Brotherhood of a Lifetime: Opportunities of a Lifetime

brotherhood of a lifetime opportunities of a lifetime

What role does Delta Chi play in life?

Likely contingent on the phase of life, the value of the fraternal experience is dictated by what the individual is willing to put in. Regardless of the reasons for joining Delta Chi, every member saw something worth the investment when they took the Oath. Delta Chi members are taught, from their earliest days as Associate Members, that membership is not relegated to the time spent pursuing a degree. Rather, as Peter Schermerhorn Johnson notably proclaimed, “The fraternity man never graduates … he belongs to the family for life.” It takes but a quick glance at the Campus Scene to see how undergraduate members are leading values-based lives. Academics, service, and philanthropy are all integral parts of the collegiate Delta Chi experience. Deductive reasoning suggests that these positive experiences lead to positive personal and professional development. But how else, and when else, will Delta Chi be of value? How is it the Brotherhood of a Lifetime? It could simply lead to an event invitation every once in a while. Or, perhaps … it could pull you into something world-changing. “The world is tomorrow and we’re going to be there,” Scott Leigh, Missouri State ’90, said. Leigh is one of three Delta Chi members currently working for Ronawk, a biotech company with a 3D solution that enables easy growth of large quantities of cells of a consistent phenotype. Ronawk’s solution is catching the attention of the scientifc community and industry because it promises to be able to supply cells in the considerably large quantities needed for rapid scientifc development. “All biology starts with cells. Plants, animals, humans, you and I, we’re all

made of 35 trillion cells. You cannot eat, drink, or consume anything in the United States that has not been approved by scientists, unless you go out and shoot it in a feld. Even that is being tested. Scientists are testing the felds and streams to make sure what you’re eating, what you’re consuming, is good for you.” Cells are considered the smallest form of life. They provide structure and function for all living things. Therefore, understanding cells through testing and controlling variables is signifcant. It is the fundamental process by which scientifc innovation can occur. As Leigh points out, the capabilities of modern scientists are extremely robust. However, they’re all limited by the same thing. “Everything starts with cells. Every scientist in the world, if they could get 100 times the production of cells, they would. Every pharmaceutical company, every contract development and manufacturing company, every contract research organization needs to get cells faster. That is what (Ronawk does). We will accelerate every research project’s potential ... In biology, this is the equivalent of Microsoft or Apple products; simple to use, but very complex.” To understand just how tremendous the 3D solution introduced by Ronawk could be for science, Leigh ofers insights into how it could’ve potentially accelerated development during COVID-19. “I just talked to the (A.J. Mellott, Founder of Ronawk) and, this is of the cuf and it’s hard to quantify, but I asked him, ‘If the CDC and the NIH had our product before COVID, how do you think we could’ve limited the time from getting the DNA of the virus to having a vaccine? Now, remember, this is lightning speed. Polio (vaccines) took decades

(to develop). The NIH went from January to September and had a vaccine (for COVID-19). He said, ‘Three to six months, we could’ve cut that time.’ Think about that for a second. You have the DNA of the virus in January. Three to six months puts us from March to June. We would’ve accelerated cell growth that much so that we would’ve barely shut down anything. Think about that possibility.” Really, think about that possibility. It’s easy to recognize how exciting and potentially groundbreaking the innovation behind Ronawk is not just for science, but on a global scale. As he humbly admits, “We are not the solution of this; “We had the industrial revolution; all we’ve done is give (scientists) the greatest we had the technology revolution. wrench, the greatest

The next revolution is a biological hammer ever. It’s what the scientists do with it revolution. We need to feed the world… we need to stop pandemic that will light the world on fre.” And working behind the scenes, viruses. We have that potential. The actively bringing this scientifc innovation to scientists of this world have that the world, three Delta potential. We just need to accelerate Chis leveraged their friendship to assemble them to get there. And by God, I’m going to move mountains to do it.” a tight knit staf connected through the Brotherhood of a Lifetime. Leigh serves as Ronawk’s Chief Revenue Ofcer and is assisted by Trice Alford, Kansas State ’96, the fractional Chief Marketing Ofcer, and Ryan Parshall, Missouri State ’90, who serves as a consultant for the emerging startup. Leigh has been involved in biotech sales, marketing, branding, and management for 25 years. His frst professional opportunity came from Delta Chi many years prior to his introduction to Ronawk. And it was that opportunity that would connect him with Alford and Parshall, eventually putting them on the path to working together on a potentially world-changing project.

