Join us in bidding Zack Brown (Eta Beta/Eastern Kentucky 2014) farewell and commending him on his years of service to Theta Chi.
Previously serving as a Field Executive throughout 2015 and visiting more than 40 chapters, Zack rejoined staff as the Director of Volunteer Development in March 2017 to recruit and train alumni and other volunteers to serve as chapter advisers and as part of a chapter advisory board (CAB).
“My interest in working for the staff in the first place was sparked by the Field Staff at the time. The Field Staff, composed of Leadership Education Consultants (LECs), would come to visit the chapter and they were all really charismatic and likable guys. I also attended a lot of events as a collegiate brother and I just fell in love with the whole concept of the Fraternity’s purpose and I was really excited for the opportunity to travel outside of Kentucky which, at that point, I’d never done,” Zack said. He continued, “When I returned to staff after my two-year hiatus, I was excited about the opportunity to be able to travel at a Director-level, build relationships with alumni volunteers across the country, and serve the Fraternity for all the benefits it has to offer its members and alumni again."
Zack was promoted to Senior Director of Training and Development in August 2019 and took charge of the Fraternity's recruitment and expansion initiatives as the Senior Director of Growth in 2021.
Reflecting on assuming his role as Senior Director of Growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zack shared, "I loved seeing the resiliency of our collegiate brothers coming out of the pandemic. They were energized to recruit, and even more so, they were energized to learn best practices on how to recruit. Our members found creative ways to keep their chapters growing during a time marked by social distant throughout our country. Talk about the benefits of fraternity! Our members did not stop making friends despite the challenges that were handed to them. There are so many opportunities to settle, go through the motions of 'rush,' or be satisfied with their chapter size and I was thankful to be able to work with chapters that had a sincere desire to grow and the passion to do the real work and it was an incredible thing to witness."
As Senior Director of Growth, Zack was directly involved with the (re)installation, (re)colonization, and queueing up future expansion projects for many chapters including:
- Alpha Beta/Pittsburgh
- Alpha Upsilon/Nebraska
- Gamma Nu/New Mexico State
- Gamma Sigma/Durham, NC
- Delta Kappa/Ball State
- Delta Phi/North Texas
- Zeta Omega/West Chester
- Eta Delta/Babson
- Theta Nu/Rowan
- Iota Alpha/UNC-Wilmington
- Kappa Pi/Boston
- York Colony in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Zack also played a significant role in managing many chapter redevelopment efforts such as:
- Omega/Penn State
- Alpha Rho/Washington
- Alpha Psi/Maryland
- Eta Upsilon/Texas A&M
Zack’s greatest highlight from his time working at IHQ were the people he’d been able to befriend while serving the Fraternity.
“The people who I worked with had become some of my very best friends within the Fraternity. I had three guys in my wedding who were my chapter brothers, and the other three guys I’d met working at IHQ: Nick Hoke (Alpha Iota/Indiana 2014), Jermaine Merritt (Epsilon Tau/Stephen F. Austin 2015), and Taylor Dahlem (Zeta Rho/Kentucky 2015) all stood next to me when I tied the knot. Plus, over the last eight years I’ve traveled to over half of the continental U.S., experienced a lot of different cultures, and truly developed a more worldly perspective and I can’t deny its impact on me.”
Zack has accepted a new full-time position as a Uniform Sales Representative at Cintas Corporation. He’ll be doing B2B Sales with the Lexington-area in Kentucky as his territory.
“I would recommend working at IHQ to anyone who wants to start their professional career off on the right track. It gives you the opportunity to meet students, coworkers, alumni, and university administration from all across the country. With that level of diversity with your interactions, you’ll be able to become a chameleon and you’ll be able to make yourself a dynamic communicator and elevate yourself to places you could’ve never dreamed of.”
As Zack closes this chapter on his professional journey, he looks forward to reengaging with his home chapter as a volunteer and returning in the future to assist with additional IHQ programming.
Thank you for your years of service and the Assisting Hand, Zack! In fraternity, there is no room for “good byes,” so this is a simply a “see you later!”