Podcast: NC State University Foundation, With Bentina Terry

Theme Music (00:01):

Please listen carefully.

Taylor Pardue (00:08):

Welcome to the NC State Philanthropy Podcast, telling the world how we Think and Do through the support of our friends, alumni and more. I’m your host, Taylor Pardue.

(00:18)
On this episode, we’re joined by Bentina Terry, the chair of the NC State University Foundation’s Board of Directors, to discuss the foundation and its invaluable work.

(00:30)
Thanks so much for joining us today, Bentina. To kick things off, just tell listeners a little bit about yourself and what first brought you to NC State.

Bentina Terry (00:51):

Oh, man. So, Bentina Terry, as I know they got in the intro. From Fayetteville, North Carolina, so I’m a North Carolinian, and I came to NC State because when I visited the campus, I really liked it. I went to that “other” school to visit because I’m a liberal arts major. Yeah, no, and I just didn’t feel like it was a place that I belonged, but when I visited NC State, I felt like it was a place I belonged.

Taylor Pardue (01:18):

Good.

Bentina Terry (01:18):

Yeah.

Taylor Pardue (01:19):

So, you came here as a student?

Bentina Terry (01:20):

Yes.

Taylor Pardue (01:20):

As an undergrad.

Bentina Terry (01:22):

Yep.

Taylor Pardue (01:23):

What college and program were you in?

Bentina Terry (01:25):

So, I was in two colleges. My technical name of my degree is English with a teaching option. I was actually a Teaching Fellows.

Taylor Pardue (01:34):

Wow.

Bentina Terry (01:34):

Yeah. And I was going to teach high school English, and so, when I came into the university, I was in CHASS, but I took a lot of classes over, of course, in the [College] of Education, so I was a little bit of an odd bird. It’s interesting. I tell people now that I went to NC State and I work for a utility, so they assume I’m an electrical engineer, and I’m like, “Nope. English degree.”

Taylor Pardue (01:58):

What was your time on campus like, especially between two different colleges like that, that are similar but distinct as well. I’m sure you had a lot of experiences, maybe, that the typical undergraduate doesn’t even get to have.

Bentina Terry (02:10):

Well, it was really fun. It was nice to be in the English area in CHASS because I was getting an English degree because I love literature; I love to read, have a real passion for it. I love to write. So, that was really, really good, and I thought, “Well, education would be a good way to impart that passion into young people.” I found out later that was not quite my calling, and so, it was nice to get the education courses that really talked to you about how to help people understand and how to help people think and see. And quite honestly, a degree in education is a perfect way to know and understand human psychology in a different way. And so, it was really nice.

(02:54)
But the other thing I did on campus was, I was a summer orientation counselor. I was a summer RA, so I got to do tours of the university for people during summer orientation. And it was really fascinating to me how many non-brick buildings are there at NC State. Right? And the stories behind the different buildings and understanding what a land-grant university is. And so, I enjoyed that. And then I pledged a sorority. I’m a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and so, that, of course, added another layer to my experience here at NC State. I was president of my chapter here and very involved in the Panhellenic society and, so, the national Panhellenic. And so, it was great. I enjoyed my time here, and I was a Chancellor’s Aide, so I got to spend time in my last years with the chancellor and going to the games and with the alumni.

(03:51)
And so, I feel like my time here at NC State was very robust. I got to experience a lot of different things; got to know a lot of different people in a lot of different circles.

Taylor Pardue (04:03):

You mentioned going down a slightly, well, a different career path than what you had first expected. What did you do after graduating from NC State, and then what brought you, how did you get reconnected with the university?

Bentina Terry (04:14):

So, I have a law degree, and so, I went to the University of Michigan. Once I figured out I didn’t want to be a teacher, I said, “OK, so, you’ve got an English degree.” I didn’t take myself off that track. “So, what can we do?” And my mom says that I’m a natural-born lawyer. She says I used to say when I was little that I wanted to be a lawyer. In other words, I like to argue and have lots of opinions. And so, I went up to the University of Michigan for law school, and it was cold. And so, I came back south to work. I decided that that was not someplace that I wanted to be, and I just kind of started working. And, quite honestly, I love NC State, so I’d pay attention to athletics, but the university wasn’t really on my mind. And I received outreach, I think it was from CHASS, and they had Dean Braden, who I absolutely adore. I love the new dean now, but I love Dean Braden as well. And I got engaged and involved with the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of CHASS.

Taylor Pardue (05:17):

OK.

Bentina Terry (05:17):

And it just really pulled me in, and I had all those fond memories of my time here in college and I thought, “I can do something here. This would be great.”

Taylor Pardue (05:30):

What are you currently working in, as far as your career?