“I was initiated at what is now Missouri State, it was my second semester of freshman year … and I had no clue, really, what fraternity was. I joined Delta Chi and all of a sudden, I always had something to do.” Leigh recalls that his initial introduction to working for Delta Chi came during his last semester of school, when a leadership consultant from the International Headquarters (IHQ) came for a chapter visit. “I was frantic and looking for a job and I asked him, ‘How do you do (your job)?’ He said, ‘You apply.’ I shipped a resume and application of to (Former Executive Director) Ray Galbreth. I got a rejection letter, so I actually called Ray and told him I was going to be in Iowa City around Thanksgiving.” It was this opportunity to connect and show initiative that helped Leigh. Around that time, a new-hire decided to forego their position, creating an opportunity at IHQ. “(Ray) gave me a call and I went up to Iowa City and got the job in December, right before graduation. I had to go buy a car and fgure out all these things. I started at Delta Chi in January and for two years, I traveled to around 90 campuses across the U.S.” While working with executive leadership to identify new campuses for expansion, Leigh ofered a suggestion that would eventually become one of Delta Chi’s premier chapters. “I said (Kansas State) for a couple reasons. I had a high school friend and fraternity brother that was going to K-State for architecture. It just seemed like a hole in Region IV.” In the summer of 1992, Leigh began expansion work for Kansas State, dispatching to Manhattan, Kansas with the anticipation of generating interest in a new fraternity on campus. After sending out invitations en masse to potential new members, Leigh would spend time using his calling card at pay phones and fraternity houses contacting everyone that responded to the mailer. He encouraged them to invite their friends and showed up for the frst expansion event hopeful that someone, or just anyone, would be there. “We had somewhere around 80 guys (show up), and one of them was Trice (Alford).” Alford recalls the recruitment process with great fondness, remembering an experience from the last night that solidifed his place in Delta Chi. “The very last night of the recruitment process at K-State was an activity,” Alford recalls. “(We were told) to see someone we hadn’t talked to that night and talk to them. I saw a guy that I hadn’t talked to that evening on the other side of the room and I walked over to him and we chatted a bit. The group started to break up, people were starting to go on their way, but he and I were still chatting and this group of people started to surround us. It turned out there were three or four small pockets of friends from the dorms who had come together and each of those groups knew each other. I hadn’t met any of them that night. To this day, those groups of people are the ones I’m closest to now. The reason I talked to this guy for so long was because he was totally diferent from me … I was accepted by people that I never thought would accept me because I came from a diferent kind of background … Delta Chi has been a part of my life at every stage.” One of those stages would come many years down the road, well after his collegiate days. And it was set up by connections not only Alford made during his time at Kansas State, but by a connection made between Leigh and Parshall, his chapter brother, earlier on. “I happened to connect with Ryan on LinkedIn,” Leigh said. “We went to lunch and he told me he sold his company and started doing consulting. I was interested in a career shift and I was curious about that, so I was asking (him about consulting). And then I found out Trice was doing a little consulting. I ended up connecting to the two guys and they hit it of very well.” Having taken very diferent professional paths in arriving at that moment, Leigh, Alford, and Parshall didn’t convene based on prospects of professional opportunity. Rather, it was the Bond of Delta Chi that brought them together. “When we frst started talking, our commonality was our Delta Chi experience,” Alford said. “We had a great conversation about how our undergraduate experience impacted our lives and that has given us, along with our sales and marketing backgrounds, leadership, and consulting, so much context for how we’re friends. It’s not one dimensional. It’s multifaceted and it keeps it interesting.” “I think it’s interesting that when (Scott and I) got together for lunch that one day, we actually did not have this idea that we’d all be working together,” Parshall said. “It was in that conversation that we were really listening to each other intently and we were learning that each one of us had those diferent skillsets that the other didn’t have.” “If I look back at my career and how many networking organizations I joined, you don’t know anyone … You have no tie, no bond, other than being in the same geographical area and that’s not enough, to be honest. It’s a really harsh way of going about fnding new people to network with.”

