Listen First

When Travis Proctor ’98 was elected chairman of the Florida Tech board of trustees, the university was in pretty good shape. Enrollment was solid, the institution was financially healthy and people basically told him, “Just don’t mess anything up.”

Simple enough, he thought.

That was January 2020. Two months later, the world shut down.

COVID-19 was sweeping the country. Businesses locked their doors, college campuses went on lockdown and Florida Tech, along with every other university in the nation, had to figure out how to survive as an institution without compromising the health and safety of its students, faculty and staff.

It was not exactly what Proctor had signed up for. But it was the start of a historic, profoundly transformative five years for the board of trustees, the university community and higher education as a whole.

With Proctor at the helm, Florida Tech navigated a global pandemic, rapid leadership change—including the hiring of a new university president—and the subsequent strategic and master planning processes with a speed, unpredictability and fluctuation that Proctor can only describe as a roller coaster.

“I love roller coasters,” Proctor says. “There are parts of them that are exhilarating; there are parts where you’re hanging on for dear life, a little bit afraid; and—at least for me—at the end, there is that feeling of, ‘That was an awesome ride. Let’s do it again!’”

Proctor’s term has come to an end, and on Feb. 27, the board elected Kirsten Dreggors as its new chair. Dreggors, a Northrop Grumman vice president and the board’s first woman chair, served as vice chair for most of Proctor’s term and, he says, is equally responsible for the university’s continued growth and success.

“I’m excited to bring a diverse perspective to this role. I am honored and eager to build upon the remarkable work and strong foundation laid by my predecessors,” Dreggors says. “It’s a great opportunity, and I think everyone on the board is really excited about what’s ahead for us.”

Together, the two have provided stable leadership through a great deal of change at Florida Tech. Now, they reflect on the last five years and draw from both their shared and unique experiences, along with the rest of the board and university leadership, to chart a path of continued progress at Florida Tech.

Engagement in Action

You wouldn’t know it, but Travis Proctor is an introvert and a self-proclaimed “geek” who finds public speaking “incredibly intimidating.”

So, when he first came to Florida Tech in 1994 as a computer science freshman from Colorado, taking on any sort of prominent leadership role was not something he had seriously considered.

“I was the behind-the-scenes kind of person for sure,” Proctor says. “So, being out front is not something that I would have normally done.”

But stronger than his reservations were his drive and entrepreneurial spirit.

Proctor, who came to Florida Tech for its business-heavy computer science program—a rarity in the ’90s, he says—became involved in the Student Government Association (SGA) early on and was eventually elected student body president.

“Being engaged in student government and student activities added a depth to my student experience that I really enjoyed,” Proctor says. “And that was my first exposure to the board of trustees, really—speaking to and interacting with board members who, at the time, felt like these scary, important figures who were making all the critical decisions for the university. But ultimately, I was able to actually connect with some folks.”

His sophomore year, Proctor founded Artemis IT, a small information technology management and consulting company whose first full-time employee was Teresa Ho ’95, ’98 MBA, then his Florida Tech classmate and 13 years later, his wife. When they graduated, the two worked full time on the business, which today, is a thriving company that serves clients throughout Central Florida and was named the Melbourne Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2019 Business of the Year.

He continued to be involved with the university, mostly through philanthropic endeavors, such as the Florida Tech Sporting Affair, which he served as chair for about 10 years, and was eventually approached about joining the board.

“It was certainly because of my time at SGA, but really my affinity for Florida Tech as a student, that I humbly and very excitedly accepted the invitation to join the board,” Proctor says. “It’s a big responsibility, but there is that feeling that you are having an impact on and enhancing an institution that you already love—it’s fulfilling to be engaged at that level.”

And when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in those early days of his chairmanship, engagement, he found, was key.

At a time of ample what-ifs and minimal answers, Proctor recalls, the Florida Tech community banded together in a way he hadn’t seen before. The board and executive leadership decided pretty quickly to keep campus at least partially open. And everyone—students printing face shields and other necessities; faculty reformatting their lessons to virtual and hybrid models; IT putting systems in place to do so; facilities implementing “social distancing” and other safety measures across campus; university communications and leadership working to do it all with a new level of transparency—rallied.

“I’m really proud of how the institution responded—how everyone engaged to figure out, ‘How do we ensure we deliver on our mission to provide quality education to students?’” Proctor says. “I think it actually allowed Florida Tech to have some growth a couple years during COVID, when most institutions were shrinking.”

In fact, at a time when similar institutions—private, nonprofit, four-year schools—saw an 8.5% drop in freshman enrollment, Florida Tech’s overall enrollment increased by over 3%, according to a December 2020 Forbes article.

“One of the hardest leadership challenges is making the best choices that you can with such a lack of information,” Dreggors says. “We worked our way through it, and it paved the way for how we do things now.”

Kirsten Dreggors’ approach to leadership is simple: Listen first.

The mantra has served her well throughout her nearly 30-year career at Northrop Grumman, where she got her first job after graduating from the University of Central Florida with her bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and has continued to rise through the ranks to her current role as Aeronautics Systems sector vice president of engineering.

While Dreggors has been with the same company all that time, when the enterprise has about 100,000 employees and 550 locations across the globe, there is no shortage of opportunity, she says. She has spent most of her career in Florida but also worked in California for several years, honing her leadership skills and building valuable connections through company development and leadership programs throughout the years.

She credits her career growth to her willingness to listen and eagerness to learn.

