September 8, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode of Inside IALR, we sit down with President Telly Tucker and Executive Vice President of Operations Dr. John Hughes for a wide-ranging conversation about growth, leadership and the mission of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. From managing exponential expansion to filling workforce gaps, Tucker and Hughes reflect on how IALR continues to transform lives in Southern Virginia and beyond. Along the way, they share candid insights on challenges, opportunities, and the people who make it all possible.
This episode offers a thoughtful look behind the curtain at IALR’s momentum, future regional economic transformation, leadership in action, and how innovation takes shape across research, manufacturing, workforce and education.
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research serves as a regional catalyst for economic transformation in Southern Virginia. Our services, programs and offerings are diverse, impactful and far reaching.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caleb Ayers (00:09):
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for joining us today.
We got a fun one today.
We got two of the top dogs atIALR.
We got President Telly Tuckerand Executive Vice President of
Operations Dr John Hughes.
Thank you guys for being here.
John Hughes (00:23):
Thank you for having us.
Thank you.
Caleb Ayers (00:25):
All right, first things first.
Very serious Boneless wings orbone-in wings, traditional
bone-in wings.
John Hughes (00:32):
Definitely bone-in.
A boneless wing is described asa nugget.
Caleb Ayers (00:36):
Yes, and that is why I love it.
I'm on the boneless team, so,yes, I will take my chicken
nuggets with sauce.
So I think this is fun just forthe sake of.
Since I've been here, I've seenthis place grow a ton and I
know that trend is not stopping.
You know there's a lot ofgrowth opportunities all over
(00:56):
our organization, so I justthought it'd be fun to kind of
talk shop with you guys abouthow do you try to manage that,
how do you approach growth andthose sorts of things.
So when you all are out in thecommunity talking about what ILR
does, what's kind of like yourone minute explanation that you
(01:17):
all give as far as what in theworld we do here?
Because it can go a lot ofdifferent directions and I've
worked on my pitch in differentways and I'm still tweaking it.
So, just interested in whatdoes y'all's one-minute elevator
pitch look like?
Telly Tucker (01:29):
My initial response usually is how much
time do you have?
Because it's going to takelonger than one minute.
But if I'm forced to give anelevator speech, I usually talk
about.
We transform the lives of thepeople that we serve in this
region, and we do it through oneof five ways.
We do it through research, wedo it through workforce training
, we do it through educationalpartnerships, we do it through
(01:53):
economic development, job growth, helping people start
businesses, and then we do itthrough tourism, which includes
the conference center.
So if that was my 60 seconds,I'd try to explain it.
Then people usually ask well,how, how do you do it through
those?
And then that's when we have toget into a much deeper
conversation.
Caleb Ayers (02:11):
Right, so that's basically our mission statement.
Just you stepped in totransform lives instead of the
economy.
I like that.
John Hughes (02:18):
Yeah, I really do look at it from a learning
perspective and an educationalperspective, and so first thing
I usually say is that we are aunicorn in many ways, but we
look forward to having educationfrom K through 12, all the way
through adulthood, and it'sreally related to workforce for
(02:39):
each division, and so that'susually a springboard for some
additional information, becauseI say that we only our elevator
right here in this main mainbuilding only goes to the second
floor.
So that speech really is short.
Caleb Ayers (02:55):
That's a good elevator, though, right the
glass elevator.
Even though it is short it'sgot a got a nice little view.
So you know, as I was saying inthe beginning, you know we're
growing very fast.
It has been even just sinceI've been here in the last two
and a half years.
It's been, I mean, it seemslike every couple of weeks we're
adding, adding new positions,adding new staff.
I think it's about 170 peoplewe're up to now, give or take.
John Hughes (03:17):
As of as of August 4th, it was 166.
And I think we've added some,so you're right in the ballpark.
Caleb Ayers (03:24):
How do you all approach managing that kind of
growth?
