2. J. Timothy Cloyd, Ph.D.
Narrative Biography
Current Activity
After twelve years as president (2001-2013) and five years as vice president for
development, communications, marketing, (e) presence, and government
relations for Hendrix College,Dr. J. Timothy Cloyd stepped down from his
administrative duties. Hendrix is a selective tier I Liberal Arts and Sciences
College and is ranked among the top 70 colleges in America. However, Dr.
Cloyd believes that the new models of higher education in the market require
leaders with experience. He is interested in putting his entrepreneurial talents to
work not only in these new innovative educational ventures, but also in other
industries. After a sabbatical that ends in January 2014, he may return to his
position as a full professor and continue his consultancy business: Cloyd and
Associates, LLC. At present, he is also evaluating other leadership
opportunities in these emerging new models of education delivery, but also in
firms in other industries where he can put his training and experience to work
to enhance competitiveness and to grow revenue.
He is working on a book on leadership. How Good Leaders cultivate traits of
Resilience, Inner Peace, and a Deep Sense of Life Mission – the Peculiar Case of Higher
Education. His consulting firm focuses on Leadership, Executive, and
Management Team Development, Individualized Executive Coaching, Leading
Change Agendas, and on innovations, inspiration, and cultural changes
essential to ensuring success in industries that experience unique market
challenges and disruptions. The firms and institutions he works with are
typically facing internal or external threats that prevent them for realizing
maximum success. He is also an expert in fundraising and identifying capital
financing inspired by firms that embrace institutional market differentiation and
innovation. Those willing to innovate and change are lead by great leaders and
that is why his focus is on identifying and cultivating the right kind of talent.
Cloyd is assisting and has assisted scores of for-profit, non-profit organizations,
higher education institutions, and municipalities as they have worked to
innovate, differentiate, respond to disruptive change to achieve success. His
3. professional training, experience, and skill-set allows him to bring concrete
actionable advice allowing institutions in these sectors to move quickly to gain
momentum and to enhance visibility. He achieves this by working closely with
leaders on change and innovation to increase revenue by introducing new or
enhancing existing products or services through research based differentiation,
the use of new technologies, and energizing new cultures of excitement and
service among staff and associates.
A Record of Success
Cloyd has been at Hendrix College for 17 years. From 2001-2013 he served as
president. He led the college to grow enrollmentbyover50%and thetenure track
facultyby 35%. He added a dozen new majors, doubled international enrollment,
grew out of state enrollment to 60%, and added four new sports.
Hisstrategicvision and guidance resulted in the faculty creating a unique
curricular program that became the critical differentiator for the college. This
approach was universal and defining of the Hendrix experience. “Your Hendrix
Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning.” This and many other innovations made
possible by Cloyd’s leadership brought national visibilityand prestige to Hendrix
College. By taking a good college in a non-destination state and making it a
great college whose national recognition and brand overcame the geographical
challenge, Cloyd achieve more than any president in the college’s history.
“Prospective students,” Cloyd said, “do not typically wake up in their homes
along the I-95 corridor and think to themselves, I ought to go to Arkansas to
College. But what we did had such power that it made the old elite liberal arts
colleges on the east coast wake up and take notice.”
Our team’s successes and stories about Cloyd’s innovative and entrepreneurial
leadership were featured on the cover of the New York Times (above the fold)
three times in one year and on the cover of the Education Section.
In addition, stories about the success of Hendrix and in particular about
Cloyd’s leadership approach at a traditional and stellar liberal arts college were
featured in numerous national publications: Money Magazine, The Atlantic
Monthly, Readers Digest, Forbes, The New York Review of Books, U.S. News and World
Report, USA Today, The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angels Times, The
4. Washington Post, The Atlanta Constitution, The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia
Inquirer, The Chicago Tribute, and The Detroit Free Press. Bloomberg, Reuters, and
the Associated Press distributed these and other stories.
Particular innovations, accomplishments, and the Odyssey Program were
broadcast nationally on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, ESPN, and NPR, as well as,
covered by local and regional media outlets. Innovations and ideas that were
put into action under Cloyd’s leadership also received international coverage
by outlets such as: In2EastAfrica, The New Times of Rwanda, IRwanda, Pan-African
News, Belgian Radio, Television, and Film, De Standaard in Belgium, and Harbin in
Pulse in Harbin China.
For the last five consecutive years Hendrix College has been ranked the
number one most innovative college in the United States. The former editor of
the education section of the New York Times has featured Hendrix on an
annual basis for over 15 years in an influential book: Colleges that Change
Lives.
