When Nate McGhee ’24, MBA ’26, arrived at EMU in the fall of 2020, it wasn’t his first time giving college the old college try. The marketing and business administration major, a key contributor to the Royals men’s volleyball team during his four seasons on the squad, had enrolled at Randolph-Macon College a couple years prior. But a string of personal hardships, combined with a lack of preparation and a limited support system, led him to flunk out after his first year.

He said the private liberal arts school, which competes with EMU in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), might have been a good fit had he applied himself more. But he hadn’t yet developed strong study habits and, as he struggled with self-doubt, he didn’t know how or where to ask for help.

“I was keeping it all to myself, which was probably the worst thing to do,” he said.

When he returned home to Newport News after being dismissed from the school, he felt lost.

“I was stuck,” McGhee said. “I was like, ‘OK, everything you worked for isn’t coming to fruition, so what are you going to do?’”

He took his first full-time job, bussing tables and working the raw bar at a seafood and oyster restaurant near his home, while attending night classes at Thomas Nelson Community College (now known as Virginia Peninsula Community College). Though he continued playing recreational volleyball to stay sharp, the former high school standout had all but given up on competing at the collegiate level.

During a trip to Richmond to cheer on his friends and former coaches at a volleyball tournament in early 2020, opportunity came knocking. Less than 10 minutes after arriving, McGhee felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw Danielle Lickey, EMU’s head men’s volleyball coach at the time.

After hearing how his volleyball career had stalled, Lickey invited him to visit campus. “W�� could use someone like you,” he recalled her saying.

McGhee toured campus over spring break and quickly fell in love with its picturesque mountain setting and close-knit feel. “This is my second chance,” he remembered thinking. “I have to take it.”

That fall, he transferred to EMU as a sophomore. Over his (2021-24), he ranks 11th all-time in career kills and earned Third-Team All-CVC honors in 2023. In the summer of 2023, he represented the United States on a team in Italy.

“I thought volleyball was over for me, but that’s how I got back into it,” he said. “If she hadn’t tapped me on the shoulder that one day, I probably wouldn’t be here [at EMU] right now.”

Nate McGhee ranks 11th all-time in career kills over his four seasons with the EMU men’s volleyball team (2021-24). He earned Third-Team All-CVC honors in 2023 and represented the United States on a team in Italy that summer.

Learning to lead

Off the volleyball court, McGhee found a firm footing in EMU’s classrooms and campus community. He earned a spot on the Dean’s List, an honor given to students with a semester GPA of at least 3.75. He grew more comfortable opening up to others on campus and seeking help when needed. He credited his advisor, Dr. Jim Leaman, associate professor of business, with helping keep him on track.

“I probably wouldn’t have graduated without him,” McGhee said. “He became a mentor to me and was with me every step of the way.”

He said his parents’ love and support also helped him persevere when times were tough. 

“For a while, I felt like I was letting them down and failing at life,” he said. “But they told me it’s what you do after failing that makes it a failure. If you stay down and give up, then you’ve failed. But if you get up and learn from your mistakes, then the mistake is history.”

After graduating with a degree in business administration and marketing in spring 2024, McGhee stayed at EMU as a graduate assistant coach for head men’s volleyball coach Omar Hoyos Aliff while pursuing his MBA, which he completed this past spring.

McGhee plans to use his degrees to build a career in sports marketing. He’s applied for positions with professional athletic organizations such as League One Volleyball.

“That’s really what I have a passion for,” he said. “Eventually, maybe five years down the line, I would love to open my own business sponsoring athletes and getting them more exposure.”

While coaching was never a career path he considered as a player, his experience as a graduate assistant has shown him that he has a knack for it and genuinely enjoys it. “I like seeing player growth,” he said. “I look at volleyball as an art. You can always build on it and learn something new.”

McGhee said that multitasking, time management, and resilience are all skills he learned while at EMU. “I’ve definitely developed a lot of confidence in my craft,” he said. “I didn’t have a lot of confidence before I came here in anything I did, and at EMU I’ve learned how to lead with confidence.”

When the Royals men’s volleyball team traveled to Ashland in April for the 2026 ODAC Championship match against Randolph-Macon, it was a full-circle moment for McGhee. The Yellow Jackets ultimately prevailed in the , but the match reminded him of the many times he had faced his former team, including a conference quarterfinal at Randolph-Macon during his senior year when the Royals swept the Yellow Jackets.

“That was unreal,” McGhee said. “Whenever I played games there, I always did poorly because I felt there was something hanging over me. But that game, and this last game we played, really showed me how much I’ve grown.”

Watch Nate talk about the close-knit community and support he found at EMU.

This story appears in the summer 2026 issue of Crossroads magazine.

OnlineU based its rankings on online enrollment numbers and the early career salaries of alumni within the first four years after graduation. EMU’s online MBA program ranked No. 13 on the list, while Virginia Tech claimed the top spot with an annual tuition nearly twice that of EMU’s. Neighboring institutions James Madison University and Bridgewater College are absent from the list of the top 17 online MBA programs in Virginia.

“Earning a spot on this list highlights how the online MBA program at EMU is among the best in Virginia at helping graduates achieve higher earnings,” said Adrian Ramirez of OnlineU.

From the list: 

Why we like them: EMU offers a unique collaborative online MBA structured for professionals eager to tackle global business challenges. The program consists of 36 credit hours, allowing students to complete their degree in approximately two years. Unique to EMU’s approach are two short in-person residencies that provide experiential learning opportunities, emphasizing sustainability practices in diverse settings. The curriculum focuses on developing leadership, relational, and organizational skills. With no GMAT or GRE requirements, the program is accessible, and cohort-based learning fosters valuable relationships with peers and faculty.