Telly Tucker (03:28):
That's a very open-ended question for you all
to have at it patience you haveto be patient, you have to ask,
um, I think, the people that youwork with and you have to set
the expectation that it's not amatter of if something's going
to go on unexpected, um, it's amatter of when and how you
handle, um, those bumps in theroad, those detours being
(03:53):
flexible, being nimble, beingwilling to adjust and giving
people a little grace as wecontinue to grow, to manage
those unexpected bumps in theroad.
I think the good thing about youknow, with sitting in the
president's seat andunderstanding the people that we
have and this is something thatwe look for in our future
(04:15):
candidates for employment Dothey have the right personality?
Would they fit into the cultureof the organization, meaning we
are doing what we're doing toserve our community, to improve
the lives of the people who livehere, their families, future
generations.
And if we come from the placeof you know, from the right
(04:36):
frame of mind, of I'm doing thisfor the right reasons and I've
got the right people in the seat, then we can work through any
of the unexpected turbulence orbumps in the roads that we come
into contact with.
John Hughes (04:47):
I think we have attempted to practice measured
growth right.
It's been an exponential changein personnel as well as
responsibility, not onlyinternally but externally.
We had orientation today, andone thing I usually say to our
newest employees is that theyare now officially ambassadors
(05:08):
of ILR, and so that's a big deal.
When we talk about havingcommunity outreach, touches in
the community, responsibility inthe community, and so with
measured growth, we have a greatresponsibility to everybody
around us, and so we also haveto have the ability to be nimble
(05:30):
and to be respectful of thefact that we may make some
mistakes within that growth andbe able to pivot, change,
correct and make a differencetoward economic transformation
for our region and for ourlarger footprint, which is
really worldwide at this point.
Caleb Ayers (05:46):
And Telly, you mentioned the words you know,
being nimble.
You said the word being nimble.
How do we balance kind of and Imean that goes to what you were
saying too, john of you knowmeasured.
So how do you balance that ofbeing nimble and being able to
move fast but also beingstrategic and measured and
thinking, you know, morelong-term?
How do you guys balance thosetwo things, as we're thinking
about what the organization isright now versus what it should
(06:09):
be next month, next year, next10 years?
Telly Tucker (06:13):
You have to be a good listener 10 years, you have
to be a good listener.
Many of the programs and theinitiatives that are taking
place on our campus have neverbeen done before, so oftentimes
there's not a playbook to follow, so to speak.
When I think about what theApplied Research team is doing
(06:34):
in the controlled environmentagriculture space, a lot of
that's really new and innovative.
Similarly what themanufacturing advancement team
is doing with ATDM and anaccelerated training program,
you know, eight hours a day onthree shifts a week.
There really isn't a playbookfor that.
And so in order to, I think thefirst thing we learned to do is
(06:57):
to be good listeners, becausewe've set programs up to mirror
either what industry has askedus to mirror in terms of what
they're expecting out of thestudents who graduate, or a
collection of best practicesfrom whatever sources that we've
gained information to create aprogram or initiative.
And if we weren't willing to be, it's not that we're so smart
(07:19):
and we have all the answers andwe put together this master plan
that we just brilliantly knowis going to work.
We really do try to listen andwe try to be flexible so that
when we get feedback, we wantcontinuous feedback and have
that loop of what are we doing?
Well, good, bad and different?
How do we pivot where we needto to improve things or shed
(07:44):
something if it's not working?
Hopefully, if we need to fail,fail fast, learn quickly, pivot
and then move in the rightdirection.
We as a political subdivisionhave a little bit more
flexibility than we would if wewere a traditional unit of local
, state or federal government.
So I think, by the nature ofthe creation of the organization
(08:06):
, our organizational structure,our governing body, our board of
trustees, we have the abilityto be and they encourage us to
be nimble and continue to beresponsive, and when we need to
move and pivot, we do that.
John Hughes (08:20):
Well said, my eye was going to say that you know
we do listen to what ourindustry partners want.
I think that is a mantra thatI've heard Dr Lohman say more
than once in the research sector.
It's not that we're out theresaying we can do all of these
wonderful things although we canbut we listen to what industry
(08:41):
wants and we try to meet thatneed.
