Entrepreneur

I started Worthwhile in 1995 as a media streaming company in Greenville, South Carolina. The company was the first to stream live radio in the state and grew to three stations and two national networks.

Communicator

In all of my years of employment, I have been a communicator. Right out of college that meant leading three different groups around the country in a 15 passenger van. This role combined managing logistics, public speaking, networking, and a little counseling thrown in to the close quarters in the van!

As an administrative assistant to the president of Bob Jones University, I learned the art of constituent correspondence. This was also the place where I was first exposed to the executive level world and began to learn how to communicate within a larger corporate structure.

My next experience came as the public relations manager for Bob Jones University. I used my knowledge gained in the executive office to effectively represent the institution's values and mission. It was also where I learned by trial and error the fine art of crisis management. My biggest lesson? Whether talking to the local weather guy or sitting in the hotseat with Bill O'Reilly, be humble and look pleasant!

My current role in the alumni relations department at Bob Jones University has had some of my most enjoyable opportunities to use my communication skills. To me, alumni relations is only partly communicating between alumni and their alma mater. What I love most is finding ways to help alumni communicate with one another.

Collaborative Leader

Since high school I have found myself in positions of leadership. As I think back through the years, I find that much of any success I have I must point to the people I have brought around me. My leadership style has been to find the right people, help shape the vision of our future, trust them to do their part, provide them with the tools and support to do it, and positively encourage them to be accountable to meet our objectives.

Team sports, office environments, volunteer and civic organizations have all given me opportunity to motivate others through example and direct management. As manager of events and services I was responsible for hiring and leading an office team of five. Our events also provided opportunties for me to guide dozens of volunteers. I also had the privilege of serving as an advisor to the organization's executive committee elected by the membership. This allowed me to express the vision, policies, and traditions of the organization on a regular basis helping to influence the group's decision making process.

Where I truly find my passion is not as a lone leader, but as a part of a leadership team. The success of Worthwhile is not mine, but the ability of the leadership team to work together. My strengths are being able to listen, to ask questions that help bring clarity, and help reach consensus among varying opinions. My current roles at Worthwhile, on the alumni relations management team, as a Greenville city planning commissioner, and chairman of the deacons at my church; I have been able to use these traits to support and advance the organizations and people I serve.

Strategic Thinker

Whether it is listening to one of my favorite podcasts on economics or reading philosophers and theologians, I enjoy thinking. Thinking is taking in information, meditating on it, measuring it against other information, and then drawing conclusions. To me it is enjoyment I can take into my vocation.

Early in my involvement in alumni relations, I had the opportunity to take a 50-year old organization and rethink it. I worked with the executive committee to create a mission and vision that continues to drive decisions and initiatives years later. We are now in the midst of a radical new approach to the organization, but the initial mission remains as a foundation.

My experience with Worthwhile has taught me that strategic thinking sometimes means taking a risk with confidence. Early in the first years of this decade, our strategy was one of rapid growth and expansion. We now know that was a mistake because we rapidly expanded our human capital in two locations and broadly increased our offerings. This radically changed our culture and over extended us.

It was my business partner who taught me the valuable lesson of deciding not to double down and to radically change our very identity as a company. He challenged me to think differently and see that less is more. By focusing on what we do best and putting a focus on building culture instead of revenue, we were able to bring the company from near bankruptcy to its most profitable years in two decades.

Community Oriented

I love where I live. I am truly blessed to have my family be a part of the great community. Whatever I am involved in with work, leisure, or worship my community is a major influence.

As a cyclist I have enjoyed participating in multiple charity rides. These included two relay rides from Greenville, SC to Austin, TX with the Challenge to Conquer Cancer. I've raised over $20,000 for a scholarship to a local college by riding from Memphis, TN to Raleigh, NC over seven days. I have ridden from Greenville to Charleston, SC in a single day to help pay medical bills for a local girl with a heart defect.

These experiences led me to start the I Do It For Foundation to help encourage others to use their physical abilities to help others. Though currently not operating at full capacity, I have great dreams for this non-profit.

My appointment to the Greenville City Planning Commission gives me the opportunity to have a role in planning for our exciting city. It also allows me to work with City Council to direct development of subdivisions and neighborhood infill. This has been a much more challenging responsibility than I thought, but has given me greater insight into the diversity of our community.

Attending my church for 30 years I have had the opportunity to raise my children in a loving and grace-filled environment. For the majority of those years I have been a Bible teacher. Today I continue to teach quarter-long sessions on a variety of topics. Currently, I am covering what the Bible says about the conscience including some philosophical discussions about consciousness. I also serve as the chairman of the deacons during a time of exciting community growth in our church congregation.