Penley, who was born in Virginia but grew up in Tennessee, attended Wake Forest University as an undergraduate majoring in psychology. He also competed with and coached the debate team while he earned his master
Penley was dean of the ASU business school for more than 13 years. He also served as president of Colorado State University from 2003 to 2008. He was president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management from November 2012 to December 2014.