Beeson Podcast, Episode #561 Dr. Betsy Holloway August 10, 2021 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Doug Sweeney, here with my co-host, Kristen Padilla. We are excited to have a good friend and fellow leader here at Samford on the show with us today. Last week you heard from Samford’s brand new president, Dr. Beck Taylor. This week we’ll interview one of Samford’s longest serving vice presidents, Dr. Betsy Holloway. Before Kristen introduces her, let me say a word about our fall chapel series. It begins on August 31st with convocation. I will deliver the convocation address entitled, “God Meant it for Good,” based on Genesis 50:15-21. And assuming that we nip this new COVID surge in the bud we’ll be able to welcome guests back to chapel with us again. So, please mark your calendars and plan to join us on Tuesdays at 11:00 AM in Hodges Chapel. This fall we’ll be exploring biblical texts that remind us of God’s sovereignty and goodness in the midst of life’s trials, like the ones we’ve all been suffering through these past couple of years. Details can be found on our website at www.BeesonDivinity.com/worship. Kristen, would you please introduce Dr. Holloway for us? >>Kristen Padilla: Hello, everyone. We are so glad to have Dr. Betsy Holloway with us on the show today. She is Vice President of Marketing and Communication and the Chief Marketing Officer for Samford University. She is a member at Independent Presbyterian Church and serves as President and Board Chair of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. Dr. Holloway is married to Jimmy and they have two adult daughters. Welcome, Betsy, to the Beeson Podcast. >>Dr. Holloway: Thank you, Kristen. Thank you, Dean Sweeney. I’m so pleased to be with you today. >>Kristen Padilla: Well, I have the privilege of working with you. I’ve had that privilege for the last five or more years now. And I’m excited for our listeners to get to know you better. So, why don’t you begin just introducing yourself briefly? Where are you from? Any word about your family and what you do here at Samford? >>Holloway: Dr. Yeah, thank you Kristen. Well, I have been at Samford since 2002 when I joined the faculty of what was then the School of Business. Of course it’s now the Brock School of Business. And without a doubt those first 12 years, spending time in the classroom and with faculty, building those programs in our Business School were a real highlight for me, professionally and certainly in my time at Samford. I am actually a native of Birmingham, Alabama. My father was one of the founding faculty members at UAB, which I mentioned primarily to say that I’m a child of higher education. I literally grew up in the labs at UAB where my dad taught bio chemistry and ultimately initiated a center for macro molecular crystallography. But his science was the study of drug design. And he went on to leave UAB to form a company, BioCryst, which is actually Alabama’s first publicly traded bio tech company. But I grew up at UAB. In fact, my first teaching job was at UAB. We lived in Oxford, England twice when I was a child. My dad took sabbaticals at the university there in Oxford, England. And those were also really incredible experiences in my childhood but also in my understanding of higher education. So, perhaps I should mention my wonderful mom who was a school teacher. She taught fourth grade math. So, it’s not surprising that I felt a calling to enter higher education and carry on their legacies as a teacher and an administrator. >>Doug Sweeney: Dr. Holloway you also grew up at Independent Presbyterian Church, which will be important to some of our listeners. It ought to be important to all of them once they hear all about this. In fact, you’re an ordained elder and lifelong member at Independent Pres. Listeners, that is the church where our benefactor at Beeson, Ralph Waldo Beeson, was a member as well. So, Dr. Holloway, can you tell our listeners a little bit about your church and about your spiritual journey there? >>Dr. Holloway: Yes, thank you for that, Dr. Sweeney. Independent Presbyterian Church has been such a wonderful part of my life. I really can’t separate my faith journey from that church. My parents moved here right when I was born. So, it is the church where I was baptized. It is the church where I was confirmed, where I was married, and where my two daughters were baptized. So, you can tell it’s been a constant throughout my life. One of the areas of ministry there that meant the most to me growing up was in choir. So, I was in choir from when I could talk until I was 18 years old. And one of the many strengths of IPC is our vibrant music program. But between my husband, Jimmy, and myself I think there’s not anything at IPC we’ve not done. If you can think of it that way. Whether it be mission work or work in the church or community partnerships or volunteer lay leadership in the church. We’ve both just loved our time in IPC. IPC is a church here in Birmingham. Those who are familiar with the church will know it’s 106 years old this year. Founded in 1915. With a deep history in the community, in terms of service to the community in social gospel in and throughout the Birmingham community. So, it’s legacy, I would say, while varied, one important part of the