Distinguished trustees and guests, esteemed members of the Berry community, and dear family and friends, I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to stand before you today.
First, I would like to thank the Board of Trustees:
I sincerely appreciate the faith and trust you have placed in me to lead this great institution at this important time in our history.
To the local community leaders and elected officials here with us today:
I am grateful for your continued partnership and support for Berry College.
To the delegates who are here representing our peer institutions and professional organizations:
Thank you for honoring us with your presence. Your continued support affirms the strength of our shared commitment to higher education, collaboration and service.
To our President Emeritus, Steve Briggs:
Thank you for being here, for your leadership and unwavering commitment to this institution. You have left an enduring legacy that we are now the beneficiaries of.
To our faculty and staff:
You are the backbone of our college, the people who make Berry's mission and vision a reality. Thank you for all that you do.
To the students:
You are the reason we are here today and the very heartbeat of this place. Your warm welcome of me and my family has truly been a blessing.
And to the friends of Berry:
Thank you for the ways you connect and support us in the work beyond these Gates. Your friendship is a gift beyond measure.
Finally, to my family and friends, those who have traveled far to be here in person and for those connecting online in different time zones and countries:
Thank you for your continued support all these years.
While the title of “college president” is a wonderful honor to have bestowed upon me, I actually hold three titles that are even more valuable.
The first is “father” to my three children, Olivia, Gabriel, and Ethan. I have loved watching you grow and thrive in this new place over the past 10 months, and I’m excited for your future here. More than anything I have experienced in my career — graduate work, roles as a faculty member and as a dean — nothing has better prepared me to be a college president than being a father and a parent.
The second title is “husband” to my wife Gretchen. She represents all that is good in my life and has taught me how to be a man of honor and diligence. I would not be the man I am today without her.
And finally, I also hold the title of “child of God.” Above all else, I have been redeemed and renewed in Christ, and that guides every good part of what I do as a college president.
Preparing for today, I was asked a fair question: “If your presidential work has already begun, why do we have an inauguration?” I'll start here because the answer is simple yet significant. Celebrating a moment like this is not about an individual but is about encouraging our community. In an inaugural moment, we do three things:
- First, we form a collective memory of who we are and how we got here.
- Second, we reaffirm our shared values and purpose.
- And third, we chart a course for the future together.
It’s an invitation to publicly look back and then celebrate what the future holds.
Like a marriage or a baptism, an inauguration is less of a starting line and more of a public declaration. Recently, in conversation with a campus guest — who also happens to be an Olympic medalist — I was reminded of the phrase, “passing the torch.” This phrase is used to describe a symbolic change in leadership, but also to announce the beginning of the Olympic Games.
In the 2012 London Olympics, my brother had the opportunity to be a torchbearer, a runner carrying the Olympic flame ahead of the opening ceremony. He was a small part of the flame’s long journey from Greece to London, a picture of continuity, linking the ancient with the modern.
Every time the Olympics are held, a few sports begin before the opening ceremony, much like my own work here. The opening ceremony acts as a moment to herald values and celebrate the performance of athletes, prepared to do their best.
Rather than honoring the history of a host country, today we remember and honor Berry’s legacy. Rather than celebrating, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” today we advance our commitment to our core mission, “Educating the head, heart and hands.” And rather than looking forward to the performance of athletes, today we boldly lay out a vision for our future, challenging each other to reach new heights by raising our national profile.
Thinking about Berry’s collective memory and reflecting on imagery for the inauguration, I was drawn to the Gate of Opportunity.
This walkway has welcomed generations to grow in wisdom and character, while also acting as a call to look beyond. On the eve of a new academic year of classes, the day after first-year students moved in, I casually, and a bit ceremoniously, walked this path.
Along this road are quotes from famous leaders who have commented on Berry. Reading them, I was struck by these words, “I would rather have built The Berry Schools than to have done anything else.” Surprisingly, these were not the words of Martha Berry, but of Henry Ford.
In that moment, I was reminded of the weight of my new role. Henry Ford, the man who pioneered the moving assembly line, credited with making the automobile affordable, wished he had thought this place up. And now, I have the honor of carrying it forward.
