2014 Distinguished Alumnus Award Winner
Randy Boyd is president of UT and founder, chairman, and CEO of Radio Systems/PetSafe, which has more than 900 associates worldwide and offices in six countries that produce more than 4,600 technology-based pet products under brand names such as Invisible Fence, PetSafe, SportDOG, and Premier.
After graduating in 1979 from the Haslam College of Business with a BS in industrial management, Boyd began his career as a serial entrepreneur who has worked tirelessly and selflessly to better the Haslam College of Business, UT, the Knoxville community, and countless other causes.
In 2008, he and others established Knox Achieves, which eventually became tnAchieves—a statewide organization that aims to increase higher education opportunities for Tennessee public high school students by providing last-dollar scholarships with volunteer mentor guidance. Boyd chairs the tnAchieves board. He also took a leave of absence from his company to serve Governor Bill Haslam as a special advisor for higher education, launching the Drive to 55 initiative, which includes the Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect. Together, these programs have helped nearly 300,000 Tennesseans, from high schoolers to adults, attend community or technical college tuition free.
Boyd and his wife, Jenny, are avid baseball fans, owning or operating the Tennessee Smokies, Johnson City Cardinals, Greeneville Reds, and Elizabethton Twins.
The couple’s philanthropic efforts are widely renowned. In the last two years alone, the Boyds have given more than $10 million to over 100 charitable causes. They have invested in numerous UT programs, including a scholarship for students who participate in tnAchieves to receive their associate’s degree from a Tennessee community college and then attend UT. Other investments in UT programs include the Boyd Venture Fund, which rewards young entrepreneurs through an annual competition, a community-based school initiative at Pond Gap Elementary School, and the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research. They also support UT Athletics and provided a gift to create the PetSafe Chair in Clinical Animal Behavior, placing the College of Veterinary Medicine in an elite group of veterinary schools that have a behaviorist on their faculty.
As president of UT, Boyd oversees the statewide university system including campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Martin, the Health Science Center in Memphis, the Space Institute in Tullahoma, and statewide agriculture and public service institutes.
Boyd is also a member of the Haslam College of Business’s Dean’s Advisory Council, 1914 Society, and Archway Society. He is a regular fixture in the Haslam Business Building, speaking to classes and meeting with faculty and students. He has served as an executive-in-residence lecturer and works actively with the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Randy Boyd is president of UT and founder, chairman, and CEO of Radio Systems/PetSafe, which has more than 900 associates worldwide and offices in six countries that produce more than 4,600 technology-based pet products under brand names such as Invisible Fence, PetSafe, SportDOG, and Premier.
After graduating in 1979 from the Haslam College of Business with a BS in industrial management, Boyd began his career as a serial entrepreneur who has worked tirelessly and selflessly to better the Haslam College of Business, UT, the Knoxville community, and countless other causes.
In 2008, he and others established Knox Achieves, which eventually became tnAchieves—a statewide organization that aims to increase higher education opportunities for Tennessee public high school students by providing last-dollar scholarships with volunteer mentor guidance. Boyd chairs the tnAchieves board. He also took a leave of absence from his company to serve Governor Bill Haslam as a special advisor for higher education, launching the Drive to 55 initiative, which includes the Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect. Together, these programs have helped nearly 300,000 Tennesseans, from high schoolers to adults, attend community or technical college tuition free.
Boyd and his wife, Jenny, are avid baseball fans, owning or operating the Tennessee Smokies, Johnson City Cardinals, Greeneville Reds, and Elizabethton Twins.
The couple’s philanthropic efforts are widely renowned. In the last two years alone, the Boyds have given more than $10 million to over 100 charitable causes. They have invested in numerous UT programs, including a scholarship for students who participate in tnAchieves to receive their associate’s degree from a Tennessee community college and then attend UT. Other investments in UT programs include the Boyd Venture Fund, which rewards young entrepreneurs through an annual competition, a community-based school initiative at Pond Gap Elementary School, and the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research. They also support UT Athletics and provided a gift to create the PetSafe Chair in Clinical Animal Behavior, placing the College of Veterinary Medicine in an elite group of veterinary schools that have a behaviorist on their faculty.
As president of UT, Boyd oversees the statewide university system including campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Martin, the Health Science Center in Memphis, the Space Institute in Tullahoma, and statewide agriculture and public service institutes.
Boyd is also a member of the Haslam College of Business’s Dean’s Advisory Council, 1914 Society, and Archway Society. He is a regular fixture in the Haslam Business Building, speaking to classes and meeting with faculty and students. He has served as an executive-in-residence lecturer and works actively with the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
