A Legacy of Leadership: Betsy Lancaster Honoring Ray Lancaster through Speaker Series

In this episode of the Leader Lounge, hosts Dr. Amy Taylor and Nick Winnenberg sit down with Betsy Lancaster to discuss the impactful legacy of her late husband Ray and the Lancaster Speaker Series at Ohio University. Betsy shares her love story meeting Ray on campus in the 1960s and the changes she's witnessed over the decades. She describes Ray's inspiration for starting the speaker series after being inspired by an impactful speaker as a student. Betsy also offers insights into Ray's exemplary leadership and lessons he instilled in their three daughters. The hosts discuss the goals of exposing students to dynamic professionals and expanding their networks through the Lancaster Speaker Series.

For more information about the Ohio University MSM Program, click this link!

Check out the Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership program here.

OnBrand Podcast Studios produced this episode. Special thanks to Audio Engineer Alex Winnenberg, Producer Nick Winnenberg, and Marketing Specialist Cori Stokes.

To subscribe to our monthly newsletter, click here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:06

This is Dr. Amy Taylor Bianco, and I'm here with co-host Nick Winnenberg. And we're speaking today to Betsy Lancaster. And it feels very much like we're speaking also with Ray, her husband, who I've only known her through Betsy and Ray. And we are here with Jesse Holtz, who is also joining us for this podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 0:29

Fantastic. Welcome to Leader Lounge. So first, I'd love to open up and have a pretty general question. What was your story in association from OU? I know you talked before we started talking that you said it's changed a lot. When did you originally meet Ohio University?

SPEAKER_03: 0:44

Back in 1966. Phenomenal. As a freshman. Okay. had never been to the campus before because back in the 60s you didn't always visit campuses as you were making a college decision. So it was the pre-college was my first experience here on campus.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09

And what did you think? What was your first impressions of Ohio University when you originally?

SPEAKER_03: 1:13

Well, for one, the campus itself is just beautiful. And then I think I was over on the East Green in one of those dormitories, got to meet other kids that were, of course, in my same situation. Right. Everybody was just gung-ho about getting back and starting as a full-time student. I

SPEAKER_01: 1:38

love that. And walk me through your story at that point. What were you majoring in? What was your focus?

SPEAKER_03: 1:44

I was trying to decide between art and home economics. Oh, rock on. I, you know, probably the first semester or two, I was toying between one or the other and finally decided on the home economics.

SPEAKER_01: 2:02

Nice. I love that. And then through your entire experience as well. So that was the middle of the 60s. A lot of things have changed on campus since the 1960s. And I know that you guys went on tour today. So what were some of your impressions now? I mean, have you seen a lot of change?

SPEAKER_03: 2:15

Well, I was here. before the river flooded. And so one of the biggest changes, of course, is seeing all of the beautiful space that has been made since the river was moved. So that would be one. So many new buildings that sometimes I feel turned around a little bit because I'm not recognizing some things. And then the work that has gone on in revitalizing the buildings that are the same. From the outside, they look the same. From the inside, what a remarkable job has been done on that. And it's just fun to see all the students walking around campus enjoying themselves, just relaxed and having fun between classes. And so things never change,

SPEAKER_01: 3:26

right? And I know that right now we're celebrating the Lancaster Speaking Series, correct? So can you walk me through some of the inspiration for that series and kind of the background of what we're trying to accomplish with that?

SPEAKER_03: 3:36

Well, the background probably is the fact that Ray felt, although He felt he got a good education in the classroom. He felt that there were other things that happened as he was a student here that really helped to round his education out. And Juan happened to be a speaker, and I can't tell you what it was about, but it inspired him into the track that he wound up in. It gave him an idea of a path that could be followed. Not exactly the same path the speaker had, but it was enough to know I can set a goal and this is how I can go about achieving that goal.

SPEAKER_02: 4:28

Wow, so that exposure to real world kind of ideas and somehow that particular speaker, it sounds like he probably went to a number, but that particular one had a really tremendous impact. Correct. And

SPEAKER_01: 4:42

you're trying to give that back to the students. What's been your experience with the program so far? How do you think you've been accomplishing those goals?

