When Ashley Fairman (’05) thinks about leadership, she remembers the day she walked into Dean Ron Madler’s office at Embry-Riddle’s Prescott Campus, certain her Air Force dream was over.
“I’d missed a deadline that could have cost me everything,” she recalls. “I was terrified.” Madler didn’t lecture. He asked one question: “Did you ask anyone for help?”
When she said no, he smiled. “Ashley, you don’t get what you don’t ask for. Leaders ask.” That conversation reshaped her idea of courage and would guide every step that followed—from her Air Force service to leading cybersecurity teams at Google—and now to creating opportunity for other women through philanthropy.
At 42, Fairman has made a planned gift to Embry-Riddle to fund scholarships for women in STEM. “People my age don’t always think about legacy giving,” she says. “But you don’t have to be wealthy to make a difference. You can name the university in your will or designate a life-insurance policy. It’s about planting opportunity now.”
Her motivation comes from experience. “I’ve been that student, one mistake away from losing everything,” she says. “If my gift keeps another woman in the program—or gives her the courage to ask for help—then I’ve honored what was given to me.”
Fairman believes generosity, like leadership, begins with a question. “Dean Madler showed me that asking isn’t weakness—it’s strength. That lesson still guides me,” she says. “My planned gift is just another way of asking forward: What future can we make possible for the next woman who’s ready to lead?”