Leaning back in his seat, Larry Penley, 54, let out a grandfatherly chuckle.
"It wasn't a preordain plan," said the W.P. Carey School of Business dean about his career path.
Now Penley is taking his business know-how to Colorado State University, with his sights set on becoming the new university president.
But to know Penley is to understand that his satisfaction comes from the betterment of the students at the school, of the university and of his family.
Before Business
The now 12-year business dean said that while he was growing up in Tennessee, he never intended on becoming involved in business, not to mention an administrative position.
"In high school, I was convinced that I was not going into business," Penley said, despite his father's example, who owned an auto repair shop.
He chose psychology instead.
"I was going to become a child psychologist. That's when I worked in a child guidance clinic as an undergraduate," Penley said.
It wasn't until the head of the clinic told him he should re-think becoming a psychologist when he turned toward the path that would lead him to his current career.
Moving into the business realm wouldn't be a stretch, based on his past experiences.
"Throughout time, I had been in quasi-managerial roles," Penley said, referring to his leadership roles at scout camp and eventually managing a trade store.
He held those roles at just 13 years old.
"When I switched to business, the intent was to become a faculty member in management, not to become an administrator," he said.
Penley graduated from Wake Forest with his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and a year later his Master's in communication.
Making his transition to business, Penley earned his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in management and eventually became an associate dean at University of Texas at San Antonio.
After hearing through his network of co-workers and friends that there was an opening in the management faculty at ASU, he decided to apply. The move eventually led him to becoming the interim dean in 1990 and appointed permanently in 1991.
Gauging Success
The W.P. Carey School of Business is well known for the strides it's made under Penley's tenure.
For most people, leading a college into an era that saw the school's undergraduate programs and graduate programs skyrocket into national and international rankings would be something they'd boast about as their personal achievements.
Penley would disagree.
"When the value of the degree here goes up, that gives me pleasure," Penley said. "I'm fond of telling alumni that one of the major tasks that I have is to build degree holder value, just like stock holder value, and if this becomes a better place, then the value of their degree is higher."
Alumnus Tara Stahlecker said Penley accomplished a lot while he was at ASU.
"He'll be greatly missed," said the ASU marketing graduate who now works for W.P. Carey in New York. "Just going out there and raising community awareness and getting the faculty more involved with students were some of his great accomplishments."
During Penley's tenure, the school saw unprecedented growth and wireless Internet, ranked third nationally for its undergraduate supply chain management program and moved the W.P. Carey School Management of Business Administration degree to one of the top fifty nationally.
But Penely will most likely be remembered for the school's most recent accomplishment: obtaining a $50 million endowment from New York real estate investor, William Polk Carey, resulting in the renaming of the business college.
He has also made many personal accomplishments as dean.
In the past, he's received awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the MBA Students Association and the Century Award for Exemplary Support and Leadership from the Hispanic Business Student Association; both in 2000.
Penley's accolades are important, but are not how he measures success.
Success to Penley has two sides - one being the accomplishments of the business school and the other - his family.
"It's a challenge to be a good husband and a father," he said. "And certainly those are the greatest accomplishments any of us really ever have."
Penley and his wife, Yolanda, met at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Even though Penley had a background in strategic management, he didn't use his knowledge to court his wife.
"How do any of us really know that 'they are the one?'" Penley said, laughing. "And I'm not sure it can be calculated."
According to Penley, Yolanda worked for the continuing education division at UTSA while he was working on a training program for the same division.
It wasn't until fall 1976 when Penley and a group of his friends decided to host a party that Penley got up the nerve to invite her out.
"To this day, I'm not sure why she came," Penley said.
Leaving It All Behind
It's a significant jump to move from a university of more than 50,000 students to a school that's no more than half the size.
"I'll miss a lot of things," Penley said about his decision to take his career to the next level. "Mostly what I'll miss is the people."
Members of the business community can sum up Penley's legacy in one word.
"Quality," said Steve Evans, president of Evans Reality Associates. "We tended to have a business school that was large before Penley took over, and now it is very high quality and it's put on a path to be one of the top 10 state universities business programs."
And Penley himself would agree.
"There will be a whole set of legacies," he said. "The most important legacy will be high aspirations for quality programs."
Reach the reporter at tony.ku@asu.edu.
