Explain your involvement with LC. My involvement with Lynchburg College has been since day one … I got into a little bit of a bind and they gave me a second chance and I never forgot it. I believe that I’m the longest continuous donor to Lynchburg College. I wasn’t aware of that but it is fun to think about. The College made an in- vestment, a commitment to me, and I made a commitment to it. It’s lasted ever since.


What made you decide that LC was the place for you? (Laughs). I wasn’t a great student … I came to campus and saw the school, and was impressed. I knew I wanted to go to school in Vir- ginia and so we looked at a num- ber of schools and then we came across Lynchburg. Although I ap- plied to three or four Virginia schools, I decided that Lynchburg was a good fit for me.


Talk a bit about your career path. That’s kind of interesting because I really only had one career. My fa- ther and his father were in the in- vestment business and I started investing when I was fourteen. I even worked a couple of summers for my father’s company. But right after school I went out West. Some people would have called me a ski bum, but I wanted to learn how to ski because that was a focus of mine. I went out and lived in Steamboat, Colorado, for nine months and learned how to ski ... skied every day, or almost every day, and decided that I


ON PHOTO COURTESY OF CHUCK COLLINGS


wanted a career because I saw a lot of transients out in ski country. I called my father and told him


that I was interested in getting in the investment business and he made me an offer. I said I’d take the offer on one condition, and that was if I didn’t make it, I’d leave. Obviously, I worked hard and made it there. I’ve been in the investment business for thirty- seven years now.


You have some interesting hobbies. Well, I want to be able, when my life comes to an end, to look over my shoulder and say I’ve pretty much done everything that I wanted to do. I’ve done climbing in the White Mountains, climbing in the Adirondacks, climbing out in Colorado, climbing in British Columbia. I do love the outdoors. I love skiing; I’ve done helicop-


ter skiing up in British Columbia. That’s a big rush! (Laughs) But, I think those days are kind of be- hind me. I’ve done a little bit in producing Broadway plays. Along with my business partner, we’ve produced plays in New York City and London, which has been kind of fun. I’ve done a fair amount donat-


ing my time. I’ve been president and chairman of a foundation in Pennsylvania and a member of a number of organizations and, of course, my major commitment is Lynchburg College.


You’re a gardener? Yeah, well, shoot … now you’re really getting into it! There is a big green thumb in my family. On my mother’s side, my grandfather used to be in the wholesale florist business. I would go up to his farm in Pipersville, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and harvest peonies in the spring. I’ve always been in- terested in perennial gardens and in trees and plants in general. So,


that’s a major part of what I do around my property, trying to make it beautiful and bloom al- most year round. It is kind of fun. And, I love to cook. I think I’m a pretty good chef.


What is your specialty? Probably Beef Bourguignon (smil- ing). And it’s very, very good.


What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the College at this time? Along with all schools, one of the biggest challenges I see is to get the endowment up. What ulti- mately is going to happen with all the schools … is that the student loan problem is going to break. The students just can’t handle it, so the loan and the discounting and the models for paying for higher education are going to come under tremendous pressure, I think, over the next five to eight years. These models will have to be restructured or dealt with in some way. How, I’m not quite sure. Structurally, the way people fi- nance college and Lynchburg’s en- dowment are, I think, two major concerns I have going forward.


What benefits have been the most significant in your life since your first interactions with the College? Being on the Board of Trustees has been, without a doubt, the most enlightening and the most enjoy- able experience that I’ve had, and the most insightful. The Board is a group of people who are very fo- cused on what they do and who are very caring about what they do … Without a doubt, the most fun and the most involvement has been being on the Board of Trustees. It’s been great.


As a board member, what do you feel is your focus or duty and how do you feel about that? That is a great question. I think that there are a lot of very capable people at Lynchburg College, so for me to tell them how to do what they do is ridiculous. My focus has been on the larger, broader picture and to try to add some conceptual ideas that they may not have thought of before. That is probably what they want from all trustees – to give broad ideas that LC can act on. The other focus I have is


fundraising and to try and create a solid, long-term financial founda- tion through giving in any way I can. So, if I need to be some- where to help someone in asking for money or in promoting a rela- tionship, I will do whatever I can to help with that.


Since you’ve been on the board, what do you feel is the most significant accomplishment that the College has made? The most important accomplish- ment they’ve made is that they have been able to identify, in very defined order, the needs of the school and focus on those. I think that is incredibly important because it automatically outlines a mission. Any one of the board members can tell you what the major initia- tives of the College are. There are no questions, which means that everybody is focused and going down the same road, and that is very important. I would say, since I’ve been here, that the develop- ment of those initiatives, and the defining of those initiatives, is structurally extremely important. You have to know your mission before you can embark on trying to resolve some of the issues.


Spring 2012 LC MAGAZINE 33


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