“It’s funny, I used to think that I had a short attention span because I would change jobs every couple of years,” Dreggors says. “But I later realized it was the need to continue to grow and learn.”

Having reached the executive level in her professional career, Dreggors has branched out to the community as a new mechanism for education and personal growth.

No stranger to community involvement, Dreggors first engaged with Florida Tech through the Northrop Grumman Engineering and Science Student Design Showcase, listening to students’ presentations and judging their capstone projects.

“Joining the board at Florida Tech was a way for me to learn more about academia,” she says. “I had never been exposed to that, and learning from Travis and the other board members over the last few years has been exciting to me. Now, I’m ready to take on a new challenge as chair.”

But first, she listens.

Invoking her tried-and-true methodology, since being named board of trustees chair, Dreggors has begun scheduling one-on-one conversations with her fellow board members, seeking to understand their perspectives and learn about the skills and expertise that they bring to the table.

“One of Kirsten’s great strengths is that she can sometimes be a little quiet, but you know that she is just taking it all in,” Proctor says. “And when she speaks, she does so with authority and gravitas. She doesn’t shy away from engaging everybody who needs to be part of the conversation.”

It’s an approach that parallels how the board and university leadership have strived to confront each of the major decisions with universitywide impacts that have arisen the past five years.

The campus community had barely gotten its bearings after weathering the pandemic and all its ramifications when it was faced with its next unexpected hurdle: a presidential vacancy.

“The rapid change in leadership was, to a degree, destabilizing for the university,” Proctor says. “But I think it began some really critical healing that needed to occur because of the stress of COVID.”

What do we need in our future leadership?

Where are the issues we might have from a campus culture perspective?

What is the future of Florida Tech?

“These are all questions we were able to ask the entire campus community. And, in hindsight, I think that process happened at a critical time in Florida Tech’s evolution,” he says.

Proctor and Dreggors both served on the university’s presidential search committee, which enlisted the services of an executive search firm to help identify and pare back a list of 112 highly qualified applicants. The process involved listening sessions, community forums and small group meetings.

It was extensive, but it was important, and the search committee vowed not to rush. So, in July 2022, Florida Tech hired Robert L. King to serve as interim president.

“I think Bob really did a lot for the university in a very short period of time,” Dreggors says. “He really helped bring in a new energy to the university and bring the faculty and staff together.”

“I think he came in and did a good job beginning to open people’s minds to think a bit differently about how we’re going to do things,” Proctor adds.

The committee narrowed down the candidates to five finalists who came to campus for open community forums, after which feedback was gathered through more than 400 survey responses.

Ultimately, the university hired John Nicklow, who started in July 2023 and was formally installed as Florida Tech’s sixth president Jan. 26, 2024.

“We had great candidates from across the nation who were interested in Florida Tech because of where we were and who we were,” Proctor says. “Dr. Nicklow stood out as someone who was not coming to Florida Tech to finish his career, retiring in Florida. He saw this as an opportunity to really accelerate on our strong foundation—build on something that was already very good to make a great institution.”

“There are so many interesting things going on in our community—amazing growth here in Brevard with the space and commercial elements. So, staying focused is going to be really important as the area grows—and we grow with it.”
Kirsten Dreggors

Plotting the Course

To build that “great institution” takes a plan—several plans, really.

So, upon Nicklow’s installation, the board of trustees prioritized establishing a new strategic plan for the university.

Again, they listened first.

Through electronic surveys, one-on-one interviews, a diverse steering committee and more, the university captured feedback from students, faculty and staff, board members, peer institutions and some of Florida Tech’s top employers, rounding out to about 1,200 voices.

With collaboration and transparency, the university established Forward Together, Boundless Potential, a dynamic, living document that outlines a framework for decision-making based on the university’s future goals and the steps necessary to achieve them.

Part of the plan includes the development of a “master plan,” for which the university enlisted the services of a higher education consulting firm, who assesses all the university’s physical spaces, gathers input from the Florida Tech community and helps determine what needs renovation and enhancement.

“I think, ultimately, the board’s objective is to make sure we have a strategic vision that everyone understands, we’ve got the right leader in place to make it happen and we can then help identify the resources to get there,” Proctor says.

With these plans as their guide, Proctor and Dreggors agree that the next few years will focus on tactical progress: addressing the student housing need, finding the right balance of laboratory and classroom space and envisioning the ideal campus infrastructure.

In the slightly longer term, as Florida Tech continues to increase enrollment and, naturally, become more selective, attention can shift to developing the specific degree and research programs that strategically align with the goals of the university—and of the Space Coast.

“It’s so easy to get distracted, honestly,” Dreggors says. “There are so many interesting things going on in our community—amazing growth here in Brevard with the space and commercial elements. So, staying focused is going to be really important as the area grows—and we grow with it.”

The need to maintain focus translates to industry partnerships, as well as the board itself, they say.

Over the last few years, the board has decreased in size, aiming to align members’ talents with the strategic direction of the university.

“Going forward, John [Nicklow] and I can partner with the rest of the board to bring in some new folks,” Dreggors says. “We’ll look at the diversity of skills that we have among the board, see if there are any gaps and fill them with the right people.”

Fueled by the support and enthusiasm of their fellow board members, Proctor and Dreggors are looking forward to settling into their new roles and tackling whatever comes next.

“I think we’ve had a strong partnership that will continue now with a different dynamic, and Kirsten is more than ready to lead,” Proctor says. “The board has confidence in her because they know that she’s not going to do this alone. She will lead; she will do what she needs to do—but she’s bringing all of us along with her.”