Dr. Jim Leaman, associate professor of business and director of the business & leadership program at EMU, said it’s gratifying to see the Collaborative MBA program included on the list. “This honor recognizes the unique combination of access, flexibility, quality, and value, and further highlights our distinctive philosophy of viewing business as an important societal agent working for the common good.”

The Collaborative MBA program, a joint graduate degree program of Canadian Mennonite University, ��ݮ����, and Goshen College, develops the technical, relational, and organizational skills students need to become effective leaders and prepares them to lead for the common good.

For more information about the program, visit: emu.edu/mba

The article below, “Internet Interview: Challenge of Recruiting Teachers Moves Online,” by reporter Megan Williams ran in the Feb. 25, 2021, issue of the Daily News-Record.

The article includes Shawn Printz MBA ’04, director of human resources for Harrisonburg City Schools. The feature photo of Printz at his computer was taken during a panel presentation set up by EMU Professor Ron Shultz for students in his teacher education class. Printz was joined by Michele Judd, HR director for Rockingham County Schools, and Jake Wheeler ’14, a history teacher at Thomas Harrison Middle School. The panelists responded to questions about job searching in the education field and preparing for an interview, according to Shultz.

“The hour conversation proved to be very beneficial for our students as they anticipate job interviews with local schools in the coming weeks and months,” Shultz said.

***

It’s no secret there is a teacher shortage across the country and has been for some time. A number of factors have contributed to the shortage, including pay, working conditions, lack of support, lack of autonomy and changing curriculum, according to the Foundation for Economic Education.

But how school divisions deal with this national problem is dependent on the area the division is in. For Harrisonburg City Public Schools, the goal is not only to recruit and retain high quality teaching candidates, but to recruit and retain a diverse pool of qualified teaching candidates.

In the past, going to job fairs, expos and career events at historically Black colleges and universities have been ways to do that, according to HCPS Superintendent Michael Richards and Shawn Printz, director of human resources.

But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, visits and job fairs are going virtual. Instead of visiting a school, Printz can meet with candidates about to graduate on Zoom. In fact, on Tuesday, Printz had a Zoom recruitment meeting with the soon-to- be teaching graduates at ��ݮ����, his alma mater.

It hasn’t been easy, but the school division has had to adapt. HCPS has partnered with James Madison University to create a program where student teachers are guaranteed a clear path to employment after graduation. The state has also made it possible for college students to complete their coursework and requirements in four years instead of five.

“The state knows there is a problem and is working on it,” Richards said.

The issue of teacher pay is also being addressed by the state. This year, Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed budget includes a 5% raise for teachers. The House of Delegates budget includes a 4% raise, and the Senate version includes a 3% raise.

In addition, HCPS will be allowing student teachers back in the classroom in March, which is where a number of hires are made.

Student teachers aren’t the only ones heading back to the classroom in March ? about 20% more students are as well.

This makes the need to hire teachers even more important, Richards said. There are enough teachers at the moment to cover the needed classes, but they might have a hard time if more students return to the classroom.

Another measure that HCPS has taken to recruit more minority teachers is hiring a recruiter to work specifically with historically Black colleges and universities across the country to bring HCPS to their attention.

” We’re hoping this will lead to authentic relationships with a more diverse hiring pool,” Printz said.

The , a joint graduate degree program of Bluffton University, Canadian Mennonite University, ��ݮ���� and Goshen College, has approximately 51 graduates scattered across the globe and a new cohort beginning this fall. The hybrid program develops professional technical and relational skills and prepares students to lead for the common good.

, who has taught undergraduate and graduate business courses at ��ݮ����, is the program’s new director. Administrative responsibilities rotate among partnering institutions. He takes over from , professor of business at Bluffton University, who is retiring. Lehman has led the program since spring 2014.

“I’m honored to be stepping into a leadership role behind one of the visionaries behind this program,” Miller said. “Dr. Lehman’s innovative, collaborative leadership is emblematic of the kind of leaders our program helps to develop.”

Lamar Nisly, vice president and dean for academic affairs at Bluffton University, pointed to how the program matured during Lehman’s involvement through five cohorts, with another two currently in progress. “Dr. Lehman has creatively led the Collaborative MBA program as it has matured and solidified. We very much appreciate his thoughtful leadership in exploring new possibilities and developing a sustainable program.”

The Collaborative MBA program integrates Anabaptist-Christian roots with the faculty’s jointly shared and “holistic view of how all of our decisions and actions affect other people, the community, and the world,” said Lehman, in a press release announcing the program’s start in 2014.

That unique approach to business still energizes Miller, who has taught in EMU’s graduate programs for several years. “I’m excited to work with business leaders who care for their organizations, employees and the environment, and to be working with a program across several universities that draws from the belief that one’s faith and values should be primary in how business should be operated and how we treat others.”

The Collaborative MBA curriculum is based on the concept of “leadership for the common good,” which includes values of spirituality, community, leading as service, justice, sustainability, and global citizenship. 

Prospective students can enter the program through the doorway of any of the four sponsoring schools.

“This unique MBA program helps students develop their focus on environmental sustainability and social justice issues within a framework of sound business skills,” Miller said. “Businesses must be financially sound, but should also be socially responsible. The program provides a setting where students can discuss and consider what that reality looks like for them in their current organizations and roles.”

The mostly online coursework enables a global emphasis: resulting in classmates from around the world joining students from the U.S. and Canada. Students also come to the program from a variety of professional fields, including manufacturing, health care administration, ministry, nonprofit management.

