Buried in the Boy Scout Oath lies the foundational principle of Giving Back; it reads like this, “Help other people at all times, keep yourself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” How is it that such a simple phrase can influence generations of people? More important though, is how many of our citizens never touch this institution or learn the oath. However, by good fortune we residents of South Florida were blessed to have a person who not only memorized the oath but professed it throughout their life. Serendipitously, this person landed in the perfect place to have the greatest impact on our citizenry so as to mitigate the number of folks who may have never had the Boy Scout Oath become part of their lives. The person about whom I am writing is George Lafayette Hanbury II, Ph.D., President and CEO of Nova Southeastern University.
Dr. Hanbury (George) comes from a long line of people who came to the USA when our country was in its infancy. They struggled and overcame enormous obstacles. Obstacles the kind of which confronted the early settlers of Virginia; however, they managed to prevail over the hardships of rural life because they maintained a strong foundation in family and always kept the principles of our Founding Fathers squarely in their sight. They believed in public service, professional decorum, citizenship and giving back to one’s community. As Dr. Hanbury states, “Momma genuinely loved history, introduced her children to the overarching concept of citizenship, giving back and being of service to others.”
George grew up in the small tidewater town of Berkley, Virginia on the Elizabeth River downstream from the big city of Norfolk. His entire family lived in a small tin-roofed home built in 1897. At that time the family consisted of his parents and his two other siblings. George was the youngest. His father was a tough hardworking longshoreman, and his “Momma” was the quintessential homemaker. What little they had they loved, respected, and opened to their neighbors. Momma believed in citizenship, honor, integrity and education (although she never had the opportunity to move it forward), and worked tirelessly to encourage her children to adopt these core values and take their education as far as they possibly could.
George took his Momma seriously and through perseverance, hard work and en-visioning lofty goals he managed to embrace education and achieve its highest level. The journey was a long one and was advanced at different locations and at different times in his career. It started at Virginia Polytechnical Institute (VPI), where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a minor in Public Administration. It continued at Old Dominion University where he received his Master of Public Administration, and it culminated at Florida Atlantic University with a Ph.D. in Public Administration.
George believed in the principle of “practicum.” commonly defined as the application of previously studied theory. This involves integrating education, research, and practice. In fact, his entire career has been one never ending practicum of public service. It has been implemented through continued edu-cation (lifelong learning), and a career of professional service.
After graduation, George became an Assistant City Manager in the City of Norfolk, Virginia and, after several years with Norfolk, he became the Assistant City Manager in the City of Virginia Beach. Then in 1974, at the age of 30, George became Virginia Beach’s City Manager, and at that time he was the youngest city manager of a city with over 200.000 population in the nation. In 1982, George became the City Manager of Portsmouth, Virginia and in 1990 he was selected to be the City Manager of Fort Lauderdale. His guiding principles have led him to have a major impact on each place he has served. One of his favorite quotes is from the Athenian Oath, “we will transmit this City not only not less but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”
When he and his wife Jana, an operating room surgical nurse, arrived in Fort Lauderdale the city was confronting a point of inflection in its development. The city was looking to shed its reputation as the spring break capital of the world, commonly defined as “Fort Liquordale.” His tenure from 1990 to 1998 allowed him to apply all of his experience, knowledge and moral beliefs and guide Fort Lauderdale to become a model for sustainable development, respect for diversity, and the advancement of institutions to respect and support the goals of the citizenry.
To that end, he guided the re-development of Las Olas Boulevard and Northwest Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Beach, and the construction of its “wave wall” and pedestrian walkway, and finally the construction of Riverwalk. Bringing theory and practice together, he instituted land use and zoning reform to save historical structures through “adaptive re-use,” such as the Shepard Estate and the Casablanca Restaurant, as well as zoning reform measures to encourage proper development to enhance destination places for all citizens by expanding and developing open space parks, and enhancing Fort Lauderdale’s tree canopy through development and enforcement of a “tree ordinance.”
George worked tirelessly to advance each of these initiatives. He would often start at 5:00 AM and end the day late into the evening at City and Private Board meetings. His philosophy of listening to all people no matter how educated they were nor how socio economically successful they became, supported his concept that a great community is one that serves all citizens. I have heard him quote a phrase from Henry Van Dyke that represents the foundation of his philosophy: “The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sing the best.”