Bentina Terry (05:33):

This was going to sound weird to people who’ve heard all the other parts. I’m president and CEO of a telecommunications company, and so, I work for a utility, Southern Company, and we have a telecommunications subsidiary. I’ve been at Southern Company for over 23 years, and recently, January of [2024], I became CEO of our telecommunications division, our company. So, it’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it a lot. It’s very different to kind of be in telecommunications as opposed to energy. I’m kind of energy-adjacent now, but it’s pretty cool to get to run a company. I’m enjoying it a lot. I care a lot about our people.

Taylor Pardue (06:11):

Now, you and your company, correct me if I’m wrong, you’re based out of Atlanta right now?

Bentina Terry (06:14):

Yes, I’m in Atlanta.

Taylor Pardue (06:16):

Talk about that process of — it’s one thing if you were here in Raleigh, to be connected with the university, but you must have a strong passion to connect across states. And talk a little bit about how going from CHASS and that advisory board has transitioned into your current role with the university.

Bentina Terry (06:33):

So, I enjoyed giving to CHASS, and so, I started small with my giving to the university, which is typically the way most donors start — just kind of wondering, “OK, what can my money be used for? Where can I dedicate my time?” And my father was diagnosed with ALS, and I started thinking about him, and he grew up on a small island off the coast of South Carolina. It’s called Guatemala Island. It’s off the coast of Charleston. And he didn’t have opportunities. It was a very agrarian type of growing up on a farm, and when he finished high school, he didn’t have a lot of options, and he decided to go into the service. And so, he was a career military man, but he used to always tell us — and all of the four of us that grew up together, we all went to college  — he used to tell us how important education was, and he’d say, “Daddy’s not really big in school, but you guys, you need to go to college.”

(07:36)
And so, I started thinking about people like my dad who didn’t really have the resources to be able to go to school. And so, myself; my sister, who is also a NC State grad; her husband, Eric Townsend (my sister’s name is Angela Chisholm, now; Angela Townsend); Eric Townsend, my brother-in-law; and my husband, Antonio; we started a scholarship in the name of my father, and just … We’ve endowed that scholarship. We’ve continued to contribute to it. We’d like very much for it to become a four-year, full-ride for the students.

(08:10)
So, the neat thing about the university is, I get, my sister and I, we get a write-up every year about the people who’ve gotten my dad’s scholarship. And I remember when I got the very first one, he was a young man from, I think, rural North Carolina. It reminded me so much of my dad, really. He was just someone who wanted to give back and wanted to be engaged; wouldn’t have been able to go to school and was able to go to school and was involved. It’s interesting: my father, of course, left an agrarian upbringing, a farm, to do other things, and this young man wanted to go back and be engaged in farming and in rural North Carolina. And I thought, “My dad would be proud that this young man was getting the scholarship.”

(09:06)
And so, that’s what I’d say, too. I know oftentimes when we talk about stuff, we get caught up in the big stuff and the big concepts and all that kind of stuff, and I have to remind myself all the time, and seeing that student did it for me, that it’s really always about people, and it’s about their individual stories and their individual lives. And when you come here to the university and you get engaged, you make an impact on people, on individuals, and you could be what changes the trajectory of somebody’s life. And I hope that’s what my dad’s scholarship does for its recipients, but that’s what philanthropy is all about. It’s about being engaged, but not to have your name on something even though there’s nothing wrong about that, but it’s about the people you impact and the way that you can change their lives.

Taylor Pardue (09:59):

Absolutely.

Bentina Terry (10:00):

Doing that got me more engaged with the foundation. And so, during the pandemic, I went on the foundation board, and I have enjoyed being on the foundation board a whole lot.

Taylor Pardue (10:10):

If listeners don’t already know, talk about what the foundation is overall, and then talk about the role that it plays in philanthropy, specifically.

Bentina Terry (10:19):

So, all major universities have a foundation, and it is how donors are able to help us fund the mission of the university, which is to educate and to create that next generation of leaders and people to work in our society, and as the chancellor says, think and do extraordinary things. And so, you need a vehicle for people to be able to give, and the foundation provides that vehicle. So, people give money to the foundation, big or small. We have Day of Giving, which is an extraordinary event where we help people do a focus on giving, and that money goes into supporting the individual colleges, the buildings, student success, the administration. I mean, it really goes into making sure the university has the resources it needs to get things done. I like to think of it as a perfect storm; it’s where those people with a passion for the university and its mission give, and the university helps fulfill its mission and helps them fulfill their passion. So, it’s just a great place, a great way, it all comes together to then give something back to the university.

