The Robertson Scholars Program met more than just a new class of prospective scholars this week—it is also welcoming a new executive director.
Woody Coley, the current managing partner at the real estate consulting firm Value² Partners, LLC, officially assumes his role as executive director today. Coley replaces former executive director Alex Perwich, who resigned in June after serving just months as director.
“It was serendipity,” he said. “I’m very loyal to those experiences that shaped my life and I always hoped I would be able to have my opportunity to pay others back or to offer the same guidance given to me. To be able to do it with Julian [Robertson]’s support and the academic setting with the school that shaped my life, and the addition of Duke, I can’t imagine a better opportunity to engage with students and impact their lives.”
Coley said conversations about joining the Robertson Scholarship Program began in early December, adding that he was chosen from a pool of numerous applicants including prominent academics and former scholarship administrators. He noted that his private sector experience, though not a requisite for the position, will potentially bring a different perspective to the program, though he said it is too early to express concrete plans.
The merit scholarship’s founder and benefactor Julian Robertson announced Coley’s appointment at its annual finalists’ reception Sunday.
“The Robertson Scholars Program is extremely pleased that Woody Coley has accepted the job of executive director,” Robertson said in a news release Wednesday. “Woody was born and bred in North Carolina and reflects the values that the scholarship program represents. I am confident that he is the right person for the job.”
Coley, calling himself the “new guy,” said he is looking forward to learning from current program administrators and working “to inspire and empower” scholars.
“Right now, my attitude exceeds my aptitude,” Coley said. “I’ll be learning for some number of months. About all I can bring on day one is a lot of mileage on my tires in another industry and a great attitude. We’ll measure ourselves by the advancement of the program and the future impact that these scholars have while the are at these two schools and how they do in life.”
Coley’s return to the Triangle is partly a homecoming, as Tobacco Road is far from uncharted territory for the former Tar Heel. Coley graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977 and also played men’s varsity basketball from 1973 to 1977, serving as co-captain his senior year and playing in the NCAA finals once. He said he hopes to apply some of the lessons learned under former North Carolina head coach Dean Smith to his work with the Robertson scholars.
“Coach Smith could have been a great professor or a CEO—he happened to be a basketball coach,” Coley said. “He taught us life lessons [including] respect for others, the value of rigourous preparation and discipline, enjoying competition... [and] deflecting personal credit in favor of the team.”
Helping and working with students has been a long-time goal of Coley’s since his work as a board member of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., adding that the great advice he received as a young person from people in his community was a constant reminder that he would one day “need to pass it forward.” He said he hopes to encourage the Robertson scholars to “be boundary-less, to be bold and to take risks.”
“It [is] a very exciting decision,” Coley said. “If we can search globally to find inspired students with the help of these two great universities, [then] we can equip them to pursue their dreams fearlessly, we’ll be on the right track.”
Students are also highly anticipating what Coley can deliver to the program and are thankful to have an executive director again.
“Finally, we are going to have a new person in charge, and its really going to be a little bit more direction than perhaps we had this year,” said sophomore Robertson scholar Fabio Berger. “It hasn’t been very long since we knew he was the director [but] he seems like a really great guy.”
Berger added that he thinks Coley’s affiliation with UNC will bring a different and unique feel to the program, which has historically been led by directors more closely tied to Duke.
Junior John Harris, a UNC Robertson scholar, said he is looking forward to having Coley as a resource to students and as a “go-between” among the students, the Robertson program administrators and its founder. He also noted that Coley’s experience will in some way mirror those of the scholars, who switch campuses for one semester.
“I think what he’ll bring to the table is a real understanding of the Chapel Hill campus and culture,” he said. “He will also have to learn the culture of Duke and the Duke campus, [but] it’s a learning curve for anyone—it’s a learning curve for students when they’re at Carolina or at Duke and navigating the differences between the two campuses throughout their college career.”
Coley, who will relocate from Florida to the Durham-Chapel Hill area with his family, observed the Robertson selection process this past weekend.
“I’ve always been impressed with Carolina and Duke students, so to know that [Robertsons] represent an even more demanding filter... just lets me know we have incredible raw potential in which to help them launch their lives,” he said.
The Robertson Scholars Program also announced Wednesday that four current first-year students, Duke’s Alex Bloedel and Kaitlin Gladney and UNC students Jordan Imbrey and Stefanie Schwemlein were invited to join the leadership program. This is the second year freshmen have been allowed to apply. The Robertson Class of 2015 will be announced in May.
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