So what do you do here?

I am the CEO of the UI Alumni Association, where I oversee a $3.6 million annual budget as well as the many programs and services the association offers to more than 50,000 members. We have 14 executive staff, another eight administrative support staff, and a number of students working for us in different areas—some are regular part-time employees, some are work-study, others are interns. We’re blessed with a very good, creative staff, but we’re also blessed with a staff that has been here a long time and therefore possesses a wealth of institutional knowledge.

What do you enjoy most about working in a higher education setting?

The academic stimulation and the diversity of activity—it’s great to be around people with diverse ideas and knowledge. Plus, being on a college campus you have the opportunity to experience and be next to people who do outstanding work and are recognized within their field. It’s a very exciting place to be.

Take us through your most memorable day at the university.

That’s easy. I wasn’t actually on campus, and it’s not memorable for a good reason: it was Nov. 1, 1991, the day of the shootings. I was traveling in Ohio with then-UI President Hunter Rawlings and some of my colleagues at the UI Foundation. I had checked in to my hotel and changed clothes when word started coming out about what was happening back on campus. It was kind of surreal because we were getting info somewhat irregularly. One shot, then another. The next day the Hawkeyes played at Ohio State and beat them 16-9. One of the ways Coach Fry thought we could show respect for those who had died was to strip the helmets bare. They took all the decals off and played with black helmets.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

That I earned my degrees in music from Drake University. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a veterinarian, but I also was involved in both instrumental music and choral music and won a music scholarship to attend Drake. I got a Bachelor of Music Education, majoring in French horn and minoring in voice and piano, and then completed a master’s degree in French horn and conducting. I had a graduate assistantship at Drake and was also band director at Dowling High School. When I graduated in 1970, I was offered a half-time assistant band directorship at Drake.

My career path veered slightly in 1975, when Drake asked me to work full-time, continuing with the band but also working in admissions. The band program was very active in getting prospective students. I really enjoyed working with prospective students and their families and school guidance counselors. At the same time Drake was putting together a program using alumni to assist in recruitment; they asked if I would do it and I did. So that was my first contact with working with alumni. I’ve been at Iowa since 1988.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken—and did it pay off?

After investing a lot of time in music and having an opportunity to be on the faculty at Drake, I made a choice to go the more administrative route. I’m not sure I’d define that as a big risk but it certainly was one of the most significant changes I made.

If you could spend a day with anyone, from any era, who would it be and why?

I’d love to spend a day with [former head coach of the Green Bay Packers] Vince Lombardi. I’ve read every book that’s been written on him, and I think he was an extraordinary leader. A number of things you read about him suggest he was over the top, but he had a way of being able to bring out the best in his people. The amount of love that his former players had for him was amazing. They realized that he was the one who drove them to achieve their potential, and I think that’s a marvelous trait.

If you could have a song written about you, who would perform it, and what would it be called?

Although he’s dead, I know I’d like to have Mel Tormé perform it, but I have no idea what I’d want it to say. None. I can tell you what I think are great songs: one of them is “The Way We Were,” and another is from A Chorus Line called “What I Did for Love.”

Name five of your favorite things.

• Pam, my wife of 44 years, and our two poodles, Sophie and Sammy
• The wonderful parents that I had—they instilled in me the attitude of “don’t be afraid to fail or to try new things”
• The Iowa Hawkeyes and the Green Bay Packers
• Chicken-fried steak (“the best I ever had was at a café across the street when I was at Drake”)
• A vocal group I can never get too much of: The Singers Unlimited