Taylor Pardue (11:30):

Well, you and I have been working on a story unrelated to the podcast, but about the foundation grant program that is an annual thing that the foundation does. Talk a little bit about that and explain how listeners can be a part of that.

Bentina Terry (11:42):

So, the grant program is really, really neat. So, when people think of the foundation, what they typically think of, that’s where people give money. So, we can build a big building with somebody’s name on it or where money goes so that we can do these awesome scholarship programs, whether or not it’s a big one like Park or Goodnight or a smaller one that helps students along. But really, what the foundation endeavors to do, too, is to help the individual colleges and universities; in particular, those that don’t have their own foundations — because some of the larger ones like Engineering have a foundation, too — be able to do projects and get things done. And what I love about the grant program, we do it every year. We give money to the individual colleges; they actually submit applications, we evaluate them, and then we give them money out, typically about $20,000, $30,000 per grant, but it allows them to go and do great things in particular that touch our community.

(12:38)
That’s what I … I didn’t know that about the grant program until I got into it and reading the grants. But typically what the units want to do is, they want to create some type of outreach program. They want to take the students and help them connect with the community. They want to improve students’ skill sets in a way that is complimentary to what happens in a classroom setting, or we want to send students abroad or anything like that. So, it is a great way to give money to those type of causes so that things can be done in particular that impact our community.

Taylor Pardue (13:12):

Awesome. Now that you’re the chair of the foundation, what are some of the duties that go along with that level of service, especially?

Bentina Terry (13:21):

So, there’s a typical kind of running-a-board type of thing, and so, running the board meetings and thinking about the strategic direction of the board and doing things. Last night, we had the Menscer Cup and the Red Torch Award, Godwin Red Torch Award. And so, being involved with that, that’s where we recognized people who’ve been really engaged with the university in particular around philanthropy. And so, getting to meet those folks is really neat because these are people who have spent a great deal of time and effort with the university, and it’s kind of awe-inspiring. One of the people we recognized last night, the Red Torch Award winner, Henry Campen, he didn’t go to NC State. His daughter went to NC State, and he grew a passion for NC State that is unparalleled. And so, you get to meet people like that and get to realize and recognize how special of a place this is.

(14:19)
I mean, for him to be so engaged with this university is really incredible, and the number of many different things he’s been on advisory boards, foundation boards, just really giving back. It kind of just strikes a good chord with you. And so, I get to meet people like that, which is so invigorating, but the board really focuses on what’s the best way to bring in the funds that we need to support the university. And so, I engage with the development staff. They are awesome. Brian Sischo and Jim Broschart are great guys who work out and all those people down there, and the person that I get to work with a whole lot on my own personal giving: Bree. And so, it is just a great kind of organization, and I’m happy that I get to lead that board and to engage with Chancellor Woodson and a million other people at the university while I do it.

Taylor Pardue (15:15):

I’m sure every university, to some degree, is proud of that sense of comradery that their alumni and different people have. It’s one thing to say, to have a mascot and say we’re the Wolfpack and things like that, but I really see it all the time with this university, in particular; we really do have that mentality of, we are a group and, like you mentioned, people who are not even necessarily alums are connected with the university in a traditional sense, just how it brings people together and, really, how people love this university and want to give back and make it even greater.

Bentina Terry (15:49):

There’s something like 10 college mascots — OK, somebody’s going to Google this and they’re going to get the right number — that aren’t a single animal, and I love the fact that we’re the “Wolfpack,” right? We’re not “the wolves”; we’re the Wolfpack, because what that really talks about is the coming together and the community, and I don’t know if whoever picked our mascot thought about that, that they did a great job

Taylor Pardue (16:16):

Inadvertently or intentionally, they did a great job.

Bentina Terry (16:19):

That’s right. Because we are a great community; not just individuals, but together we get a whole lot done. So, it’s pretty cool.

Taylor Pardue (16:26):

And like you mentioned, with the foundation reaching so many different colleges and programs across the university, I feel like it’s a great example of that. Yeah.

Bentina Terry (16:32):

Yeah. It’s a great example of the power of the Pack. Right.

Taylor Pardue (16:35):

You’ve mentioned several things that I wanted to jump back to: mentioning how people often think that giving to a university involves a building or a scholarship, and while both are, we know, very important — giving of time, like you mentioned through your service with these different foundation boards and advisory boards. Talk a little bit about the power of that. I just always think it’s something I really want to stress with this podcast is the many different ways that you can give back to the university.

Bentina Terry (17:05):

You can volunteer to help with anything. I’ve sat on a number of panels. That’s the type of thing that doesn’t take a lot of time or energy, and if you love to talk and have good things to say, it can be awesome. You can speak to a group of students; you can find a mission that you like and just get engaged. I have some friends who are really, really passionate about sports that don’t get a whole lot of attention, and so they tend to reach out to women’s volleyball. So, they’re trying to find ways to engage in things that they can feel passionate about and where they know there’s a need.