SPEAKER_03: 4:50

Well I haven't been personally involved in setting up the speakers but the ones that I have attended they've been spot on with what my children helped in deciding what we were going to do and It kind of follows Ray's... And I

SPEAKER_02: 5:16

remember your children were there, too, at least at the initial one. I remember seeing you and your children. It was such a great kind of family experience of giving this opportunity to others. And how did you two, like, when did you start working together? How did you get to know of Betsy's story and know about Ray?

SPEAKER_00: 5:35

Actually, it was through a lot of my predecessors and Kayla, of course, who is a dear colleague, and Jess Stormsteel. I think started talking to you about maybe what you wanted to do. You had this vision. I actually remember reading that you and Ray had in mind to do something for our university for a long time. Correct. And then you sort of had this vision after Ray passed of doing something in his honor. And we, of course, here at the College of Business are always trying to help our students have greater exposure to just different opportunities to get in front of dynamic speakers and expose them to professionals and expand their mentorship network. It was a beautiful tribute both to your husband Raymond, but also to really help the College of Business accomplish something that is really a big part of the experience we try to provide for our students.

SPEAKER_03: 6:33

Initially, Jessica was my first contact. And she came down. She made the trip down to see me. So I was living in Georgia. And we had this vision, but we had no idea how to accomplish it. And she sat and talked with me for a long time. And she said, well, are you favoring one idea over another? And another one was mentorship. And I said, well, no, you know, it would be, But we don't know what avenue to take. And before she left, she said, you know, I'm going to get back to you because maybe we can do them together. Isn't

SPEAKER_02: 7:19

that neat? Yeah, isn't that neat? This is what's happened. I love the way you've talked, you know, and really understanding your story and understanding, you know, what you specifically, I don't know, what kind of goals you want to accomplish and then figuring out how, but what you're trying to accomplish and what would really honor, you know, honor Ray and honor the great relationship that you started here and nurtured right for all these years. It must be incredible to see come to fruition and to see the students impacted. Can I

SPEAKER_01: 7:57

ask a question? You met here? You met Ray here at Ohio University?

SPEAKER_02: 8:00

We need a little more on that story. I think that's really important.

SPEAKER_03: 8:04

Actually, Ray was a couple of years ahead of me and he had a board job and that happened to be in Lindley Hall where I ate. Because I was a resident there. And so That's how we met.

SPEAKER_01: 8:22

I'll have to know the juicy gossip, though. Did he ask you out? What was your first date? This

SPEAKER_03: 8:30

went on for a long time. It was a group of guys that... were working in the cafeteria, in the food line or bussing the trays and that type of thing. And so it became a pretty nice sized group of Lindley Hall residents and board jobbers. And so that was really first experience. Probably, I don't know, a year later. It was a more formal dating atmosphere. Sure.

SPEAKER_01: 9:14

Then you

SPEAKER_03: 9:15

got

SPEAKER_01: 9:16

married after graduation then?

SPEAKER_03: 9:18

Well, Ray was out of school. Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. But after I graduated, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 9:24

Nice. My wife and I met the very first day at Ohio University, so I feel like we at least had that in common. Yes, we did. It's a special place for it. It really is. It's so special. I think Bobcats have this certain grit about them or their certain passion for the university, and that's obviously coming across from Ray, too. So can you speak to a little bit of the passion and why you thought this was the best way to honor Ray's legacy?

SPEAKER_03: 9:45

Well, between the two of us, we felt once we got out in the working environment that our backgrounds that we had gotten here were so much better than our peers that were working with their jobs. And so, you know, what are we going to do later on? It was almost a non-decision on that that we felt because we had been so blessed and honored to have gone through Ohio University that we wanted to do something I

SPEAKER_01: 10:24

love that. And I love the story of when you originally had that connected conversation of here's the goals, how do we align to the goals? Is that a usual story from that perspective? How often do you work with people to set programs like that, et cetera?