The online format employs small cohorts participating in synchronous classes, “a significant shift” from other programs, Lehman said. “A number of our May grads found they were becoming a resource to their organizations and communities because of their extensive experience with online learning technologies.” 

A key contributor to the program’s ideation more than a decade ago, Lehman was “the catalyst who brought the partner schools together for exploratory conversations,” said Professor Michelle Horning, who leads the program at Goshen College.

She called Lehman a “wonderful colleague” who also cared for his students, collecting and integrating their feedback into program improvements. 

Professor David Brubaker, dean of EMU’s School of Social Sciences and Professions, met Lehman in 2016 when he came to EMU to welcome a first-year cohort and teach a five-day residential course. “What most impressed me about George was that he clearly cared as much about the community that these new students were building as he did about the content of the course that he was teaching,” he said.

Professor Melissa Green, director of the program for Bluffton University, thanked Lehman for providing a “solid cornerstone” and “for his tireless work and enduring dedication to this wonderful innovative initiative. “He has provided outstanding leadership and exceptional support toward the students, faculty and program,” she said.

A very loud, 18-inch diameter bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has announced the first trades of each new day since the current building opened in 1903. On Jan. 2 of this year, the first trades of the new decade were rung in by ��ݮ���� alum Brian Plum ‘01, along with with Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. directors and managers.

Plum, who is the president and CEO of Blue Ridge Bank in Luray, Va., said the event was a momentous milestone. (Blue Ridge Bankshares is the bank’s parent company.)

“The experience was a great opportunity for me to reflect on how much I appreciate those people in my life, both living and deceased, who have impacted me along my journey, and to be grateful to the Lord for the success I’ve had and the people He has placed in my life,” Plum said. “I know it meant a lot to my wife and parents and others who have supported me along the way.”

That morning, Plum clustered on a small balcony with his colleagues, cameras flashing, and pushed the small green button which electronically controls the four bells located in each trading area of the stock exchange.

“There is a lot of pomp and circumstance,” Plum said. “Everyone gathers in a large, ornate room ahead of time for pictures and for a brief ceremony and presentation of keepsakes for the occasion. The group then heads down to the NYSE floor to sign a book and then proceeds to the balcony to ring the bell.”

What surprised Plum, besides the intense volume of the bell, was the number of people on the trading floor.

“The continued push to electronic trading has had an obvious impact on the number of people in and around the NYSE building,” Plum explained. 

Nonetheless, the nationally-televised experience was deeply meaningful to Plum, who has accumulated a number of local and regional recognitions throughout his career. He first joined Blue Ridge Bank in 2006, working his way up through leadership positions until becoming the bank president in 2014.

Plum, a certified public accountant (CPA), has been designated a “super CPA” by the Virginia Business magazine and the Virginia Society of CPAs three times. In 2018, Plum was named chairman of the Virginia Association of Community Banks.

Berg joined Pixo, which develops user-focused custom software and web applications, in 2015. He is the of the company, based in Urbana, Illinois.

We want everyone to be real when they’re here, both because it makes our work environment a lot of fun and because it makes the work we do for our clients the best it can be. Everyone brings not only their skills, but also their unique perspectives to the table, which leads to better ideas, better problem solving, and more empathy for each other and for our clients.

Jason Berg ’01, on

His Longacre Seminar was titled “Timing is Everything: When Waiting Makes Sense and When it Doesn’t in our Businesses, in our Communities, and for Ourselves.”

Berg also visited classes on management of information systems, quantitative decision making, introduction to business, organizational behavior and principles of management.

“He connected really well with our students and shared some interesting stories,” said Professor Leah Kratz, who teaches quantitative decision-making for business. “I appreciated how encouraging and receptive he was to the students’ questions.”

After an internship with a digital strategy company and graduating with a degree in business administration, Berg worked for nine years as a manager with Precision Graphics, which provides media services such as illustration, composition and design for the publishing industry. He then worked as an account executive and in marketing management with several tech companies before coming to Pixo.

Berg is also currently a board member of UC2B Community Benefit Fund, focused on improving digital inclusion and digital equity for individuals with low- to moderate-resources in the Champaign-Urbana area.

The Longacre Seminar Series is named after and endowed by Horace W. and Elizabeth G. Longacre, with the goal of supporting and inspiring worthy, aspiring entrepreneurs through the series and an endowed scholarship. 

In the new role, Good will coordinate off-campus cross-cultural undergraduate and graduate courses, provide academic and programmatic oversight of the undergraduate cross-cultural requirement, and teach undergraduate cross-cultural learning courses. 

“At EMU, equipping students with relevant, robust cross-cultural experiences is central to all of our programs, from undergraduate to graduate,” said Provost Fred Kniss. “Beth brings not just a wealth of personal intercultural and administrative experience to this new role, but also perspective as a parent whose own children were positively impacted by EMU’s cross-cultural requirements.”

The position is an expansion of the undergraduate-focused role previously held by Ann Graber Hershberger, who this year became Mennonite Central Committee’s interim associate director.

Cross-cultural study has been a part of the EMU core curriculum for over 30 years. Faculty have introduced undergraduate and graduate students to cultural learning through educational travel in more than 80 locations around the globe.

Intercultural qualifications

Good has lived or worked internationally in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, North Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam, as well as with underserved populations in the United States. In addition to English, she speaks Maa (Maasai), Swahili and beginner French. 

She completed her doctoral studies in nursing science and research, with a focus on conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, where she also earned a master’s degree in public health nursing and certification as a clinical nurse specialist. She completed her bachelor’s degree in nursing at EMU after earning an associate degree in nursing from Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Area Community College.

