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Thirty years ago, he laid the financial foundation for Alabama’s embryonic residential STEM high school, and in a powerhouse career in the decades since, J. Scott Huffman, CFRE, has raised more than $100 million to support advancing healthcare and education in the state.
On May 15, Huffman will build on his first major success at the Alabama School of Math and Science and become the inaugural president and CEO of the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences Foundation in Demopolis. The Foundation is the support system for creation of the fourth state specialty high school, scheduled to open in fall of 2026, with a 100-student freshman class.
“His successful fundraising career in Alabama may be unparalleled,” said Foundation Board Chairman Kirk Stephens, who noted Huffman’s reputation for strategic planning and executive leadership.
Foundation trustees had conducted a nationwide search, led by The Chason Group [thechasongroup.com], before the trail wound back to Tuscaloosa, where Huffman resides. He has served the past 21 years as Executive Director of Development and Strategic Planning for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and as executive director of the School of Dentistry’s Alumni Association.
As Foundation trustees work to fund construction and operational costs of the school, Huffman’s reputation and track record were a staggering lure, including playing integral roles in steering mega capital campaigns of $375 million and $1 billion.
“By leading two different organizations in the state to their greatest fundraising achievements, Scott truly grasps Alabama’s philanthropic landscape,” said Stephens.
“I am looking forward to helping address some of Alabama’s greatest challenges as we educate our future health care providers,” said Huffman. “Considerable progress has been made on forging partnerships across the state and nation, and we’ll work tirelessly to expand those. We have to be successful because our state’s future depends on it.”
Huffman said he will immediately tackle “robust” board development and training, expanding the number of Foundation trustees from 6 to 25 “highly committed” members, and creating an active fundraising development committee with expertise and connections to explore private and public sources of support for the school.
“The Foundation is poised to help address Alabama’s healthcare needs by training the next generation of healthcare professionals and transforming healthcare access in Alabama’s rural communities,” Huffman said. “I am eager to collaborate with the Foundation Board, the School Board, Dr. Jimmy Martin, and our funding partners.”
The ASHS school board recently named Dr. Martin, superintendent of the Pell City School System, as school president. In addition to being part of the four-school Alabama network and 10-school Bloomberg national healthcare high school project, the campus will be affiliated with professional partners, including Whitfield Regional Hospital in Demopolis, a member of the UAB Health System.
The goal of the school is to offer work-based training to help alleviate Alabama’s crisis in rural healthcare, providing students with in-demand careers they can begin with their diploma, or that can lead to advanced medical training in community college and four-year college and university programs.
Huffman and his wife, Susan, reside in Tuscaloosa. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Alabama, a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Mississippi State University, and for 27 years has held the Certified Fundraising Executive designation. His roots in West Alabama also include volunteer positions with the Exchange Club of Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Board, among a number of nonprofit endeavors.
Interim President Rob Pearson, who has been instrumental in the early development of ASHS — garnering support in Demopolis and in the state legislature and helping to secure the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ $26.4 million commitment to the school — will continue building those relationships as the Foundation’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships
The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences Foundation is a charitable, 501(c)(3) organization with the sole purpose of providing both financial and educational support for the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, scheduled to open in the fall of 2026. This residential, specialty high school, part of the Alabama public school system, will offer curricula, instruction and work-based training focused on the health sciences to prepare students for career-readiness in the healthcare industry. Among the chief purposes of the school is to alleviate the rural healthcare workforce shortage in Alabama.