IPC legacy is its community ministries throughout Birmingham and I’ve enjoyed and benefitted greatly from my work in association with that part of IPC. The most recent area of my involvement in our church involve the search for the wonderful new leader who will be our eighth senior pastor in the history of IPC. Dr. Kevin Long will join the IPC family here this month. He will officially start in September and it was an honor to be on the pastor nominating committee to search and find Kevin Long, who has undoubtedly been called to lead our church at this time and we’re very hopeful and enthusiastic about the future of IPC. >>Kristen Padilla: Dr. Holloway, you mentioned your time as a professor here at Samford in your introduction. But prior to your academic career, which I just find this interesting, you were employed by Global Pharmaceutical Firm as its Director of International Business Development. And you managed several global offices as I understand it. So, I’d love to hear what led you into a career of marketing and international business, and what did you learn from your time in that role? >>Dr. Holloway: Yeah, thank you for that question, Kristen. Funny enough, as a student, as an undergraduate student, I studied languages. So, I majored in French and Spanish and minored in Japanese. And was in those years really entertaining graduate school and ultimately a career in international relations, international policy, and God had a different plan in store for me. But anyway, as a student of languages when I graduated I lived abroad in Japan for a year, working for the Japanese government and teaching English through a program in Japan called JET, Japan Exchange and Teaching. And I, based after that year, really just was determined to use those experiences to grow my knowledge of the world and that led me to a company that had a growing international presence, a wonderful company. The name of the company at the time was Scandipharm. It has since been acquired and part of a joint venture globally, but the business continues to be successful. But anyway, it was a remarkable opportunity that I had at a very young age to assume an incredible amount of responsibility. Probably more responsibility than I should have been given. But I think I was in the right place at the right time; a fast growing company who had shown I was a hard worker and was willing to do what it would take to get the job done. So, I was given a whole lot of responsibility at a young age. Indeed I managed our offices in Switzerland, Canada, the UK, Argentina, and Denmark. And our international revenues grew pretty tremendously during that period of time. I was with that company for seven years. And I can’t imagine a job that would have allowed me to learn and stretch and grow more than that one did. It was just a remarkable period of time and period of my life I’ll always be grateful for. >>Doug Sweeney: But then you came back to the academy. You came back to Samford, you took an endowed chair in the business school. Tell our listeners about that. We want to know about your career here at Samford, your research, your teaching. But I am also, Betsy, fascinated with why you’d give up such a big time career in the corporate world to come back to a school like ours? >>Dr. Holloway: Yeah, that’s a great question and there’s a long answer there. Faith journeys, there’s a lot to unpack there, and I’m going to try to do it succinctly. First, let me tell you this. That year I lived in Japan, 1993, I lived in a rural area of Japan in a place where I was the only foreign person and I had basic, basic Japanese language skills. That was an incredible year for me. A time I’ve never grown as much personally and spiritually in my walk, hands down, no doubt. I was surrounded by a lot of silence and silence is such a good thing. And that was the year that I recall telling my parents, “God has called me to get into higher education. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know how I’m going to land there. But that’s what I’m being called to do.” Well, fast forward, and it is 1998 and I’m pregnant with my first daughter, Brooke, and put to bed both of my pregnancies. Unfortunately I had some medical challenges with both. And I ended up in bed for months with both pregnancies. Those of you who know me well know I move fast and I have a lot of energy. And I tell you, in hindsight, I think that was God’s way of telling me I needed to slow down and listen to him. Again, a period of silence. You’re stuck in a bed all day alone and totally dependent on him I might add because when you’re pregnant and you have health challenges that’s a scary time to go through. But anyway, that pregnancy in 1998 I so clearly remember hearing the voice, “Now is the time.” “It’s time.” And so she was born and Doug I took the GMAT which I had never taken, which I had to take to get into a PhD program, and lo and behold there was a spot at the University of Alabama where someone had, they only take two students a year and one of the students they had admitted from Mexico had immigration visa problems. And so last minute there was a spot and I have a six month old but I’m in a PhD program. And that’s the beginning of that. I should back up, though, and mention that between 1995 and 1998 