Caleb Ayers (08:43):
Tally, I've heard you describe us as a we fill
gaps.
That's kind of a big part ofwhat we do, and that goes
exactly to what you're saying,john.
If someone needs something thatwe have the technical
capability to pull off, we're agood candidate to jump in and
pull that off.
John Hughes (09:00):
And also being aware of your limitations and
capabilities as well.
Right, so we're not trying todo everything and be everything
to everyone.
We're trying to figure out whatthat niche is, like you said,
fill those gaps and see if wecan fill the need, and we'll
make every opportunity to do so.
Caleb Ayers (09:16):
We have a lot of niches we do.
What do you all see as kind ofsome of the biggest challenges
we are facing right now, as wellas challenges you anticipate us
facing over the next few years?
Telly Tucker (09:28):
That's a really good question Challenges we're
facing.
Right now the labor pool isstill relatively shallow in
terms of just global demand fortalent and workers.
So finding the right people tofill the critical roles in a
time where we're still expectedto execute even while we're kind
(09:51):
of building the ship, so tospeak, to use that analogy pun
intended, I think that's achallenge.
It's not unique to just ILR,it's really unique to probably
every hiring manager and everycompany out here that's in need
to hire talent right now, and soI think that will continue to
(10:12):
remain a challenge for us goingforward long, long term.
I think about things likesustainability of programming,
because we are piloting a lot of, you know, brand new
initiatives.
Oftentimes they're funded withgrant or contract funding to
kind of test the case, improvethe model Well, improving that
(10:34):
model.
We often come to a crossroadwhere we have to look at what's
the sustainability model or thebusiness model that sustains
resources and funding tocontinue to provide that if
there's value and we really leaninto the value proposition.
So for us, if we are confidentand we can communicate that
(10:55):
there is a tremendous valueproposition, it makes it much
easier to think about what's thesustainability plan and who are
the benefactors of that value,because, ultimately, if people
are receiving value, they'rewilling to help pay for that,
and so those are some of thethings that I think are
challenges that are always on mymind and, keep you know, keep
(11:18):
me up at 3 am.
John Hughes (11:19):
From an operational standpoint, I tend to lean
toward some of the safety andsecurity measures right.
Not only physical safety andsecurity, but information
technology security.
As we have talked about ourgrowth here.
We may be a target for thosenefarious characters that you
see at three o'clock in themorning when you're thinking
about things on um and and onyour email or on your text
(11:44):
messages, and they're.
They're ever present.
And so as we grow in in um, whatpeople sees as ILR, then you
know people are looking at us tosay how can they get into what
we do in a not so nice way?
And so the physical securitypiece access to our buildings,
(12:08):
how many people are on campus?
What are we doing on campus inrelation to our conference
center and visitors on campushave increased pedestrian safety
, vehicle safety all of thosethings matter in what was maybe
a smaller campus years ago, havebecome really important in the
last year or so or moreimportant, and so we've hired
(12:31):
some additional staff to reallylead that effort in
collaboration with leadership,and hopefully that will bring
about a lot of change in thefuture and have a culture of
safety as it relates to not only, again, physical safety but
information security as well.
Caleb Ayers (13:22):
Yeah, no, that makes sense that.
Yeah, the more people that areinvolved, the larger the space
that is involved, the moredifferent things you have going
on.
Obviously, there's more factorsat play.
More exposure yeah, I've gottenthose texts from Telly asking
for me to buy those gift cardsRight.
I did not buy any gift cards,though.
So in talking about just likegoing back, I guess, to the
(13:45):
beginning of, we do a lot ofdifferent things.
You know, there's Navy trainingprograms.
There's middle school,technical, career and technical
education that's happening, thatwe're, you know, leading and
putting in middle schools.
There's a conference center.
There's economic development.
There's AmeriCorps membersgoing into schools that we're
managing.
There's AmeriCorps membersgoing into schools that we're
(14:07):
managing.
I mean there's a lot of verydiverse, I guess, diverse
services, but then also diverseaudiences that we're trying to
reach.