A certified trainer of Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience, Good served as Mennonite Central Committee’s Kenya country representative with her husband Clair from 2018-19 and as the organization’s health coordinator 2012-18, having earned board certification in advanced practice public health nursing.

From 2005-12, she was clinical director at the Hope Within Community Health Center in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and from 2003-12 she was the HIV/AIDS education program coordinator for Eastern Mennonite Missions, which is based in Salunga, Pennsylvania. She was a staff nurse at the Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center 2003-05.

As a medical missions worker in Kenya from 1989-2001, she began a small rural health center, provided community health and wellness education and children’s educational programs, and educated and learned in women’s groups.

She has taught at EMU since 2012.

Grads in the family had four different crosscultural experiences

Good’s own cross-cultural perspectives have evolved over her years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the mid-1980s and in Kenya 1989-2001. Intercultural experiences, she said, allow people to learn skills and gain experiences that will help them communicate and navigate relationships with people from other cultures and who hold different beliefs and ideas.

When Good and her husband Clair first served overseas, in church construction and later church planting, it was with a sense of calling that she now describes as “the white savior thing.” Soon, however, she realized that the experience was more a “learning exchange.”

In Kenya, she had anticipated speaking out against the Maasai practice of female genital mutilation. But while she continues to believe it is wrong, she came to believe it was more important to address it through “a conversation with friends instead of from on a soap box,” she said. “That was a huge shift for me, from wanting to tell people what to do to ‘Hey, why don’t we talk about this and see where the conversation goes.’”

The Goods have four daughters, all of whom graduated from EMU having fulfilled the undergraduate cross-cultural requirement, but in different ways. Even though the family had lived internationally, their daughters’ college-age travel experiences were important, Good said: traveling apart from their parents developed new confidence to travel and engage interculturally. One daughter attended a Mennonite World Conference in Zimbabwe, another spent a semester in the Washington Community Scholars’ Center, another enrolled in a three-week summer trip to China, and the fourth spent a semester in Colombia.

“I think they were pleasantly surprised that there were some things that they recognized from their growing up, but also that there were still new things to learn,” Good said.

And, Good observed, her children’s experiences of living cross-culturally have allowed them to “think more deeply,” she said. “They think in a more broad worldview.”

Todd Campbell MBA ‘19 is now senior packaging and ingredients purchasing manager at Bowman Andros in Mount Jackson, Virginia. 

Sandra Quigg MAOL ‘19 was named the new executive director of The Boys and Girls Club of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. 

Immediate payback on his investment

Campbell says his studies in the MBA program at EMU accelerated his career advancement, helping to prepare him to provide beneficial input on business decisions, as well as to apply project management and leadership theory.

Bowman Andros is a French-owned food manufacturing company with 30 factories around the world. The Mount Jackson facility specializes in the processing of applesauce in small cups, pouches and jars.

In his new management role, Campbell has two direct reports. He handles sourcing, price and contract negotiation. He also facilitates packaging development and vendor management of all primary packaging (packaging that touches the product), as well as secondary ingredients.

“This is anything not a whole fruit or puree such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, ascorbic acid, flours and flavors,” he said.  

He began the program while in his first position at Bowman Andros as a sales forecast analyst, seeing the degree as the best investment and the optimal way to learn more about accounting, finance and economics — “hard skills that make the MBA graduate effective in the business world.”

While in the MBA program, Campbell was promoted three times within the company: from procurement coordinator, streamlining material requirements planning, managing raw material inventories and facilitating timely delivery of ingredients for production scheduling, to the purchasing team, and then a supervisory role within the purchasing team.  

“I chose EMU’s MA in Organizational Leadership program because of its unique emphasis on business with purpose. I came out of it understanding how to lead that purposeful business with your true self … that combination has had a huge positive impact on me personally and professionally.”

Prepared to lead a large organization

Quigg has worked for more than 20 years with nonprofit organizations, in a range of fields including higher education, arts administration and social services. Her interest in the Boys and Girls Club executive director’s position was driven in part by a desire to work with youth. 

Her prior work has been with adults: most recently, as director of organizational sustainability at Friendship Industries, a nonprofit packaging company in Harrisonburg that employs people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. She had previously served the same organization as director of development for seven years, and also in positions with the Arts Council of the Valley and in the James Madison Corporate and Foundation Relations.

Quigg was drawn to the values of the organization. “The values that the Boys and Girls Club espouse are things that I absolutely believe in,” she said. “I CARE stands for integrity, collaboration, accountability, respect and excellence. The organization shares those values with youth and the broader community. I have a great opportunity to help them do that.”

BGCHR serves 1,000 children in the valley annually at seven sites, three in Rockingham County and four in Harrisonburg. Its main office is in the Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center in Harrisonburg.

Quigg completed her final class, which included a 10-day exploration of sustainable organizations and community entrepreneurship in rural Appalachia, in between her second and third weeks in her new position.

The MAOL degree has given her new understandings about the many organizations she had worked in, and new vocabularies and theories that both supported and challenged her perspectives.

“I sought out more education because I felt like I was doing things innately and intuitively and I wanted validation and verification, but I also wanted to know that if I wasn’t doing the right thing, how to do it better, how to solve the problem. To suddenly have a word or phrase to describe an experience or an interaction, or to see how what I was doing was linked to a theory, that was huge. I still get goosebumps just talking about it.”

Quigg recalls several instances when she was able to apply a concept or skill she’s learned in class “the very next day at work.” 

EMU’s organizational leadership curriculum is unique in that it requires “exploration of who you are, which leads to self-awareness and self-knowledge, which has for me led to more self-confidence,” Quigg said.

