On The Road with Two (New) New Englanders
As you may have deduced by my use of the plural pronoun “we,” I am one of two. And my #2 is my co-pilot (backseat driver) and wife Betty Londergan. I decided she was an essential part of this road trip not just because being away from her and home for two weeks would be lonely; Betty is also a big talent and I knew this project could use her. Betty’s had a long and very successful career in advertising, and after she sold her agency in Denver to marry me in 1996 and move east to Pennsylvania, her writing career continued with three published books. She is the blogging expert in the family –check out her two year-long blog projects at What Gives 365 and Heifer 12 x 12. She’s also become a wonderful photographer and all the photos you will see (except Boston Architectural College) are hers. The photos you see in this post are from our first day on the trip, as we drove to and explored Concord, New Hampshire.
So what about me? (That’s my favorite question, of course.) As you may have figured out, I am the new President of NECHE. Betty and I arrived in New England in mid-July and found a great place in a beautiful old Cambridge neighborhood. My previous fifteen years were spent as President of Oglethorpe University, a liberal arts and sciences university in Atlanta, where I was fortunate to be part of a wonderful community and built an extraordinary team that together accomplished a lot. Before Oglethorpe, I served as VP of my alma mater Swarthmore College, and had a few other careers before that– as a civil rights attorney in Philadelphia for ten years, then as a real estate developer.
Betty and I raised four kids and are now grandparents to another four. Life is good. We have been blessed. And we are excited about starting a new adventure, both professionally and personally. So we hope you enjoy coming along with us on our first New England road trip. Stay tuned for more.