So when you guys are thinkinglike big picture about us as an
organization, how does thatfactor in that, like, our list
of target audiences is a verylong list of different I mean
(14:29):
ranging from large corporationsto middle schoolers how does
that factor into your thoughtprocess when you're thinking
about what we do and how we'retrying to grow and what we're
trying to do?
John Hughes (14:40):
That's again the million-dollar question.
I think economic transformationstarts with the people.
The million dollar question.
I think economic transformationstarts with the people and it's
a big deal to me that we adviseyou know people on that.
We interact with the breadth ofwhat we do and how important
(15:17):
what we do is to the economicchange in this region.
And so getting to a point ofhaving the public be interested
again in ILR and what ishappening here is very key to
our mission.
You can't say so.
We train people to make partsfor submarines, we do controlled
environment agriculture, wehave educational systems, but
it's really all about the peoplethat are involved in that
continuum, even with ourcommunity health worker outreach
(15:39):
.
That's really about the people.
There may be some people inthat continuum that never set
foot on this campus, but theyare involved and they know that
ILR is a part of what is tryingto transform their lives from
being an AmeriCorps volunteer tobeing a community health worker
, to being a CNA or furthereducation than that.
(16:00):
So really I think we need todrill down and make sure we
remain aware that people arereally the catalyst for this
economic transformation thatwe're trying to make.
Telly Tucker (16:10):
My response will probably speak to our listeners
who have a business or abusiness development background.
I'm an economic developer atheart, kind of been in that
sector for 20 years, that sectorfor 20 years, and the one thing
you have to do you never knowwho you're going to run into and
(16:31):
who your next potential targetaudience is going to be, and so
you develop very quickly.
You develop a skill of learningto recognize what your intended
audience needs to get from you,to convince them that you know
this is a place that you shouldinvest.
So, whether we're recruiting abusiness, one day you could be
(16:54):
recruiting a Fortune 500technology company.
The next day you could besupporting a mom and pop
entrepreneur invest their lifesavings into a service-based
business on Main Street.
Those two audiences aredrastically different and you
have to be able to communicatein a way that speaks to each one
(17:17):
of those audiences, and so itrequires you to be able to scan
and listen and understand whatinfluences their decision-making
and hopefully be able topresent something about the
community that you work in orthe project that you're working
on that speaks and resonateswith them.
We do a lot of whiteboarding, alot of I guess you would
(17:44):
describe it as mind mapping,kind of putting things in a,
displaying them visually,looking at Venn diagrams of all
these disparate entities, theseprograms that we administer.
What are their goals?
What are their objectives?
Where do they overlap?
How do we find common groundbetween all the different things
(18:06):
happening on this campus?
And I'm a visual kinestheticlearner, so seeing it wrestling
with it, moving pieces around,helps me rationalize how these
things work together for thecommon mission of an
organization?
In this case, for the commonmission of an organization.
(18:29):
In this case, it's not.
You know, I think I wouldn't behonest if I said it's something
that you master, right, it'salways something that you're
trying to get better at, you'retrying to improve, you're trying
to learn more, you're trying tounderstand more.
And you know, being a I mean Ican't overemphasize listening
skills enough, because it's howwe learn, and there's so many
(18:52):
smart people in thisorganization, people much
smarter than I, that I lean onto bring their expertise to the
table, listen to them andhopefully learn something from
them and allow them to use thattechnical expertise or that
institutional knowledge to bemore effective.
(19:14):
So it's a long-winded answerbut hopefully listeners can get
a nugget or two out of that.
Caleb Ayers (19:22):
John, you said earlier we're a unicorn.
I'm going to start using thatline.
That's a fun one.
I only think of that inreference to basketball players.
That's where my context is Ofcourse it is.
That seems more fun to throw itaround for this, but I just
wrote down when I was thinkingabout what we do.
So our funding is a mix offederal state grant and revenue.
The role that we play can be aconsultant, a partner, a
(19:47):
contract service provider, atraining provider, a convener of
different groups, a host, and Ithink that list goes on.
But that's what I wrote down.
