Gary Rhodes at intersection of education, business worlds

His boss thinks he would have made a good preacher, and he does speak with passion and in metaphors about the work he has chosen.

Gary Rhodes imagines his job as president of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College "like a precious library book that I've been honored to check out for a period of time. My responsibility is to nurture it, take care of it, keep it clean, maybe add a chapter or two. But I always know I have to take that book and turn it back in someday."

Rhodes is working on a few high-profile chapters. On Wednesday, he became chairman of the Greater Richmond Chamber as its board pushes for a high-speed rail connection with Washington.

In his role as Reynolds president, he is in the forefront of work-force development programs that are receiving heightened attention and priority as hard times deepen.

He serves at the intersection of the education and business worlds, but it's not an unusual juncture at all.

"I think I have one foot in each, and I'll never take one foot out of either," Rhodes said.

When he heads out each day, he said, it doesn't matter which group he's representing. "If you boil all of the water out of the pot, it's that same core mission."

One week last month, that mission meant he was on hand as Microsoft announced a partnership with Virginia's community colleges for free training for displaced workers. Later in the week, he was with other business, education and civic leaders to announce a "cradle to career" collaboration for the region.

The mission is always to "make our community better," Rhodes said.

"To have a healthy community, you have to have healthy businesses," he said. "To have healthy businesses, we have to have people who have education and also have the skills to perform in the businesses."

Virginia Community College Chancellor Glenn DuBois said Rhodes brings much enthusiasm to his job -- so much that Rhodes brought DuBois a list of more than 100 goals he wanted to accomplish when he hired him seven years ago.

"He's a highly effective, highly energetic president," DuBois said, and is passionate about his job.

"He would have been a good minister, I think," DuBois said. "To some extent, he's a community college minister."

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Growing up in suburban St. Louis, Rhodes had a different sort of career in mind. He wanted to be the next Marlin Perkins, whose "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was among television's first nature shows.

The young Rhodes kept cages of critters in his room, including an alligator that got so big he gave it to the zoo.

His wild kingdom now is a 90-acre lake in Powhatan County, where he lives with his wife of 18 years, Nam, and their two Pomeranian dogs.

They have a pontoon boat and five kayaks, including one that holds two couples. It takes an hour and 20 minutes to go around the lake's perimeter, propelled by wine, cheese and good conversation.

The couple also have two golf Segways they use on a nearby course. Nam Rhodes is an artist whose landscapes hang in his office.

They each have three grown children from previous marriages. His son got an early inheritance recently when Rhodes shipped him his collection of neckties.

Rhodes is sporting a new look these days. He's grown a goatee and wears bow ties, which he finds more comfortable, like the suspenders that hold up his trousers.

He describes a comfortable lifestyle in Powhatan as well -- relaxing in the sunroom with a laptop and a view of the lake -- but one where he's never really disassociated from his work.

He might be "watching 'American Idol,' but that's the background noise," he said. "I'm sitting there crafting an e-mail that I'm going to send to somebody."

That somebody is likely his special assistant, Malcolm Holmes, who laughed at the comment. They have a great relationship, Holmes said later. It's "based on mutual respect, open communication and trust. We share a common passion for the work that we do as a college."

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Rhodes, who tends to "process life through strings of metaphors," said DuBois came up with an especially good one during his recent annual review as they assessed his seven-year tenure at Reynolds. His first few years as president, he planted seeds that have sprouted and started to grow.

"By the seventh year, I'm starting to see some flowers," he said.

Before coming to Richmond, Rhodes was president for four years of a community college in Minnesota, and he said he tended to measure his career and the time he spent in a city in four-year segments. But he feels differently about Richmond.

"I'm at the point now where I've fallen in love with my community," he said.

Rhodes oversees a community college that is essentially a $48 million business.

"Our business is helping people change their lives so that they can reach their potential, whatever that happens to be," he said.

Reynolds, founded in 1972, is the third-largest school in the state community-college system, with campuses in Henrico and Goochland counties and downtown Richmond.

It offers two-year programs for both college credit and occupational or technical degrees, in addition to partnering with businesses for certificate programs and training.

That brings about 19,000 students to Reynolds for degree or certificate programs, and the college provides work-force training to 22,000 employees and 800 employers this year.

"It's about people and how do we help people change their lives," Rhodes said.

As chairman of the Greater Richmond Chamber board, Rhodes sees a similar role. He said he will support the chamber's president and CEO, Kim Scheeler, in helping members be successful whether they are huge organizations "like Altria or a small mom-and-pop bookstore on the corner."

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Those who work with Rhodes at the chamber say he is committed to helping others find success on multiple levels.

Rob Bradham, the chamber's senior vice president for business development and government affairs, said Rhodes is a collaborator and a consensus builder.

"He values everybody's input," he said, and thus avoids being critical of other people's ideas. "He wants to empower people."

Bradham and Katherine Busser, whom Rhodes succeeded as chairman of the chamber board, use the same word to describe Rhodes: engaged.

"He's forever introducing people to each other," said Busser, executive vice president at Capital One Financial Corp.

She said he is always on a mission to expand networks of people.

For much the same reason, he is passionate about bringing high-speed rail to Richmond for the connections it will bring with Washington, she said.

Mark A. Creery Sr., who represents Hanover County on Reynolds' board, said he has been impressed with how Rhodes has connected with the community covered by the college, a large swath both urban and rural that stretches from Louisa County to Powhatan.

"He likes to listen," said Creery, president of Data Directions Inc., who has been on the board for about the same time Rhodes has been at Reynolds.

"He's a bit of an idea machine," he said, which can be both challenging and stimulating.

"Energy and collaboration are probably his hallmarks," Creery said.

Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .