In this episode of Candid Conversations, Chris and Candice sit down with Dale Wright, Vice Chancellor for Advancement and Senior Vice President of the University of Illinois Foundation, to explore a career that began almost by accident and ultimately led to senior leadership in higher education advancement. A first-generation college student from southeast Missouri, Wright discovered alumni engagement while helping plan homecoming at the University of Missouri. That experience opened the door to a career spanning alumni relations, development, fundraising, and advancement leadership—including more than a decade at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Wright reflects on the mentors and experiences that shaped him and navigating spaces where he was often one of relatively few African Americans in advancement leadership.

Wright also pulls back the curtain on what fundraising actually looks like, challenging the idea that advancement is primarily about asking people for money. Instead, he describes philanthropy as the culmination of relationships built through curiosity, listening, thoughtful questions, and an understanding of what people hope to accomplish. In his view, relationship building isn’t simply one component of fundraising strategy—it is the strategy. He discusses why successful advancement professionals need to navigate difficult conversations, manage disappointment, work effectively with internal university partners, and translate stories in both directions: sharing the university’s aspirations with donors while bringing donors’ motivations and dreams back to the institution.

The conversation turns toward the changing landscape of higher education and the opportunities—and responsibilities—ahead for advancement organizations. Wright argues that universities need to tell a more complete story about philanthropy, moving beyond headline-grabbing campaign totals to demonstrate how gifts, relationships, and investments create impact over time. He also shares his perspective on data, technology, and artificial intelligence. While AI can reduce manual work and make processes more efficient, Wright cautions against allowing technology to obscure the people behind the data. The real opportunity, he suggests, is using technology to free advancement professionals to spend more time on the deeply human work of building relationships, understanding motivations, and connecting people with possibilities.

Throughout the episode, Wright brings those ideas to life through stories of philanthropy transforming the student experience—from scholarships that combined financial support, study abroad, and undergraduate research opportunities to a donor-supported bridge at Illinois that doubles as a living laboratory for civil engineering students. He closes by reflecting on humility, servant leadership, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “The Drum Major Instinct,” which has become an important touchstone for how he approaches leadership.

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Candice and Chris are IT leaders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and collectively have more than 50 years of experience working in higher education. Candice is currently the Senior Director of IT Partners at the College of Applied Health Sciences and Chris is the Chief Information Officer and Senior Director of IT Partners at the Gies College of Business.

In this episode of Candid Conversations, Chris and Candice sit down with Joy Brownridge, assistant director of organizational effectiveness for the University of Illinois System and the operational lead for the Professional Staff Leadership Academy. Joy brings a fascinating leadership journey to the conversation, beginning with 15 years as an industrial engineer in the automotive industry before making a major career pivot into higher education and human resources. Her experience across very different workplace environments shaped her approach to leadership, communication, continuous improvement, and employee engagement.

Joy shares how she discovered that leadership is often about influence rather than authority, especially when working across roles with very different priorities and perspectives. She discusses the importance of adapting communication to meet people where they are, seeking out mentors, and taking advantage of accessible learning opportunities for newly promoted leaders. The conversation also explores workplace culture and Joy's work on the article about the ways leaders can unintentionally undermine their office culture, including one of the biggest pitfalls: holding yourself to a different standard than the people you lead.

A major theme throughout the episode is that healthy workplace culture is built through consistent actions, not slogans. Joy encourages leaders to overcommunicate, follow their words with action, demonstrate vulnerability, and remain transparent during periods of uncertainty and organizational change. She also discusses empathy, recognition, and the value of understanding how individual team members prefer to receive appreciation. From handwritten notes to asking people directly what motivates them, Joy offers practical ideas for making recognition more personal while maintaining fairness across a team.

The conversation closes with Joy's approach to difficult conversations and her top habit for becoming a more effective leader: solicit more feedback. She explains how leaders can create psychological safety by consistently asking for input, experimenting with different feedback methods, and demonstrating that they are genuinely willing to listen and act. Joy also reflects on the leadership accomplishment she is most proud of—building a career and a team culture she loves—and reveals a delightfully unexpected personal talent: turning pop songs into operatic performances. It's a candid, practical, and often funny conversation about what it really takes to lead people well.

Candice and Chris are IT leaders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and collectively have more than 50 years of experience working in higher education. Candice is currently the Senior Director of IT Partners at the College of Applied Health Sciences and Chris is the Chief Information Officer and Senior Director of IT Partners at the Gies College of Business.

In this episode of Candid Conversations, Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. reflects on a leadership journey that began remarkably early. From the age of eight, he knew he wanted to become a professor, pursue artificial intelligence and machine learning, and contribute to education at a broader scale. He shares how his academic career evolved alongside a parallel path in university leadership, moving through faculty and administrative roles simultaneously. Along the way, he learned an important lesson about leadership and human development: not everyone follows a linear path, and effective leaders must resist the temptation to assume others share the same experiences or motivations.As he approaches the end of his first year as Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Isbell discusses the opportunities he sees for the institution and the vision behind the Illinois Leads strategic planning initiative. He argues that Illinois is uniquely positioned to become a truly preeminent university—one that not only excels academically but also serves as a leader in addressing society’s most important challenges. Throughout the conversation, he emphasizes that being a public, land-grant institution and being globally elite are not competing goals. Instead, excellence and public service are deeply connected, and the university’s responsibility is to bring world-class education, research, and impact to as many people as possible.The discussion also explores several themes facing higher education today, including public trust, political resilience, operational excellence, and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. Drawing from his expertise in machine learning, Isbell explains how organizations can fall victim to their own assumptions, much like AI systems can inherit biases from their training data. He highlights the importance of listening, questioning long-held beliefs, and remaining flexible in the face of change. Whether discussing community engagement in Chicago, the role of strategic planning, or preparing students for careers that do not yet exist, he returns repeatedly to the idea that universities must balance innovation with a strong sense of purpose and service.The episode concludes on a more personal note as Isbell reflects on leadership, personal well-being, and what motivates people who value independence and autonomy. He shares advice for aspiring academic leaders, encouraging them to view leadership as a calling centered on enabling the success of others. Listeners also get a glimpse of the person behind the title as he talks about his love of racquetball, comic books, science fiction, and quiet time at home. In a fitting final metaphor, Isbell compares strategic planning to the long narrative arc of the television series Babylon 5—a vision carefully planted early, then patiently developed over time into something far greater than the individual pieces that first appeared on the surface.Candice and Chris are IT leaders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and collectively have more than 50 years of experience working in higher education. Candice is currently the Senior Director of IT Partners at the College of Applied Health Sciences and Chris is the Chief Information Officer and Senior Director of IT Partners at the Gies College of Business.