The results Cloyd has achieved working with the Board of Trustees has been
recently featured in a book. Leading Change: How Board’s and
President’s build exceptional Academic Institutions. By Terrence
MacTargaart, The Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and
Universities Press, 2011.
Over the past 17 years Cloydhasraisednearly $175 millionforthe endowment,
for numerous academic programs and for capitalprojects. This has included 17
newbuildings, the conversion of all residence halls to geo-thermal, the
construction of a new Gold LEED certified Student Life and Technology
Center, new art center, a Wellness and Athletic Center and all new related
athletic facilities, the building of new student housing, and a Center for the
Hendrix-Murphy Foundation.
Dr. Cloyd increased the prosperity of the college by differentiating,
internationalizing, and innovating, - including the introduction of new technology.
This produced demand and prestige and led to significant grow in enrollment, but
5. also in total revenue and revenue per student. This produced increases in net
revenuefrom2001-2010by morethan52%, while at the same time growing
enrollment, diversity, and the quality of the students. The endowment of the
college experienced ups and downs with the recessions of 2002 and 2008.
Despite a more than healthy average draw on the core endowment of about 6%
from 2001-2013 we actually grew the endowment. The long-term debt grew
significantly and we have been able to pay it down. Debt service when I left
was higher than we wanted it to be nevertheless S&P in our 2012 rating gave us
an A-. This was because we had a plan to continue to grow net revenue.
Secondly, we had placed unrestricted gifts into a bond debt service fund and
this assisted us in making debt payments. Unfortunately, it seemed to me that
some Board members did not understand this strategy and conflated the core
endowment and the debt service fund.
In a radically bold move, and based on empirical data the college raised its price
in 2003 almost 25% in one year, but gave back a great deal of the increase in
financial need based aid, merit awards, and Odyssey Distinction Awards based
on students’ gifts talents, and passions. The result was a 43% increase in the
first year class in one year.
In addition, Cloyd also raised 10s of millions of dollars for a middle class
scholarship program.
Another signature program created by Cloyd, a Board member, and the Clinton
Foundation was the Rwandan Presidential Scholars Program. A new
revolutionary approach to international education, this program brings
survivors of the genocide to 18 institutions to study math and science. Cloyd
and the Board member have been able to get many of these schools to provide
full scholarships and we now have over 190 Rwandan students receiving higher
education through this program
Background
Dr. Cloyd’s background, working as a national consultant, a college executive,
and achieving unrivaled success as CEO in higher education in the context of
change and challenging times have helped to place him in a position of high
6. demand. In addition, holding board positions on national higher education and
not-for profit organization Boards. Serving as a Director on Boards in Industry.
And finally serving on the board of an international Non-governmental
organization has all given him a unique perspective as well as extensive
networks from which to draw contacts. Before coming to Arkansas in 1994, he
worked in the administration and in fundraising at Vanderbilt University. He
also had his own business as a consultant and worked in the 1994 Election
Cycle as a paid consultant on statewide Senate and Congressional races.
Currently, he has clients in Chicago, Virginia, the Gulf Coast of Mississippi,
Tennessee, and North Carolina.
Until he was 15 years old Dr. Cloyd grew up on the Navajo Indian Reservation
outside of Farmington New Mexico on the Navajo Methodist Mission School.
In that environment his family worked with Tribal Officials and the BIA on
numerous declared national disasters around the issues of crop failures due to
floods and water shortages. Later in life his family relocated to Tennessee, his
family’s ancestral home, where he worked on farms, for the Federal
Agricultural Field Office, and other hard labor jobs to help make his way
through college. During college, as his family were United Methodist
missionaries; he worked hands on numerous relief projects. Growing up a
missionaries’ kid meant leaning valuable life lessons about poverty, hard work,
and overcoming being judged at school because we got our cloths out of the
mission barrels.
In 2004, immediately following Katrina, Dr. Cloyd under the guidance and
financial support of Madison Murphy (our Board Chair), Rob Walton, and
eventually the Mellon Foundationin New York organized and led student
volunteer to buy materials and load trucks. Cloyd and others took four trips of
six palletized tractor-trailer trucks of supplies and 1,000 gallons of gasoline and
diesel fuel to Pass Christian Mississippi to a private relief operation organized
by the Murphy’s and the Walton’s before FEMA arrived.
7. Innovative and Transformational Leadership
Dr. Cloyd is interested in the use of synchronous and asynchronous
technologydto lower cost and enhance productivity, training, and education.