As Fort Lauderdale’s success was flowing out to all of its adjacent cities, in 1998 George received a call from one of Fort Lauderdale’s prominent attorneys, Ray Ferrero, Jr. During his tenure as City Manager their paths had crossed many times, and these two gentlemen evolved a great respect for each other. This phone call would be the beginning of landing George in that perfect place to have the greatest impact of giving back to our community and in fact to some extent the entire world. Ray Ferrero had just been appointed the fifth president and CEO of Nova Southeastern University and he soon realized that he needed a person who could support his desire to grow the university and align the goals of disparate groups of people (to some extent the most difficult being academics). George accepted the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and together they became a dynamic duo. Ray Ferrero was the quintessential builder and George, because of his years of building and redeveloping cities, knew how to give form, direction, fiscal accountability, and bond financing in order to develop structure to the institution. They built more than six million square feet of libraries, recreational facilities, residence halls, research laboratories, theaters, and classrooms. In addition, working with the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, they were able to provide the citizens of Broward County access to NSU’s doctoral research library with all of its collection, data bases, and research facilities. Such an arrangement allows NSU to proudly proclaim that it is the only university in Florida, and possibly the nation, where the public has free and unencumbered use of its library.
In 2010, George succeeded Ray Ferrero as NSU’s sixth president. Although, NSU was financially sound, it was not recognized throughout the nationas a premier doctoral research university engaged in academic excellence. Namely a “world-class” academic institution noted for its academic excellence, research, and application of both to enhance the quality of life of its community as well as the citizens of our planet. George was finally in a position to advance all of the wonderful principles his Momma, the Boy Scouts, educational achievements, and work experiences, had taught him as a child, – “cultivate your abilities to discern and grasp opportunities for growth and success, not only for yourself but to positively impact the lives of those whose circumstances you strive to enhance.”
With the assistance of his executive staff, faculty, staff, and students, all of whom he engaged in discussion and input, he was able to evolve a clear “single-shared vision.” a new mission statement, measurable goals with the foundation of eight core values. The new vision, mission, and core values became known throughout the university as Vision 2020. In a nutshell it read as follows: “By 2020, through excellence and innovations in teaching, research, service and learning, Nova Southeastern University will be recognized by accrediting agencies, the academic community, and the general public, as a premier private not-for-profit university of quality and distinction that engages all students and produces alumni who serve with integrity in their lives, fields of study, and resulting careers.” This vision was supported by a series of eight core values, which over the years began to define NSU – Integrity, Academic Excellence, Student-centered, Innovation, Opportunity, Scholarship/Research, Diversity and Community.
Quite a lofty start to a new position. In addition to the mission, George, the Board of Trustees, and the NSU executive team, set out on a campaign to raise 250 million dollars to catapult the university endowment toward being able to perpetuate programs and support students, and another 250 million dollars in research external funding – a $500 million campaign. There were many who initially were not believers, and some even told George that he had created “false hopes” for Nova.
As it was once said, to be successful one should make no small plans. George was successful. The financial goal for philanthropy was achieved two years early, the research goal achieved, and NSU was designated by US News and World Reports as an industry-respected “best college” in 2016.
During the period of the 2020 Vision, the university was able to implement a new MD medical program enhancing its Health Professions Division (HPD). The new medical college would enable NSU to be the only university in Florida, and one of four universities in the country, that would offer both a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, (D.O) and a Doctor of Allopathic Medicine (M.D.). The M.D. program would be offered in conjunction with the new University Hospital in partnership with HCA (the largest hospital organization in the USA), and the D.O program would be expanded from its base at NSU’s main campus to the newly completed Tampa Bay Regional Campus. Both of these facilities were conceived, planned, built, and operated within the span of George’s tenure. What is most amazing is that the MD program received accreditation and had three graduations of physicians within the same time frame.
Achievement of the goals and matrices was so overwhelming that, in 2020, an enhanced Vision 2020 – Vision 2025 was adopted by NSU. Capitalizing on the success of Vision 2020, Vision 2025’s external funding goal now became $1 billion – $500 million in philanthropy and $500 million in research. As of August 2024, NSU has attained 95% of the $1 billion goal and expects to exceed Vision 2025’s goal by December of 2024, which will take Dr. Hanbury to his planned completion as President and CEO.
George will be ending a lifetime that started with him personally impacting the lives of his community residents and ending with him shaping an institution that would produce people who would lead their lives in the same fashion thereby exponentially making their world a better place. I think of it as implanting a small chip in people that contains the principles of the Boy Scout and Athenian oaths. This is giving back by creating an army of givers back.
The story doesn’t end here. George Lafayette Hanbury II, Ph.D. is already planning his next career to continue on a path of living his Momma’s guiding principles. Stay tuned as he takes on redirecting the civility of our nation and advancing us out of polarization and segregation.
