John Eubank, IV ’09, Youngest Alum to Endow a TU Scholarship
“I got through college thanks to scholarships and grants. I want to provide that same opportunity and hope recipients of my scholarship are one day in a place where they can also give back to others.”
While John was surprised to hear he was the youngest Towson alum to endow a scholarship, being “the youngest” has been a pattern throughout his life. “I started college at 15 and have frequently been the youngest person in the room,” says John. “It has shaped who I am and taught me a lot at a young age.” While starting college and building a career early isn’t for everyone, John tries to be a beacon for others, Towson young alums included. Hard work and “the grind” to get ahead comes with a lot of sacrifice in exchange for financial independence. But it also put John in a position to impact the world for the better.
“My success is rooted in perseverance.”
John’s generosity has been shaped over the last twenty years. He has given back to many organizations with gifts of varying sizes. In addition to the TU scholarship, he supported the building of a school in the Dominican Republic and started the Eubank Family Charitable Fund with a focus on giving long-term support to Veterans, feeding the hungry, education, disaster relief, and other charitable organizations. “Giving to many organizations is part of my core and I want my legacy to be the positive impact that I made on society,” he says. During his time at TU he often worked with charitable organizations, including Habitat for Humanity rebuilding homes after Hurricane Katrina. “You don’t have to wait until later in life to start making philanthropic gifts,” he says. He encourages giving back no matter where you are in your career and ascribes to giving back to others as “a critical part of personal growth.”
John’s family connections to TU run deep, with the maternal side of his family going back several generations to the original Towson Normal School and both his older sister and younger brother also attending TU. Growing up just north of Towson, when it came time to think about college, TU was the only school where he applied. At 17, he transferred to TU from Community College of Baltimore County, lived at home and commuted, while working multiple jobs to save money. A self-described “tech nerd with a strong business acumen,” TU offered the program he was looking for—a dual degree in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems. “In the 90’s, the idea of cyber security was pretty much a footnote in textbooks and classes,” John says. Times have definitely changed. Today his work is a blend of cyber, massive scale data analytics, cloud computing, big data and software engineering.
John says his TU experience had a significant impact on who he is today. His perspectives on the world have changed significantly in the last two decades. But, looking back, he affirms that one of his greatest experiences in college was the exposure to other ideas, ideologies, and beliefs that were often in conflict or challenging to his own. “I left college with an understanding that went beyond the textbook,” says John.
John Eubank, IV ‘09 is Vice President of Cyber Growth for Black Horse Solutions, Herndon, VA. He recently relocated from Maryland to Northern Virginia where he shares his life with wife Whitney, daughter Ryleigh and a second child who is on the way.