When one considers the use of cutting edge technology, (i.e. mass on-line
courses, classroom capture software, anytime-any-device technology, hybrid
platforms, mobile applications, or virtual presence technology) the image of the
traditional liberal arts college does not come immediately to mind. But Dr.
Cloyd has worked hard explore how to integrate new technology into various
corporate cultures.
At the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Dr. Cloyd served on the
Chancellor’s cabinet as Executive Director of Advancement. At this 11,000
student state university, he worked with Dean’s across 10 colleges and schools
to coordinate development. He was the first centralized chief of development
across all 10 colleges and learned a great deal about the balance of autonomy
and diplomatic coordination.
Dr. Cloyd has also worked on developing mentoring programs and education
programs to increase student and associate retention rates, creating certificate
programs that develop pragmatic competencies.
In 2006, Dr. Cloyd led the college to embark on a for-profit
realestatedevelopmentventure.This new urban Village neighborhood
hasbeendesignedby
thefirmDuanyPlaterZyberg,ledbyAndresDuany,fromMiami,Florida, that
designedSeaside and Watercolor, aswellas,numerousothernationaland
internationalaward-winningcityplans.Theentire build out of the Village
callsfor600dwellingswithmixeduse and commercialareas. Notwithstanding
intense resistance from some on groups in the community, Dr. Cloyd’s
leadership resilience and perseverance paid off. The Village hasturnedouttobea
synergisticforce creating revenue, ambiance, attracting new students, and
allowingstudentstoexperience cosmopolitan urban lifeina city ofabout75,000.
www.hendrix.edu/village/
Part of this success was the introduction of roundabouts to Conway and to
8. Arkansas.
Dr. Cloyd has an ability to find creative solutions to complex challenges. He
has worked with local, state, and national government officials on distinctive
issues in negotiating to find the right compromises to issues that have
produced solutions. For example, working with city and state officials, the
legislature, and the highway commission, he and the mayor of the city led the
innovative adaption of the first roundabouts in the state of Arkansas. This
solved traffic issues for the city and enhanced the college while satisfying the
Arkansas Highway Commission and the Department of Transportation.
The state insisted on building a pedestrian tunnel under the new boulevard with
the roundabouts and this dissected the campus. In response, Dr. Cloyd
identified a world-class artist/architect/musician, Christopher Janney who
works with Bryan Eno and David Byrne of the Talking Heads, to help solve the
problem of having a tunnel on campus. He turned the tunnel into a Harmonic
Passage with LED lights and harmonic bird and insect songs native to
Arkansas that are all motion activated for safety. The acoustic quality is similar
to a cathedral. Thus, Dr. Cloyd identified a team that could turn a liability into a
learning space, tourist attraction, and point of destination for the city.
Professional and Academic Recognition
Aprofessorofpoliticsand
internationalrelations,Dr.Cloydhastaughtcoursesatthathave included:Irregular
Warfare: Conflict and Security in the Contemporary Global Age;Cyber-war in the Digital Age;
Political Theory and Leadership; Warand Terrorism; TheClassicsand Leadership;
TheoriesofInternationalRelations; and WesternPoliticalThought.
Beforejoining Hendrix,Dr.Cloydwason
thepoliticalsciencefacultyatVanderbiltUniversity before going on the
administration and development staff. He taughtcomparativeand
internationalpolitics.In his administrative role
hecoordinatedprogramsamongnineofVanderbilt’s collegesand
schoolstodevelopinterdisciplinary, certificateprograms, and continuing medical
9. education programs. He was part of the $400 million campaign for Vanderbilt.
He completedapost-doctoralfellowshipin Europe withtheInstitutefor
theStudyofWorld Politics. Hisworkfocusedon tradeagreementsin military
dualuse technology.Thisinvolvedresearch on technology and security issues
withgovernmentand European
officials,theSupremeHeadquartersAlliedPowersmilitaryand
intelligenceofficials,and NATO officials.
Dr.Cloydgraduatedmagnacum laudewithadoublemajorin philosophy and
politicalsciencein 1985 fromEmory and Henry Collegein
Virginia.Playinglacrosseand baseball,hewasaDivisionIII
intercollegiateathlete.Heearnedan M.A.in 1990and aPh.D.in 1991in
politicalsciencefromthe Universityof Massachusetts,Amherst.Duringhis
timethere,healso studiedin theIsenbergSchool ofManagementin theareasof
financeand management.Dr.Cloydreceivedcontinuingeducation at
HarvardUniversityin thearea ofEducationalManagement.