Thankfully, Delta Chi was a connecting point. And this connecting point matured into bigger, better things for them. It was later on that Leigh was presented with a unique and exciting opportunity, one that he identifed as a chance to incorporate his fraternity brothers. “This opportunity fell in my lap a year ago and I’m like, ‘I can do a lot, but the three of us collectively, we all know something a little diferent about sales and marketing.’” Leigh said. “So when we started talking about this biotech (company), it was kind of a match made in heaven.” “It was very serendipitous that the three of us came together and then connected with (Ronawk),” Alford said, “Because they were just hitting the point where they wanted to have conversations about ‘Who are we?’ and ‘How do we go to market?’ and that’s where we came in.” “I liked the opportunity because it was a challenge for me,” Parshall added. “I worked mostly with non-startups; mostly well-established companies. I saw it as a fresh challenge. As a branding/marketing expert, I love the challenge of taking a look at the DNA of a company, mostly what they’re doing and who their target audience was, and fguring out how they were going to present themselves and go to market. Most companies that I deal with don’t have anything innovative. Even companies that have innovation in their core values, there can be nothing innovative about them. In this case, Ronawk, and what they bring to the table, it is so innovative and revolutionary. It is changing the environment for scientists and I couldn’t wait to be a part of it. This is something that can change nearly everyone in the world, in some form or another.” It didn’t take long before the trio began to see a massive amount of success. Media outlets began reporting on the innovation introduced by Ronawk. United States Representative Sharice Davids of Kansas visited Ronawk in February 2022. Kansas State hosted the company’s co-founder for a seminar. Other companies started establishing relationships with the once small-name startup and a brighter, robust future began to unfold. “The things we’ve seen happen in 120 days are insane,” Alford said. “If you said that a startup company would have relationships with 10 of the top-25 (companies) in the market – nobody does that. It just doesn’t happen. You’re lucky to have one. That’s what makes it such an incredible opportunity. It’s happened so fast, yet there’s a tremendous amount still to come.” And while the incredible path and potential of Ronawk is still coming into fruition, it is the Bond of Delta Chi that made it possible for Leigh, Alford, and Parshall. “Without that Delta Chi connection, I don’t think that this would have happened,” Parshall said. “Not just the meeting, but the trust that it takes for you to have a three-legged consultant situation. Usually, consultants block each other out. In this case, we recognized the benefts and we trusted each other because of that background. In meeting Trice for the frst time, we never missed a beat. It’s amazing in Delta Chi how, from one chapter to another, you could never meet (as undergraduates) and have this chemistry … It was like we’d known each other for years and I think that was the really neat thing.” “Quite honestly, without Delta Chi, there’s no reason I should know Ryan or Trice at all,” Leigh added. “It’s just a great touch point throughout your life.” “It all goes back to college and understanding what it was like to be social with 100 guys and have 100 best friends that I could rely on, anytime and anywhere at any point in my life,” Parshall said. “I actually have more engagement with that group today than I have at any point in my life.” “The Fraternity changed my life,” Alford said. “I tell people pretty openly all the time that it gave me the opportunity to be the person I am today. It put me on the path. For me, the Fraternity gave me a platform to create friendships with people that were much deeper and broader with diferent types of people than I had ever experienced … it really is the Brotherhood of a Lifetime. It’s not a catch phrase to me, it really is a real thing.” While the Bond of Delta Chi creating unique opportunities for individuals is certainly not unprecedented, it’s exciting to see that the connections created are intertwined with ground-breaking innovation. And while the trio is decades removed from their time spent as undergraduate members, their dedication to the Bond and fraternal values remains just as strong, if not stronger, than when they took the Oath. It’s a demonstration of the value of Delta Chi well after graduation, and truly “belong(ing) to the family for life.” “For young people today, who get the opportunity to experience something like this … with as expensive as it is to go to school, you do not go to just get a degree and sit behind a desk. You go to school to learn to be a leader. Delta Chi gives you ample opportunities to do that. If you do not take advantage of it, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. It’s somewhere that you can get into the grind of what leadership means and learn to apply it in ways you never thought of once you get out of school. We’re all three examples of people who’ve done that. We’re successful in our careers in all diferent ways and I think Delta Chi gave us that path.”