And then our audiences wouldinclude startup companies, large
business businesses, thefederal government, conference
guests, students, people in thecommunity Again, that list goes
on as well Middle schoolers.
(20:07):
So when you put it like that, Ithink most organizations don't
have that level of complexity towhat they're doing.
Last question, real quick howhas our mission expanded, slash,
changed with the growth of theorganization?
I know that idea of economictransformation has kind of been
there since the beginning over20 years ago, but how is our
(20:30):
mission kind of growing,changing, expanding, adapting to
who we are today?
John Hughes (20:35):
I'll give Telly the last word on this as the
president.
I think economic transformationfor the southern region of
Virginia.
I alluded before that we reallyhave a footprint that's
worldwide.
At this point I think we cannotlose sight of that mission.
(20:56):
Sometimes it's hard to do andwith growth maybe there's a need
to conceptually expand thatvision.
But we really have to keep thesouthern region of a region as
(21:30):
opposed to bringing people intoa region stewards of not only
sustainability, the environment,but also of our base here in
the southern region of Virginiaand our initial footprint to say
ILR is still here for you.
We provide training for theregion, we provide economic
(21:51):
support and those funds, thosepeople that still live here,
work here in our region, theymatter.
So there may be, there is aschool of thought to say, yes,
our mission does expand intoother parts of Virginia and even
the world.
(22:11):
But we really still have tokeep a focus on the southern
region of Virginia to see thatit does not revert to the way it
was, you know, 30 years ago orso, because there was a booming
industry here and they did havea lot going on in this region.
But one of the things thatbirthed ILR was an economic
downturn, and you know we arenot immune to that happening
(22:34):
again.
So we really have to insulateourselves, be aware, have a
strategic vision that is stillfocused on the southern region,
while serving a greater audienceand a greater number of
participants and partners inwhat we do every day.
Telly Tucker (22:49):
What Dr Hughes said no, in all seriousness, no,
in all seriousness, I'm not sosure the mission has changed in
terms of economic transformation.
What I would say is maybe howwe accomplish it has evolved and
(23:11):
grown.
Give you an example A lot ofpeople ask the question how does
a program, how does a nationalprogram that's funded by the
Navy, that trains people from 48different states coming to
Danville and then they train for16 weeks and leave and go
(23:31):
somewhere else?
How does that help Danville?
Why would we do that?
Does that fall into economictransformation?
And on its surface it's a verygood question, because you might
think, hmm well, it's a niceprogram to have, right, it's
nice to say we've got a nationaltraining program it's funded by
(23:51):
Navy in our backyard.
But how does that feed into themission of economic
transformation?
To Dr Hughes' point here insouthern Virginia?
So let me just maybe peel thelayers of that onion back a
little bit.
First of all, having a nationalcustomized training,
(24:12):
accelerated training program inyour backyard that you were
asked, that this community wasasked to pilot on behalf of the
Department of Defense and Navyis a demonstration that you have
value in how you approachtraining and that you understand
it.
They could have asked anycommunity.
They probably could have askedany technical school, community
college or training institutionto put together a program, to
(24:37):
pilot this program.
That would become a nationalmodel.
But they chose DanvilleVirginia.
So in some ways it validatesthe value, the institutional
knowledge, the history of thisregion's approach to how you
build training programs.
How you build training programsand I can't tell you how many
(24:57):
times Linda Green has said, andshe will share with prospects
that come to the region whenthey say, can you customize a
training program, she saidrather than me tell you, let me
show you.
We're doing this for one of thelargest customers in the world,
the US government.
If we can do it for them, checkall the milestones and have
(25:22):
success, we can certainly do itfor you.
So it's an illustration ofvalue there.
Similarly, when industry comesand they see programs like this
and they realize that they canhire talent out of these
programs, our theory has alwaysbeen that industry will want to
be closer to the well of talent.
So an industry decides tolocate in this region.
(25:43):
To be closer to a trainingprogram provides a direct
economic impact to SouthernVirginia.
Thirdly, students from all overthe United States now know the
name of Danville, virginia.