Nationally,he hasservedon theBoardoftheNationalAssociationof
IndependentCollegesand Universitiesand on theAmericanCouncilon
Education’sCommissionon InternationalEducation. Heserveson
theBoardoftheInternationalStudentExchange Program.He iscurrentlyvicechair
oftheAssociatedCollegesoftheSouth,and
hehasservedaschairoftheSouthernUniversity Conference.PresidentCloydhas
also been on theBoardofDirectorsofTheVillageatHendrix,LLC,a forprofitaffiliatedwithHendrix.Heison theBoardofanot-forprofitNGO:BridgetoRwanda.
Hisrecentpresentationsand papersinclude: “The Use of Virtual Presence Technology in
Teaching the Liberal Arts and General Education Courses,” for the Boards of Rollins
College and Hendrix College; “Price,Discount,and MarketDifferentiation,”atthe
AmericanCouncilon Education;“ThePresident’sRolein
CollegeTurnarounds,”attheNational Associationof IndependentCollegesand
Universities;“MakingtheCase forLiberalArts Education,”TheCouncilof
IndependentColleges;“Marketing,Branding,and Positioningin Higher
Education,”TheAmericanAssociationofGoverningBoards;and
10. “Leadership,thePresidency,and the LiberalArts,” The Phi BetaKappa Lectureship.
AmongPresidentCloyd’sacademicpublicationsare PoliticsandtheHumanBody,abook
he and UniversityofChicagoPoliticalPhilosopherJeanBethkeElshtain edited
(VanderbiltUniversityPress). Dr.CloydalsoeditedTheGulf War
andJustWar:AStudyGuideonthePersian GulfWar (Vanderbilt University,Programin
Socialand PoliticalThought). He is the author of numerous essays and speeches.
Examples of Dr. Cloyd’s Leadership Success
TheCollege hasapproximately1,475students,and an 111student/facultyratio.Students’average ACTscoresare
29.8,averageSATscoresare 1310,and averagehighschoolGPAisa3.9.Twenty
percentofHendrix studentsreceivePellGrants.Hendrix’sathleticteamscompetein
theNCAA
DivisionIIIasmembersoftheSouthernAthleticAssociation.Thecampuscultureisty
pifiedasa
progressive,democratic,demandingbutsupportiveenvironmentwithearnestpartici
pationin
academiclifeasthenorm.TheCollegeisalsoknownnationallyforitscommitmenttoen
gaged, hands-on,liberalartsand
sciencesexperiences.Thisismanifestedthroughtheprogramthat Cloyd envisioned
and led the college to designtitled - YourHendrixOdyssey:Engagingin
ActiveLearning.
As president of Hendrix College, Dr. Cloyd led an
institutionofover450dedicatedemployeeson anetassetbaseof$375million.
S&PhasgivenHendrixan Astablerating.Hendrix’soperatingbudgetis$60millionand the
endowmentvalueisapproximately$175million.Shelteringa
chapterofPhiBetaKappa,the
Collegeisoneof16membersoftheAssociatedCollegesoftheSouth(“TheSweet16”)a
nd is classifiedby theCarnegieFoundationasaBaccalaureateIArtsand
Sciencesinstitution.
Distinguishedbyastudentbodyofunusualacademicstrengthand a
scholarlyfacultydedicatedto
11. undergraduateteaching,Hendrixhasproduced6RhodesScholars,29WatsonFellow
s,25GoldwaterScholars,3 TrumanScholars,2 JackKentCook
Scholars,4RotaryInternationalScholars, and
30FulbrightFellows.Since2001Dr.CloydaddedfournewNCAADivisionIIIinterco
llegiatesports(men’sand women’slacrosse,fieldhockey,and football),bringing
to21thenumberofteamsHendrixfields, twelve new majors, twelve endowed
chairs, the single most powerful academic program – Odyssey, and numerous
academic endowed centers.Fortypercentofitsstudentsmajor in the sciences.
Thecollege hascontinuouslygrownitsnational stature.
wordpress/timcloyd
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSsQMk0ejvc
twitter; linkered; blog; aboutme; google+; facebook
Personal Background
While Dr.Cloyd’sfamilyrootsare in theAmericanSouth,he
spenthisformativeyearslivingon the NavajoIndian
Reservation.HisparentsweretheheadmastersoftheNavajoUnitedMethodist
MissionSchoolin Farmington,NewMexico.Priortothis,hisfamilylivedand
workedasmissionariesintheKatanga, DemocraticRepublicoftheCongo.Dr.Cloyd
and his wife Wendy have threesons– Logan (18), Samuel(15),and Thomas(13).