(17:40)
And that’s what I’d say it is about with getting involved with the university: Figure out what you’re passionate about, and then, the university likely has a need there, and you can fulfill the need that way. Well, I will tell you there’s a very selfish part to that. So, anybody who is engaged in philanthropy or engaged in volunteerism, what you know is, there are endorphins that are released much like when you eat the stuff that you’re not supposed to eat or you work out. And so, for me, it feels really good to be able to do that type of stuff, and that’s what I tell people, too. You really do leave feeling so much better about yourself and, oftentimes, about the future.

Taylor Pardue (18:24):

That’s a great way of describing it. Yeah. You mentioned Day of Giving, which as of this recording is still a few months away, but give listeners an idea of what the foundation specifically is going to be doing on Day of Giving in ways that maybe they can get involved.

Bentina Terry (18:37):

Yes. So, Day of Giving is kind of that mad rush day. If you think about Black Friday after Thanksgiving, even though I don’t call it Black Friday, but that’s what it is, that’s what people call it, where everybody rushes to the store and we all go shopping at the same time. Well, Day of Giving is our chance to all rush to NC State and give money, and anything counts. So, we have $10 donors who come in Day of Giving, and we have million-dollar donors who come in during Day of Giving, but it’s a concerted effort to really raise money for all the different things that happen at the university. So, the foundation raises money, but everybody raises money during this period, during this day. So, the other foundations raise money. The Wolfpack Women in Philanthropy raises money. The Alumni Society, Association raises money. So, everybody’s really kind of focusing in on the university and just doing a really big push and drive. A lot of universities do it. It’s kind of a best-practice. It’s a good way to bring in new donors and to raise funds for important things.

Taylor Pardue (19:42):

Sounds great. And we’ll be sure to include links in the show notes and everything so listeners can find out even more about that.

Bentina Terry (19:47):

Well, it is March 26 this year.

Taylor Pardue (19:50):

March 26.

Bentina Terry (19:51):

That’s right.

Taylor Pardue (19:52):

Having been an undergraduate and now an alum and coming back and really getting involved with the university, what would you say to someone who, maybe is a student or a recent alum, and talk about that pathway. Give them an example of how they could get involved like you have been able to.

Bentina Terry (20:09):

I kind of wish I had been involved sooner.

Taylor Pardue (20:11):

OK.

Bentina Terry (20:11):

Right? And because I have so much passion for the university, and what I’d say is that, as a young adult, the things you can think about with getting engaged. There’s the Alumni Association engagement, right? So, that’s the tailgating and the games. And if you live in a city where they have a great presence, kind of those connections, and that’s a lot of fun. But the connections we make with the people who we went to school with, who we may not have known, but we have that common passion around NC State, it’s really good for you. And so, I’d say those are some of the opportunities. Some of the other ones are when you get out of school, you’ve learned a lot, and there’s some kid in school who can benefit by hearing about your experience, and they might learn more from you than they might learn from me.

(21:03)
I’m very much removed from it now. So, whether or not that is mentoring or working with a professor or doing anything that just engages you to engage with the students, I think you can do that as well. And then, like I said, start out by giving. It bothers me sometimes that people think, “Well, my little gift won’t be appreciated.” People recognize that we’re all in different places and we all have different kinds of capacity for giving, but having a spirit of giving is really important. And so, finding a way to give your time, your talent, your treasure, all three of those, it’s a really good thing.

Taylor Pardue (21:43):

Well, I think you said it right earlier when you said finding those programs and projects and different things that are really passion projects for you. And really, if you came from a small program, wanting to give back to that because you know firsthand that, you know, the needs and things like that. But really, just finding what matters to you — or creating it, if it doesn’t already exist, with your scholarship, your father’s scholarship — getting involved like that and, really, just being, the phrase, “being the change you want to see.”

Bentina Terry (22:10):

Yeah.

Taylor Pardue (22:10):

So. Thanks, so much for joining us today and for the important work you do here, but also for providing, like you said, an example of how people can get involved and the impact that it makes on people’s lives. It is truly invaluable.

Bentina Terry (22:24):

Thank you. I enjoyed my time with you, Taylor.

Taylor Pardue (22:32):

To learn even more about the NC State University Foundation, please visit giving.ncsu.edu/foundation. If you’d like to hear even more stories of Wolfpack success, please subscribe to the NC State Philanthropy Podcast today via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Podbean. Please leave a comment and rating as well to let us know how we’re doing. Thanks for listening, and as always, go Pack.