Steve Briggs, President of Berry College, announced on Tuesday that he will be stepping down.  Briggs has served as college president since 2006. 

During his leadership at Berry, the college opened or renovated a dozen buildings and strategically enhanced the beauty of its campus.  Berry made a winning transition to NCAA-Division III, added six new varsity sports, upgraded its athletic facilities and became a founding member of the Southern Athletic Association.  The college recently collaborated with the city of Rome to establish the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College, one of the largest facilities in the country, and is sponsored the development of a retirement community with continuing care facilities, The Spires at Berry.

Briggs has more than 30 years of leadership experience at colleges in Oklahoma, Florida and New Jersey.  He serves on the board of a number of professional organizations and is active in church and community endeavors.

A personality psychologist by training, Briggs earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.  He and his wife Brenda are both graduates of Wake Forest University; they have three grown daughters.

You can read a statement from Briggs that was released to Berry College staff below:

The college is thriving, and I am excited about how we are elevating Berry’s distinctive student experience and exploring forward-looking programs and partnerships. The years ahead are full of possibilities. With that potential in mind, I believe it is the right moment for the college to seek out its next president. Thus, I am announcing my decision to retire at the conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year. When Brenda and I arrived in 2006, we were taken with the character of Berry, its beauty, and its genuine commitment to an education of the head, heart and hands. We hoped it would be a close-knit community committed to Martha Berry’s remarkable vision to shape the lives of young people in profound and practical ways. We hoped it would be a place where we could immerse ourselves fully up to the day of retirement. Berry has been all that we hoped for and more. We have had the joy of knowing thousands of students, with each generation forming Berry into its own vibrant and warm-hearted community. We have delighted in the dedication and care of faculty and staff who infuse firsthand learning experiences into every nook and cranny of the Berry campus. I am also profoundly grateful for the leadership team and the trustee leaders who have proven to be trustworthy and enterprising teammates for nearly two decades. Along with amazing benefactors, they have served Berry’s best interests and contributed to its ascent. Brenda and I have lived at Berry longer than at any other place. We consider it home, and we look forward to sharing with you one more splendid year of opportunity and promise. Warm regards, Steve Briggs