Cal State Northridge (CSUN), where he was the Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR). Prior to that, he was Executive Director for College Advancement at West Valley Community College. He started his career in Sponsored Programs at San José State University, where he then transitioned to philanthropy (CFR) for over 12 years. Paul earned both his Bachelor of Arts in English and Professional Writing and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at San José State.