Though she wasn’t aware of that curricular emphasis before she enrolled, that related growth in her leadership capability has been just as important as her deeper understanding of organizational behavior, culture and development. “I chose EMU’s MA in Organizational Leadership program because of its unique emphasis on business with purpose. I came out of it understanding how to lead that purposeful business with your true self. I am happy to say that combination has had a huge positive impact on me personally and professionally.”

Quigg was selected from approximately 57 applicants for the position, according to an article in the Daily News-Record.

He will also be EMU’s representative in the program, an innovative online degree program offered jointly by EMU, Bluffton University, Canadian Mennonite University and Goshen College. 

Miller succeeds Dr. David Brubaker, who has been named to a leadership position within the university’s new three-school academic structure. Brubaker will be dean of the School of Social Sciences and Professions. [Read more about the three school structure.]

“Andrew views our programs in the context of a changing environment, and is thus able to propose adaptive changes that bring greater relevance while retaining our core values,” said Brubaker. “He has that rare ability to see the whole system while not losing track of the details.”

Miller has been a faculty member and administrator at EMU since 2012. He has taught in the department of business and leadership, as well as in graduate programs, and directed the cross-cultural program. He is currently pursuing a PhD in strategic leadership studies at James Madison University.

“I’ve enjoyed mentoring undergraduate students as they explore who they are in becoming leaders in their work and community, and I’m looking forward to supporting EMU’s graduate students as they study in our programs with a focus on becoming better leaders and individuals who positively influence their community. with a similar strong emphasis on leadership development,” Miller said.

Since beginning in 1999, EMU’s MBA program has graduated 133 from diverse professional fields. Courses meet in the evening in a hybrid format and focus on management skills, leadership and stewardship strategies within the common good framework. The curriculum includes a unique Costa Rica-based capstone course.

The MAOL began in 2014 to meet the needs of mid-career professionals seeking to enhance their leadership skills and organizational understanding. Nearly 30 graduates work in a variety of fields, from education and business to healthcare and with nonprofits.

In addition to teaching experience and a professional resume that includes working with various organizations, Miller has also been involved in curriculum development and reorganization at EMU.

He holds an MS in agricultural economics at Iowa State University and a Master of Divinity degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in international agriculture and economics from EMU, Miller worked for Mennonite Central Committee as agricultural program coordinator in Prey Veng Province, Cambodia, for two years. Later as MCC southeast Asia co-representative, he supervised the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam country programs as well as advised local partner organizations. 

“Family business is complex,” said Sally Landis Derstine ’82, “because there is an overlap of three different systems: family, business and ownership.”

The managing partner and a senior advisor at the in Telford, Pennsylvania, Derstine grew up in a family with a business, and so has first-hand experience of the accompanying “blessings and burdens.”

While family businesses are “the backbone of our economy” – a widely-quoted statistic is that they make up 90 percent of US enterprises – most don’t make it to or survive second-generation ownership.

“That’s not because families are defective,” Derstine said. “It’s because they don’t understand the complexity and how to manage it.”

She’s developed a unique model that depicts the teams and structures – family, shareholder, board, advisor and management – that families in business together must develop and foster to have healthy relationships and sustainability. Multi-generational business leadership and ownership is decidedly more mountain-climbing marathon than sprint, she said.

“This work requires leaning into awkward, crucial conversations and lots of naming reality or ‘telling the truth in love,’” she said. “I enjoy guiding business families to ‘make peace’ and create the futures they want instead of ‘keeping the peace,’ or avoiding delicate discussions.”

Derstine joined the center in 1992 and became its managing partner in 2014. Founded by Henry Landes in 1988, they have served hundreds of families, in part through a Family Business Learning Community that Derstine helped launch in her first year.

“I feel a deep sense of gratitude and delight when our clients find their voice, gain clarity, make wise choices and are reconciled to themselves, their family, to God,” she said. “Every day confirms that my work is marketplace ministry.”

As a student at EMU, Derstine “deeply appreciated” communication and business classes with Loren Johns, psychology classes with Galen Lehman ’73, and playing field hockey for Sandy Brownscombe. (The team was the first in EMU history to qualify for a national tournament, and was inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2012.)

But her career training, she said, began in the cradle.

“I am grateful to my parents, siblings and extended family for teaching me about what’s really important in life, what it means to live compassionately and simply, love deeply, forgive and extend grace,” she said.

She and her husband Douglas Derstine ’82, who completed 36 years as a middle and high school teacher, delight in their growing family, which includes three children and a granddaughter. Derstine’s generational impact, though, also includes the families she helps through her work to “find their voice and make wise choices.”

And that, she said, is “a sacred privilege.”

Ryan Swartzentruber ‘16, who recently finished his master’s degree in agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University, says he frequently reflects on what makes an excellent educator. “I’ve concluded that Chris has pretty well hit the nail on the head.”

With a legacy of several EMU grads now teaching at large universities, “Chris has multiplied himself,” said his colleague, business professor Spencer Cowles. “Isn’t that the sign of a great teacher, to inspire a lifelong love of the subject amongst their students?”

Despite initial aspirations to work at a large, R-1 university, Gingrich chose to spend 24 years at ��ݮ����, where he has enjoyed a sustainable balance of teaching and research, prioritized mentoring relationships, and anchored the economics program. He retired at the end of the spring 2019 semester, earlier than he would have liked due to health reasons.

EMU has been “a great place to come to every morning,” Gingrich said in an interview during the last week of classes. “I have always appreciated working in an academic environment with colleagues who support you and want you to do your own thing. … My students have kept me on the young side over these years and it’s been very rewarding to see them go off after graduation and be successful in their chosen field.”