They know the name of SouthernVirginia, pennsylvania County.
They know the name of theInstitute for Advanced Learning
and Research.
Many of them are choosing tostay in Virginia.
(26:05):
A smaller number of them areeven staying in the region
because they like the quality oflife, they like the cost of
living, they like what a um youknow, an affordable home looks
like in this region andeverything that comes along with
that, and the people in theregion.
Um, there's something specialabout the region.
(26:26):
I truly believe that, which ispart of the reason that I'm here
.
So we are indirectly reversingour population decline by
bringing in 800 to 1,000students every year, because
many of those students arelooking for opportunities, will
have opportunities to stay inthis region, start families in
this region, um to buy a homeand to create a life of their
own in this region.
(26:47):
So those are just a few waysthat I wanted to highlight.
On how you know, we are no oneever.
I don't think anyone everthought 20 years ago, 23 years
ago now, when the Institute wascreated, that we would start a
national training program insupport of economic
transformation.
(27:18):
Give us the flexibility to thinkoutside the box and to go after
opportunities, not to be sorisk adverse that we become
paralyzed and just doing thesame thing, but to really think
about how could we use anopportunity that's in front of
us that could impact theinstitute today, impact this
region for years, maybegenerations to come.
That's just one example.
I could say the same thingabout a program like you know,
(27:39):
go Tech, that we're looking toexpand and hopefully license
nationally at some point in timeto help support continuing to
deliver world-class careertechnical education in K-12
schools in Southern Virginia.
I could see very easily seethat being a continued economic
(27:59):
benefit to the Southern Virginiaregion.
And the same thing I think wecan say about controlled
environment agriculture, thisregion being recognized as the
East Coast hub for controlledenvironment agriculture and one
of the places that companiesfrom all over the world descend
to work with our researchers,our scientists and to meet and
(28:20):
think about what the future ofthat is going to be.
So those are just a few ways.
I think our mission remainsconsistent, but I think how we
accomplish it really does kindof evolve as the days go on.
And when we're long gone.
Hopefully, the people that comeafter us will continue to think
the same way.
Caleb Ayers (28:39):
Thank you, guys, for the chance to pick your
brains about what in the worldwe do and where in the world
we're going, so I think it'sexciting stuff.
Any other thoughts to addbefore we go?
John Hughes (28:49):
Thank you for having us, Caleb.
I always appreciate it?
Telly Tucker (28:52):
You got it Done.
For the day, my brain is empty.
Got, you got it Done for theday.
Caleb Ayers (28:57):
My brain is empty.
Got it all, thanks for emptyingthe brain for us.
John Hughes (29:00):
Have a good one, not quite.
You have another meeting to goto.
Thank you.
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for joining us today.
We got a fun one today.
We got two of the top dogs atIALR.
We got President Telly Tuckerand Executive Vice President of
Operations Dr John Hughes.
Thank you guys for being here.
John Hughes (00:23):
Thank you for having us.
Thank you.
Caleb Ayers (00:25):
All right, first things first.
Very serious Boneless wings orbone-in wings, traditional
bone-in wings.
John Hughes (00:32):
Definitely bone-in.
A boneless wing is described asa nugget.
Caleb Ayers (00:36):
Yes, and that is why I love it.
I'm on the boneless team, so,yes, I will take my chicken
nuggets with sauce.
So I think this is fun just forthe sake of.
Since I've been here, I've seenthis place grow a ton and I
know that trend is not stopping.
You know there's a lot ofgrowth opportunities all over
(00:56):
our organization, so I justthought it'd be fun to kind of
talk shop with you guys abouthow do you try to manage that,
how do you approach growth andthose sorts of things.
So when you all are out in thecommunity talking about what ILR
does, what's kind of like yourone minute explanation that you
(01:17):
all give as far as what in theworld we do here?
Because it can go a lot ofdifferent directions and I've
worked on my pitch in differentways and I'm still tweaking it.
So, just interested in whatdoes y'all's one-minute elevator
pitch look like?