SPEAKER_00: 10:37

Yeah, I would say that's pretty common where somebody has in mind that they want to make an impact or give back to the university in some way. Sometimes it's like you, for example, offering your talents to have this podcast is amazing would be a great example is a perfect example of you know helping us you know fulfill Anita and create great opportunities so that's certainly one way but also through the legacy impact that Betsy and her family made in honor of Ray it's one of the most beautiful stories is when somebody honors their loved one through a gift at the university and I've been I privileged to be a part of many of those and, you know, see the impact that it has on our students. And it's just that lifelong, the students, you know, forever, these students will be impacted by the legacy that you and Ray have created here and your family have created here at Ohio University. So it's really special. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 11:44

I love that entire process. That's great. What other questions you got?

SPEAKER_00: 11:47

I actually did have a comment because we were talking about this earlier. We had breakfast this morning with the speaker who's gonna be speaking and he teaches on contextual intelligence. And we were talking about how Ray had a lot of contextual intelligence because he worked in private equity and he had to really assess not just the business itself, but who's running the business. Is this a good group of leaders to take this business and grow it? And you mentioned some of his really great habits of writing a note every week, which I thought was really beautiful. And then you also talked about how your daughters learned a lot from Ray, that they didn't realize in retrospect how much they had learned from their dad and instilled in their careers. I'd love for you to talk about that. Your one daughter out in Wyoming, and I know you mentioned that she's used a lot of the leadership lessons from Ray.

SPEAKER_03: 12:45

Yeah. Well, these are just some snippets that I sent. I sent them a little note that I would be doing this, and anything that might be helpful would be appreciated. And so they really weren't stories, but they were things that that they distinctly remember and have put many of them back into practice for themselves and what they do. And so one was try to be transparent, no matter whether they were serving on a committee, helping a school group, just so that everyone knew their platform, and what they were looking at to accomplish and that. So it wouldn't be a surprise later on. getting to know a person better, not only from a business standpoint, but also what is important to those people and their families and hobbies so that you made it easier to relate and decide how you would approach different things. What you just mentioned, Rae would write one note a week To somebody. And it might just be, you know, we haven't talked in a little while. How are things going? Or it could be more business oriented. But he would just... It looked to me random, but obviously. Right, absolutely. But just to, you know, two sentences, maybe three at the most, but just signed and a ball as well or whatever. And off it would go. Wow. and the importance of networking.

SPEAKER_04: 14:54

And

SPEAKER_03: 14:56

even after you've made the first contact, you need to keep contacting over a period of time just to keep the conversation going. It might very well pay off later on. Yes. Something very worthwhile. The importance of professional development. which he did and encouraged anyone that he worked with to continue. He had a love of learning and just wanted everyone else to be excited about something that they were learning about that they could share. Here's a big one. You can learn at least one new thing from every new person that you meet. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 15:50

Which means, you know, listening to them. Listening to learn. And all of that. That's a great quote for the Leadership Center. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01: 15:57

it really is. I'm learning like six from Ray right now. I mean, you're teaching all kinds of

SPEAKER_02: 16:00

stuff. You can learn, tell me it again. You can learn

SPEAKER_03: 16:02

at least one. One new thing from every new person that you meet. Wow. I like that.

UNKNOWN: 16:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 16:13

Try to keep your work and home environment separate. I need a full step-by-step on how to do that. Things come up, but it's something to keep in mind that you can sort of close part of one door. once you're in the other situation so you can focus wherever you are on what what who is there there in front of you and um oh this is one the kids always clown about um when you're walking into a meeting first just pretend you're one great big ear or a giant sponge to really absorb what you're hearing

SPEAKER_01: 17:01

and

SPEAKER_03: 17:02

evaluating.

UNKNOWN: 17:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 17:04

It sounds like Ray was an amazing business leader and with all those soft skills and everything as well. And the impact that he had on his children as well. How many kids do you guys have?

SPEAKER_03: 17:14

Three daughters.

SPEAKER_01: 17:15

Oh, three daughters. And what are they all doing now?