The teacher

Gingrich was known among his colleagues as an astute and innovative teacher. In a tribute announcing his retirement, Undergraduate Dean Deirdre L. Smeltzer noted: “Rather than rely on past success in the classroom, Chris has demonstrated a commitment to pedagogical growth, including a willingness to try out and master entirely new teaching methods in his classes.”

Matt Gnagey ‘05, now an assistant professor of economics at Weber State University, recalls an innovative classroom game in which students acted as a cartel, accumulating extra credit points instead of money.

“The class tried over and over to collude,” Gnagey recalled, “but the incentives to forgo collusion for personal gain were strong, and just like OPEC we ended up overproducing, hurting ourselves collectively in the process. This same lesson explains many other international issues, for example why we have such a hard time mitigating climate change.”

Gingrich came to teaching as “a leap of faith,” he said. Applied research was his initial interest. From a farming family, Gingrich earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics at University of Illinois and then, with his wife, spent three years in Haiti with Mennonite Central Committee. Returning to the states, he was accepted to the doctoral program at Iowa State University. His advisor helped him find a dissertation topic: household consumption patterns in Lima, Peru.

Hired in 1995, Gingrich was EMU’s first “true blue economist,” said former EMU colleague, Professor Emeritus Rick Yoder, a specialist in international development who had worked overseas with the UN and USAID.

Cowles, then department chair, hired Gingrich for the position with a prescient sense of what he would bring to EMU. “He was the right person for the job, a true economist who enabled us to build a rigorous economics major around him and his passion and knowledge for the subject. But he was also someone who supports and cares about students.”

Gingrich, who had never taught before, says Yoder “taught me how to be a respectable teacher.” The duo shared the university’s growing economics teaching load, as several majors required at least introductory econ coursework. Gingrich would eventually teach economics in the MBA program when it began, as well as undergraduate courses in quantitative research and finance.

One of their challenges was to make class time interesting and engaging. Hence the jelly beans and tennis balls: Gingrich was adept at developing lessons “beyond lectures and other didactic methods” that encouraged unique interaction and active learning with concepts, Yoder said.

He also appreciated their many conversations about concerns and challenges, trips to economics conferences with students, and a shared perspective. “W�� both believe that economics is a tool to solve some of humanity’s intractable problems, such as racism and inequality.”

Solutions: The researcher

Gingrich was a prolific and exemplary scholar while balancing a heavy teaching load, Cowles said, and his research was practical and applied, “not about some arcane financial matter, but instead using his economics knowledge to reach out and make a difference in the lives of people.”

His contributions in the field of economic development and public health were part of a larger effort by EMU professors to be active contributors to their scholarly fields.

Together with biology colleague Roman Miller (now professor emeritus), the business and economics department rallied to call for the EMU administration to support release time for research projects and importantly, to become “knowledge producers instead of knowledge consumers,” Yoder said. “W�� use textbooks someone else wrote, articles someone else wrote and we go to conferences where other people present. … Our point was ‘Where’s the Anabaptist voice of peace and justice and equity and the common good? How do we become part of this conversation?’”

Gingrich took a two-year leave in 2001-03, working with Mennonite Central Committee in Nepal as a consultant on microcredit and microfinance. Articles about his findings, published in the Journal of South Asian Development and the Journal of Microfinance, illustrate Gingrich’s focus on applied research: the success of microfinance programs in serving the poor and the sustainability of microfinance delivery through community-based savings and credit cooperatives.

What Answer to Malaria?

During the 2015-16 academic year, he continued research into distribution of anti-malarial bednets in Africa, as a visiting scholar at the Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“A lot of research in grad school is pure theory and not much application and there’s a role for that, but the stuff I’ve been able to work on the past few years was very much policy oriented, and that feels good because I’ve been able to take economic skills and apply them to something more practical,” Gingrich said. “Hopefully we’ve shifted the debate a little bit in a different direction and influenced policy makers. Our footprint is there and I think it’s a fairly significant contribution to how to best distribute nets in a public policy debate.”

The mentor

Gingrich has enjoyed seeing the success of program alumni in academia, including Swartzentruber, Gnagey, Doug Wrenn ‘02, assistant professor of environmental and resource economics at Penn State; and Taylor Weidman ‘13, who is finishing a doctorate at Pitt. He also follows the careers of grads in business, for example, Isaac Wyse, director of revenue operations at YipIt Data in New York City, and Joe Mumaw, technical coordinator at Secure Futures, a solar business in Staunton, Virginia.

“It’s fun to meet with them, keep up with what they’re doing, see them get out of the classroom and develop their own careers,” Gingrich said. “I’ve been here long enough to see former students evolve into mature professionals in a number of different fields, which is rewarding.”

Wrenn, now at Penn State, researches urban and land use economics, unconventional energy development and impacts of hydraulic fracking. He traces his professional path directly back to Gingrich and Yoder. He added a second major in economics after after taking one of Gingrich’s classes, joined Yoder in a research project, and went to work for Mennonite Central Committee after graduation. Gingrich provided invaluable advice as he prepared his grad school application.

Gnagey, now at Weber State, says that Gingrich’s support and guidance, four years after he had graduated, helped him. Gnagey also worked for MCC after graduation; his current research builds on those ties, as he and a former MCC colleague conduct analysis of property markets in Indonesia.

And finally, to return to Ryan Swartzentruber, for a last word on Gingrich’s influence: “Chris has influenced my path in life, and I am forever grateful. He encouraged me, challenged me and been a role model to me. I’ve greatly appreciated – and benefited from – his relational attitude toward life, emphasizing people over other priorities.

Any comments posted below will be shared with Chris.