I managed at night, I still don’t know how I did this because I traveled so much but I managed at night to complete an MBA in our business school at Samford University. And loved it. Loved the faculty, loved the school, and developed some really strong relationships with a number of people. But I’ll mention Marlene Reid, a name that a number of people who know Samford well might remember. And a guy named Ed Felton. Two faculty members who ... But there were others, but those were probably the primary two who when I was in my PhD program kept in touch with me and when an opening became available three years into my PhD program said, “Hey, we want you to come back and visit with us.” So, that led to me ultimately leaving the University of Alabama, what’s called “ABD,” not a great situation to be in, it means you’re halfway through but you’re not done with your dissertation. But Samford went out on a limb and brought me in even though I was not complete with that program and Alabama, a credit to them, allowed me to do it. I don’t know if I would have gotten away with something like that today. I don’t think they would allow it today. So, I managed to end up at Samford and complete a PhD and teach a full load as a young mom. Another challenging period of time. But one that was full of joy because I was doing what I felt called to do. >>Kristen Padilla: I mentioned, Dr. Holloway, at the very beginning that you now serve as VP of Marketing Communication. I know a little bit about your journey but I’m sure there are details that I am unaware of about how you transitioned from the classroom into this new role, and some of the things that have changed over the years since you’ve taken this role as VP of Marketing Communication. So, I would love to hear about that journey into administration. Some of the highlights of your time as VP and why marketing and communication is so central and important to the work of a university? >>Dr. Holloway: Thank you, Kristen. There’s a lot to that. I think looking back to that conversation I had with Dr. Westmoreland in May of 2013 and I guess I would tell you that Dr. Westmoreland and I were always good friends, really from the day that he first came to campus as a candidate. I was part of a faculty committee that interviewed him as our final candidate for the presidency in 2006. From that day on we were always friends. So, there was a lot of conversation that went on in those years. So, fast forward to May of 2013 when he asked me to become his Chief Marketing Officer we knew each other well and knew each other’s beliefs and hopes and aspirations for Samford. It was just absolutely the right time and great opportunity for me to serve his administration and to advance our mission. So, there was a lot of shared history between Dr. Westmoreland and myself from an early day. I should mention, between Dr. Taylor and myself as well. Because of course Dr. Taylor was the Dean of the Business School for five of the years in which I was there on the faculty. And we did a lot of great things in the business school in collaboration working together. But anyway, I so believe in Samford. I so believe in what we’re doing. The mission, the impact we’re having. The quality in which we’re doing it. The lives we’re transforming. And I guess to be honest with you, one of the primary things that motivated me to make that jump from the faculty to administration was a belief that we could do better. And it’s been a joy and a privilege; a whole lot of work, but over all just a great challenge and a great adventure to be involved in this work with you, Kristen, you, Dr. Sweeney, and others all around the university as we continue to build on the foundation and improve in our work to advance the mission of Samford around the world. A lot of change has happened indeed since 2013 that I could speak to. But I think I’ll summarize it just by saying to me today we’re one Samford. When I came in 2013 whether it was the website or it was the messaging or it was even the individual brands of what was then our eight schools - of course now we have ten academic schools - there was a whole lot of disunity, a lack of harmony, a lack of consistency, a lack of a shared vision, a lack of a shared identity as an institution. And as a student of business, a student of strategy, to me it’s pretty simple. There are about 4100 colleges and universities in the United States today. And we do not have the resources to brand and have 11 or 12 different identities. We need to emphasize and focus on Samford. That is the tie that binds us all together. Right? That would be the thing that I think we’ve done more than anything. Between athletics, all ten of our schools across our whole university ... I feel like today we’re all one Samford with a great sense of shared purpose in the mission that we all seek to advance every day. >>Doug Sweeney: Dr. Holloway, you know a lot of pastors and divinity school types assume that marketing is a pretty secular affair. So, set us straight for a minute here. What are some of the ways in which your Christian faith shapes the way you do your work at marketing here at Samford? >>Dr. Holloway: Oh gosh, that’s a great question, Dr. Sweeney. Well, let me say this. I mean, I can’t fathom being able to communicate our