Martha Berry, our founder and the one who captured the attention of figures like Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt, built an educational movement from a single classroom, an astonishing feat. From 1902 to 1932, she launched a boys’ school, opened a girls’ school, wove meaningful work into the curriculum, and guided the institution from junior college to senior college.
The pace and scale of her progress were not fueled by comparison, but by strong conviction. She knew what she was offering to young people was different and worthy of attention. She believed an education built around our mission had the ability to change lives and communities for the better.
And as we approach the 125th anniversary of our founding, this is the conviction we must also be faithful to, the hope for how a Berry education can change a student’s life and, in turn, change the world.
Turning next to our shared values and purpose, let us first recognize that Berry is in a strong place, and we are uniquely positioned to equip the next generation of graduates for tomorrow.
“Aim high” was among the Berry values articulated by the Board of Trustees when reaffirming our mission statement in 2024, a fitting nod to the significant progress made under the leadership of Steve Briggs, Scott Colley, Gloria Shatto, John Bertrand and many others in previous decades.
They positioned Berry for this moment. Now it is time for us to go further. In fact, we owe it to them and to our students to steward our heritage well, to carry on the work and to refine it, sharing Berry even as we seek to strengthen it.
And while many of the tensions of education today are not new, sustaining the college’s momentum will require an intentional approach, leveraging our distinct educational model and mission.
Like the words of a repeated creed or a prayer, anything said routinely can become easy to overlook. If our mission has started to feel this way for you, please pause and revisit it with me.
We educate the head, heart and hands –
to inspire leaders of integrity who cultivate thriving communities.
Though it may sound simple, these ideas are our engine and compass. This mission stands out in the landscape of higher education today. It cannot simply be measured by academic achievement or traditional success measures.
Our mission and values are rooted in the soil of Martha Berry’s convictions and faith. Her beliefs included a call to see every individual as an image-bearer of God, created with dignity and purpose. She would have argued our greatest call in life is to pursue the renewal and healing of society, imitating the greatest servant who laid down his life for humanity, Jesus.
For Martha Berry, “aim high” meant doing your absolute best for the glory of God while loving your neighbor rather than seeking applause.
In her closing remarks from the 1929 Convocation Speech, Martha Berry encouraged students in this way, "I do feel if we give the best we have, in some ways, the best will come back to us. I want us to understand each other better and to have more sympathy for each other, and I do hope and pray that we send out graduates who will be honest, upright, and who will live for others rather than for themselves."
There it is again – her insistence upon high standards but for the good of others.
I emphasize this combination because humility and a “going for gold” mentality don’t always sit easily together. Some might ask, “Can we really be like Martha and raise our national profile?” Looking at her words, I would answer with a resounding yes.
Take for example that Martha Berry loved Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord.”
On the one hand, she believed that her help came from God; that He was calling her to this unique vision of education and making a way for her to grow the Berry Schools.
But, on the other hand, this belief did not keep her from pursuing the support of Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt, national figures of her time. I actually believe her faith gave her the confidence to do so.
Imagine if Martha Berry had decided that tutoring three boys was enough. I, for one, am very grateful that she did not stop there.
From the start, her educational method was visionary but also relational and sacrificial; she shared her time, energy and wealth with her neighbors, seeing them for who they were and for the potential they held as future members of society.
In the same vein, I believe we must carry on the work of our founder and our predecessors. But to carry on the work is more than maintaining what we already do; it is strengthening our foundation, refining our goals and pursuing our work with excellence. It is a view of the college with both current and future students of Berry in mind.
So, as we look toward Berry’s future, the foundation we inherited must now be the work we advance. Based upon the core Berry experiences that represent our strengths and are expressions of our mission, the college has drafted five strategic priority areas designed to guide ongoing excellence, provide structure for decision-making and drive meaningful growth for the future.
Today, I share these strategic areas not as a directive from the president, but as a shared invitation — a call to carry the work forward together, but also to refine it.
First, we will carry on the work of access.
We will reinforce Berry’s commitment to opening doors for talented students, regardless of financial circumstances, by increasing scholarships and reducing financial barriers for families with demonstrated need. In doing so, we will position Berry to become a national model for how access can be both expanded and sustained.