Art Dean’s message for graduating seniors at ��ݮ����’s fourth annual Donning of the Kente ceremony was simple and he used their own stories to affirm it.

He asked four seniors to name their fears when they first arrived on campus and then asked whether that fear was still present. From making friends to finding people who looked like me, the fears had been overcome. Dean, executive director of Campus and Community Access and Inclusion at James Madison University, urged the graduates to gain strength from this knowledge, that they themselves had met their own fears with strengths they did not know they had.

“New doesn’t mean unconquerable. It just means new,” said Dean, executive director of Campus and Community Access and Inclusion at James Madison University. “The same things that helped you navigate the challenges and fears when you came to this new community don’t go away. Those strengths are within you still, as you accept the new challenges that await you as graduates.”

The ceremony was the first time upcoming graduates wore their caps and gowns and the first inkling of the celebration to come. During the , each student will wear a special stole, some made of kente cloth but others of satin fabric symbolizing heritage, roots within one or various communities, or citizenship.

The formal presentation of these stoles was the reason for coming together with family, friends and EMU community members Wednesday evening. The ceremony celebrates the accomplishments of graduating students of color as well as the history of black students’ and students of color achievements at the university, according to Multicultural Student Services Director Celeste Thomas, who started the first event three years ago.

“W�� gather here to honor these students, some of whom are the first of their family to graduate from college, and to wish them well on their way forward,” she said in her welcome. “For those of you who our graduates have selected to place the kente cloth over their shoulders, it is a great honor.”

Micah Shristi, director of international student services and advisor to the International Student Organization, and M. Esther Showalter, advisor to the Latino Student Alliance, also co-hosted the event.

Donning of the Kente participants

Grant Amoanteng, a social work major from Bristow, Virginia, donned by Erick Camodeca, associate track and field and cross country coach;

Talibah Aquil, from Bronx, New York, earning a master’s degree in conflict transformation, donned by Professor Johonna Turner;

Asmait Bekuretsion Asgedom, a social work major with minors in sociology and criminology and restorative justice from Woodstock, Virginia, donned by Professor Melody Pannell;

Marilda Bardhi, from Albania, earning a master’s degree in organizational leadership, donned by Professor David Brubaker;

Ram Bhagat, PhD, from Richmond, Virginia, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice, donned by Professor Johonna Turner;

Maria Cardosa Martinez, a nursing major from Harrisonburg, Virginia, donned by Professor Audrey Myers;

Heyrin Cha, a nursing major from Cheonan, Republic of Korea, donned by Pastor James Rhee;

Jae Hyun Cho, an accounting major from Seoul, Republic of Korea, donned by Micah Shristi, director of international student services;

Marleyna Contreras, a liberal arts major with a minor in psychology from Brooklyn, New York, donned by Professor Melody Pannell;

Devantae Dews, a liberal arts major from Lynchburg, Virginia, donned by Gabriel Kreider, campus ministry affiliate from Divine Unity Community Church;

Toni Doss, a digital media and photography major with a minor in art from Damascus, Virginia, donned by Carolyn Foster-Doss, her mother;

Fred Isaac Flores-Cano, an international business major from San Pedro Sula, Honduras,  donned by Gabriel Kreider, campus ministry affiliate from Divine Unity Community Church;

Jourdyn Friend, a business administration major with a minor in human resource management from Richmond, Virginia, donned by Professor Roxann Allen Kioko and Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services;

Degache Fuklau, a liberal arts major with a minor in biology from Harrisonburg, Virginia, donned by Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services;

Wael Gamtessa, a computer science major with a minor a photography from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, donned by Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services;

William Geary, a business administration major with a minor in human resource management from Mount Jackson, Virginia, donned by Professor Leah Kratz;

Ivan Harris, a photography and digital media major from Spotsylvania, Virginia, donned by Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services;

Yi Grace He, a social work major, donned by Micah Shristi, director of international student services

Valeria Hernández Bustillo, a social work major from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, donned by Professor Melody Pannell;

Mario Hernández, a biology and history major with a honors minor, donned by M. Esther Showalter, advisor for Latino Student Alliance;

Mariah King, a liberal arts and special education major with a minor in psychology from Harrisonburg, Va., donned by Professor Lori Leaman;

Mark Loving II, an kinesiology and exercise science major from Woodford, Virginia, donned by Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services;

Maha Mehanna, from Palestine, earning a master’s degree in conflict transformation, donned by Daryl Byler, executive director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and Professor Gloria Rhodes;

Tajah Miller, a social work major from Waynesboro, Virginia, donned by Professor Melody Pannell;

Brenda Miramontes, a social work major from Harrisonburg, Virginia, donned by Professor Carol Hurst;

Linda Ouedraogo, a biology major with a minor in sociology from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, donned by Professor Jim Yoder;

Melody Pannell, from Harlem, New York, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice, donned by Professor Johonna Turner;

Xander Silva, an environmental sustainability major with minors in psychology, biology and pre-law, donned by Professor Steve Cessna;

Yordanos Tesfa, an English and writing studies major with a minor in peacebuilding, from Bowie, Maryland, donned by Professor Gloria Rhodes;

Monique Tshibola, an organizational leadership major, from Barumbu Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, donned by Katie Mansfield, director of the STAR program, who shared congratulations from Monique’s husband Rodrigue Makelele while holding their 1-month-old baby;

Precious Waddy, a social work major with a minor in criminology and restorative justice from Richmond, Virginia, donned Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services

Jessica Washington, a liberal arts and elementary education major with a minor in history from Chesapeake, Virginia, donned by Professor Kathy Evans;

Cameron White, a social work major from Palmyra, Virginia, donned by Stephanie and Anthony Whindleton, her parents;

Clarissa White, a kinesiology and exercise science major from Portsmouth, Virginia,  donned by Georgette White, her mother;

Jasmine Wilson, a psychology major from Woodbridge, Virginia, donned by Professor Melody Pannell.

