DBU REPORT I 2016-2021 OVERVIEW 30 A Tribute to the Wrights On May 19, 2016, I witnessed DBU history from a unique vantage point. For 15 years, I served in the President’s Office under Dr. Gary Cook, and daily I saw the weight that leading a university placed on the shoulders of both the President and his wife. It was an awesome responsibility, and I, along with many others, prayed consistently for the individual who would lead DBU once Dr. Cook announced he would step down as President and become Chancellor in 2015. For more than a year, the Presidential Search Committee diligently performed a national search. They sought to prayerfully identify a leader who demonstrated both the amazing qualities that Dr. Cook had shown—reliance upon the Lord, a keen sense of decision making, and visionary leadership—while also possessing their own unique attributes, not the least of which was the insight and drive to take DBU into a new era of visibility and mission. On that morning in May, as the trustees met to vote on the lone candidate from the committee, I sat in the Joan Horner Bridal Suite with Adam and Candice Wright, friends and colleagues who were about to become the next President and First Lady of DBU. Two things strike me still about that morning. First, I remember a sense of gravity that filled the room. Yet at the same time, both Dr. and Mrs. Wright demonstrated something that can only be described as grace-filled calmness. Certainly there by Blake Killingsworth ‘98 | Vice President for Communications
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