SPEAKER_03: 17:18

Well, Christine right now, she's in Chicago. And although she did work with the Chicago Public Schools for a number of years. She is now a stay-at-home. She has three sons. Oh, congrats on being a grandma. She's a stay-at-home mom. She's still homeschooling two of the three boys. That's a lot of work. The middle child decided he really needed to get out, and so he's back. Seems like a middle child. That's a middle child. So she's busy with that. Our daughter, Barbara, is in Silver Spring, Maryland, and she works for the Government Accountability Office. Oh, cool. And she also has three young boys.

SPEAKER_01: 18:12

Wow. So you have six grandkids so far.

SPEAKER_03: 18:13

Six grandsons. Grandsons. And then our youngest daughter is in Lander, Wyoming, with her husband and daughter. Nice. So six grandsons and daughters. the youngest grandchild is a little girl. It's a little girl

SPEAKER_01: 18:34

who's four. Oh, so four. Very fun age. So what's more fun, being a parent or a grandparent?

SPEAKER_03: 18:40

Oh, absolutely being a grandparent. Really? No doubt about it. You have to hesitate for that one. For many reasons. Yeah? Yeah. The biggest one is that you can spoil them a little bit. Oh, there you go. And then you can get to say, okay, go back to your parents.

SPEAKER_01: 18:55

This is your problem now. Don't worry about it. I love that. That's fantastic. So is there any other comments about leadership that when you think about Ray's impact or any other messages you think that you'd want to leave people with? Take as much time as you want. Again, we edit this part out, so you're totally

SPEAKER_03: 19:15

fine. Well, Ray really, number one, felt that education... came to us from many different directions. And so if we would stop and think back from childhood with parents mentoring us along certain lines, an aunt or an uncle, some relative or grandparent that would do the same thing. As you start your career, people along the way that were very willing to take the time to explain things to you and also teaching you how certain jobs are done or what the other possibilities are so that you have that background as you move on. and just to take advantage of those things that you've been taught along the way that maybe at the time you didn't think really were teaching things that we should know. Taking the opportunity to listen to what someone has said and having it help inspire you to your next Goal or job or whatever. I did go through and look at a few things that were people had, because Ray wrote notes, got some facts. Oh, I love it. And so I did copy a couple of just to give you the idea. And so it would have been, you know, hi ray or something and said you taught me that not only is it critical to identify the problems and their solutions but also it is imperative to figure out how to get the solutions implemented uh through the management team yes and so you know whether it's School-based or business-based, it works in either place.

SPEAKER_01: 21:41

Comes down to implementation.

SPEAKER_04: 21:43

Yeah,

SPEAKER_03: 21:43

that's right. Another one was, I can't begin to express how much I learned from you about investment decisions and working with small, mid-sized companies to help them accomplish their best performance. What a

SPEAKER_01: 22:02

legacy.

UNKNOWN: 22:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 22:03

Incredible. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 22:05

And thank you for everything you've done for the university. And we did have an opportunity to talk to Matt today as well. So I'm very excited. I'm very excited to hear it. It's going to be an amazing, amazing day for it. So any other closing comments or questions?

SPEAKER_02: 22:20

Just thank you. And we are really excited as being a part of the Walter Center for a long time. I could tell you that these the speaker series that you put together really changes things. You know, it gives students this focal point to look forward to, to honestly to dress up for, to get, you know, to kind of practice some of their skills in talking and networking and to feel like a larger energy than, you know, than going. I mean, we do a lot of experiential things, a lot of going to classes, but this is really really a tremendous, a tremendous focal point for them. And it is for us as faculty, too. So it's not just them that

SPEAKER_00: 22:57

get excited.

SPEAKER_02: 22:58

So thank you from all of us. Nice to hear. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00: 23:01

I often say a fringe benefit of our job is that we get to experience all the things with the students. It's amazing. Yeah. And I remember last year's speaker is amazing. And Matt seems outstanding. So I can't wait to learn so much from him. And yeah, we're exceptionally grateful for you know what you and your family have done in honor of Ray and it's just a real great way to honor his legacy and it means so much means so our students take away so much from these opportunities so thank you appreciate it