Allon Lefever says “business is in my DNA.” He has ample proof to support this statement. The former director of EMU’s MBA program has helped to start 22 companies, taken six of those public on the NASDAC, and currently serves on 11 boards, including three in Harrisonburg. Summit Community Bank, Virginia Poultry Growers Co-operative, and ComSonics, Inc, an electronics manufacturing company, are all benefiting from his wide range of expertise acquired from more than 35 years in the business world.

This month’s Royal Connections business spotlight focuses on the Hampton Inn in Woodstock, Virginia, an LLC started nine years ago by Lefever and his partners Gerald Horst, class of ’72, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Carl Harman, class of ’67, of Harrisonburg, Virginia. All three partners have strong EMU connections: Both Horst and Harman are former members of the EMU’s Board of Trustees, and their sons, Kyle Horst ‘02 and Hans Harman ‘02, earned business administration degrees from EMU. (Hans is also a current trustee.)

Lefever is managing partner at the Woodstock hotel, and shares the story of how he got involved in the hospitality industry below.

Among other mentoring that he seeks to provide, Lefever has hired EMU students to work as customer service representatives. Each summer, he also offers a three-month internship to a student from LCC International University in Lithuania. This is a “great experience for them, us and our guests,” he says, adding that interns gain professional experience, learn more about business ethics, and enjoy cultural exposure. (The connection with LLC comes from Lefever’s involvement as a former board chair and board member. LLC is also a host site for EMU’s Lithuania cross-cultural group).

To learn more about entrepreneurship in general and Lefever’s professional career, consider taking a look at his recent book, (FaithHappenings Publishing, 2017), a lively compendium using the metaphor of mariner as entrepreneur.

How did you become a business owner?

Prior to becoming director of the EMU MBA program in 2003, I had served as a senior executive in a couple of large family businesses, helped to found 22 companies, and taken six of those companies public on NASDAQ, including an internet company in 1999. Business is in my DNA!

One endeavor was a hotel company I helped start for High Industries, Inc., in Pennsylvania. In the process, I built eight hotels for them, four of which were Hamptons.

While serving as the MBA director, and liking the hospitality industry, I began to investigate if I could build a hotel nearby where I could oversee the operations. Two investors were interested in joining me, and we selected Woodstock as a location that did not have a Hampton Inn, and could support a Hampton. We bought three acres of land off Exit 283 on Interstate 81 and built the 92-room hotel.

What appeals to you about the hospitality industry?

I’ve served in management of agriculture, manufacturing, and internet companies. I like many types of businesses, but find those directly serving the customer to be the most rewarding. I like forming a company, building a strong team, setting vision, mission, and values, and then letting the team perform. The hospitality industry is especially focused on serving the customer, many of whom really appreciate a friendly, clean, and effectively run operation, so I love the challenge of building a great hospitality team and serving the customer!

Tell us a bit more about your hotel in Woodstock.

In our first full year of operation, our hotel staff (26 year-around and 30 in the summer peak months) earned the coveted Lighthouse Award, given to a Hampton Inn that ranks in the top 5% in customer satisfaction. Over the years, we have been the #1 ranked Hampton for customer service along Virginia’s Interstate 81 corridor.

We have recently won the best hotel award again, from the Virginia Daily News survey which they conduct annually. The hotel has consistently improved both occupancy, and revenue in our nine years of operation. This is the result of the outstanding, customer-focused team that has chosen our Hampton as their place of work and reward! We focus on values, caring for others and customer service.

Over the years, you have taught and mentored many entrepreneurs. What do you particularly value about sharing your expertise and seeing others succeed?

As an entrepreneur myself, I especially enjoy watching and helping emerging entrepreneurs. A number of my students have started successful businesses. In my consulting business, I continue to coach and mentor a number of entrepreneurs and CEOs. Even my board service has an element of directing and coaching a business, which I thoroughly enjoy!

At EMU, I taught entrepreneurship courses to MBA graduate students and undergraduates, as well as principles of management and management strategy at the undergraduate level. My own core values aligned well with those integrated into the university’s business curriculum: integrity, ethics and serving others.

Teaching provided many opportunities to share ideas about leadership and business with young aspiring students. I love seeing them get excited about a business or organization idea which they have developed, and the learning and satisfaction of preparing a business plan. My favorite class session was when students in my entrepreneurship class would present their business plan to their classmates.

How do your values affect your business practice?

My values absolutely drive the type of businesses I enter, the way I select and develop associates, and the policies and procedures I implement. I believe very strongly that values drive culture. I first think about the culture important for a business to be successful, and then emphasize the values that will build that culture.

For example, for the Woodstock Hampton, I decided the overriding culture should be “A Caring Culture.” In employee orientations, we spend time talking about this value and how we practice those values in organization:

1. Always caring for one another as associates and employees.
2. Always caring for our guests.
3. Always caring for the community in which we operate.
4. Always caring for the world we live in, contributing to a better world.

What are some of your best business insights?

• To always treat all persons with dignity, including employees, guests, vendors, etc.
• To do good planning, including a 3-5 year strategic plan and an annual plan;
• To clearly communicate both LT and annual objectives, so that the team knows the objectives and gets excited about delivering the goals.
• To think carefully about how those goals will be fairly measured and then communicate regularly to those responsible for the implementation.
• To find ways to give back, to make work rewarding and meaningful, and fun!