Access also requires awareness. To build a broader understanding of the Berry story, we will invest in a comprehensive marketing strategy to strengthen our brand in key regional and national markets. Together, these efforts will allow Berry to remain accessible, visible, competitive, and true to its founding purpose.
Second, we will carry on the work of intentional student formation.
Emphasizing Martha Berry’s relational, student‑centered approach to education, we will advance a mentoring model where character development, leadership, care for one another, and community engagement are central to the student experience. Because these qualities grow through hands-on practice, mentors will be equipped to guide students as they explore their calling and direction.
By strengthening mentoring opportunities, spiritual growth and our Good Neighbor culture, Berry will cultivate a campus where character and leadership development are woven into every academic and co‑curricular experience.
Third, we will carry on the work of hands-on learning and graduate preparedness.
Building on Berry’s tradition of experiential learning, we will continue to foster hands-on engagement as an anchor of the Berry education. In doing so, we will position Berry to serve as an exemplar in Signature Learning Experiences.
From the outset of Berry’s history, our students worked while studying, and that work ethic continues to thrive today through LifeWorks, Berry’s preeminent student work program.
As a rite of passage for me as new president, I have now had the chance to shadow some of our students while working in their campus jobs. Rest assured, they put me to work right away doing things like watering plants and weeding some of the flower beds on our main campus.
Through a more intentional integration of the LifeWorks program into student learning, we will empower graduates to move confidently into the world with clarity, competence, and a strong sense of vocation.
Fourth, we will carry on the work of inquiry and discovery.
We will strengthen the deep commitment to undergraduate research across campus, enhancing our approach as a hallmark of Berry’s hands-on learning. I’ve already been impressed by the high-quality research that our students produce with their faculty from the presentations and poster sessions that I have observed, and we will continue to develop more opportunities for creative discovery. It is our goal to ultimately become a national model for faculty-mentored student research.
Finally, we will carry on the work of place.
Home to 27,000 acres of forests, fields, trails, countless numbers of deer, and historic spaces, Berry offers a learning environment unmatched in scale and possibility. We want to be a model for responsible, integrated land usage and management, stewarding campus resources with thoughtful intention.
By enhancing campus facilities, elevating the experience of our public and private partners, and integrating land use across academic, recreational, operational and community purposes, we will model holistic land stewardship. Our goal is to balance conservation, education, research and recreation. Students will not only learn on Berry’s land but will also learn from it, developing the knowledge and responsibility needed to care for place as well as community.
As I conclude my remarks today, let us be reminded that there is power in people experiencing this place for themselves. Visiting for the first time in the fall of 2024, I felt like I had discovered a treasure tucked away in the hills of Northwest Georgia. I thought, ‘How do more people not know about this place?’ Perhaps it’s the deer scheming to keep it for themselves?
But truly, the minute I experienced Berry and this campus, I was desperate to tell people about it. I moved my life here to do just that. Why? To me, more evident than the work of Martha Berry, is the work of God here. I believe He has been faithful to this community for years.
In one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 66, the earth is described as shouting glory to God, and when I look at this sprawling campus, it sings of the Lord’s good work here. Like the Psalmist, I want to share this place with the world – to echo the invitation to, “Come and see what God has done; he is awesome in his works toward the children of man.”
The work that God began here through Martha Berry is the work that we carry on, that we refine. As we stand here at this moment in Berry’s story, we’re reminded that we do not inherit something completed; we inherit a calling, a challenge to which we rise each day:
We seek solutions,
wrestle with ideas,
shape our character,
practice our craft,
pursue clarity and truth,
lead with integrity,
serve with humility
and dream boldly about what Berry can become for the next generation. It’s a torch passed to us, a symbol of what has come before and what will endure.
Having honored our history, our values and our future goals today, let us also remember that how we walk together matters just as much as what we accomplish. In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.”
So, let us walk together in a way that is worthy of our calling, and I look forward to taking that journey with you all.
Thank you for joining me on this special day, and may God continue to bless the pursuits of Berry College.