mission without digging into and pulling from my understanding of my own faith journey and my understanding of the magnitude of the mission that we seek to advance. So, that being said, and to just take that real practically, what we seek to do of course is increasingly unique in the world of higher education as a Christ-centered institution that the kind of reputation that we have in our mission, to bring it back, is truly unique. There are very few universities who seek to do what we strive to do. And that of course is to excel in academic programming and transforming the lives of our students in the context of Christ-centered university. And so one can’t separate faith from the work that we do to advance that mission. >>Kristen Padilla: Dr. Holloway, what makes you excited about Samford’s future? I know we have a new president and so that transition has been a sense of excitement for all of us here at Samford, as much as we loved Dr. Westmoreland, we’re excited about our new president. But what has you excited about Samford’s future? >>Dr. Holloway: Oh gosh, there’s so many things to be excited about with Samford’s future. Where to start? Well, first I would just say the people. I am absolutely confident we’ve never had the people, the caliber of the people assembled at this place that we have today. It is remarkable. Dr. Sweeney, I would obviously include you among those. And Dr. Taylor. The people who have come to this time, at this place, for this purpose. It’s staggering that the people of our place ... because at the end of the day that is the heart and soul of Samford – our people. But I’ll also just maybe more practically speaking say the foundation that is in place today. I mean think about the past year. Here we are, grappling with a global pandemic. We have record enrollment. The best enrollment in the university’s history across our institution. Almost record fundraising. The strongest fundraising we’ve had in maybe ten years. The second best retention rates, fall to spring retention. 94.5% retention. Second to ... Only one time has it been higher than that. And then I think about the manner in which we faced the challenges of the pandemic and we continue to face the challenges of the pandemic head on with such grace and strength and fortitude and hope. I am amazed by the year past. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said that in higher education, that I’m amazed by the manner in which our people came together and have tackled this incredible series of challenges that we’ve faced. But there’s never been a time of as much hope and promise and opportunity for Samford as there is today. Dr. Taylor, again knowing him well having worked with him for years in the past is the man to take us to the next level, and that’s what we are poised to do right now. We are poised as an institution to make it to the next level. And I can’t wait to see what that looks like. >>Doug Sweeney: Betsy, we like to end these interviews by asking guests for a word or two about what they’ve been learning recently from the Lord. What has God been teaching you? You made reference to the past year and the struggles of the past year and the ways in which God has blessed us in the midst of all those struggles here at Samford, but do you have a concluding word for our listeners that might be spiritually edifying for them about what God’s been teaching you recently? >>Dr. Holloway: Oh, Doug, a few things come to mind. The first is to lean not on my own understanding. One can think about the year past and just think, “How on earth? Why on earth?” The pain, the suffering. I’m sure you, like I, have many people, too many people, that you know who’ve unfortunately passed on as a result of this pandemic. And so through some of those dark days of the pandemic, especially boy last summer was rough, Summer of 2020 was rough. Just to lean not on my own understanding would be one. And another just to not be anxious. There was a period of time where I prayed for that. Philippians 4:6, right, to lean on him and pass that off to him. To walk alongside him and lean on him. And I would say all of that. And then finally just hope, just hope. The hope that we have in him. Praise be for that. And that no matter how dark and trying a day might feel the profound hope that we have in our faith. And so it has been a wonderful year for me in terms of my spiritual journey. And I’m sure we all, perhaps many of us, it’s been a time at home. It’s been a time of more solitude again. That’s a theme in my life, by the way. Solitude and quiet and time. Those are the times when I hear him and grow through him and in him the most. But leaning on him. Boy, it’s the only way we got through this past year, right? >>Doug Sweeney: It is indeed. Wise wonderful counsel. Listeners, you have been hearing Dr. Betsy Holloway, Vice President of Marketing and Communication and Chief Marketing Officer here with us at Samford University. She has become a good friend of mine in just two years. I am so grateful for all the expertise she brings to the work at Samford. And I’m grateful to you, Betsy, for joining us today. Thank you, listeners, for being with us. We love you. We’re praying for you. And we say goodbye for now. >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.