Telly Tucker (01:29):
My initial response usually is how much
time do you have?
Because it's going to takelonger than one minute.
But if I'm forced to give anelevator speech, I usually talk
about.
We transform the lives of thepeople that we serve in this
region, and we do it through oneof five ways.
We do it through research, wedo it through workforce training
, we do it through educationalpartnerships, we do it through
(01:53):
economic development, job growth, helping people start
businesses, and then we do itthrough tourism, which includes
the conference center.
So if that was my 60 seconds,I'd try to explain it.
Then people usually ask well,how, how do you do it through
those?
And then that's when we have toget into a much deeper
conversation.
Caleb Ayers (02:11):
Right, so that's basically our mission statement.
Just you stepped in totransform lives instead of the
economy.
I like that.
John Hughes (02:18):
Yeah, I really do look at it from a learning
perspective and an educationalperspective, and so first thing
I usually say is that we are aunicorn in many ways, but we
look forward to having educationfrom K through 12, all the way
through adulthood, and it'sreally related to workforce for
(02:39):
each division, and so that'susually a springboard for some
additional information, becauseI say that we only our elevator
right here in this main mainbuilding only goes to the second
floor.
So that speech really is short.
Caleb Ayers (02:55):
That's a good elevator, though, right the
glass elevator.
Even though it is short it'sgot a got a nice little view.
So you know, as I was saying inthe beginning, you know we're
growing very fast.
It has been even just sinceI've been here in the last two
and a half years.
It's been, I mean, it seemslike every couple of weeks we're
adding, adding new positions,adding new staff.
I think it's about 170 peoplewe're up to now, give or take.
John Hughes (03:17):
As of as of August 4th, it was 166.
And I think we've added some,so you're right in the ballpark.
Caleb Ayers (03:24):
How do you all approach managing that kind of
growth?
Telly Tucker (03:28):
That's a very open-ended question for you all
to have at it patience you haveto be patient, you have to ask,
um, I think, the people that youwork with and you have to set
the expectation that it's not amatter of if something's going
to go on unexpected, um, it's amatter of when and how you
handle, um, those bumps in theroad, those detours being
(03:53):
flexible, being nimble, beingwilling to adjust and giving
people a little grace as wecontinue to grow, to manage
those unexpected bumps in theroad.
I think the good thing about youknow, with sitting in the
president's seat andunderstanding the people that we
have and this is something thatwe look for in our future
(04:15):
candidates for employment Dothey have the right personality?
Would they fit into the cultureof the organization, meaning we
are doing what we're doing toserve our community, to improve
the lives of the people who livehere, their families, future
generations.
And if we come from the placeof you know, from the right
(04:36):
frame of mind, of I'm doing thisfor the right reasons and I've
got the right people in the seat, then we can work through any
of the unexpected turbulence orbumps in the roads that we come
into contact with.
John Hughes (04:47):
I think we have attempted to practice measured
growth right.
It's been an exponential changein personnel as well as
responsibility, not onlyinternally but externally.
We had orientation today, andone thing I usually say to our
newest employees is that theyare now officially ambassadors
(05:08):
of ILR, and so that's a big deal.
When we talk about havingcommunity outreach, touches in
the community, responsibility inthe community, and so with
measured growth, we have a greatresponsibility to everybody
around us, and so we also haveto have the ability to be nimble
(05:30):
and to be respectful of thefact that we may make some
mistakes within that growth andbe able to pivot, change,
correct and make a differencetoward economic transformation
for our region and for ourlarger footprint, which is
really worldwide at this point.
Caleb Ayers (05:46):
And Telly, you mentioned the words you know,
being nimble.
You said the word being nimble.
How do we balance kind of and Imean that goes to what you were
saying too, john of you knowmeasured.
So how do you balance that ofbeing nimble and being able to
move fast but also beingstrategic and measured and
thinking, you know, morelong-term?
How do you guys balance thosetwo things, as we're thinking
about what the organization isright now versus what it should
(06:09):
be next month, next year, next10 years?
Telly Tucker (06:13):
You have to be a good listener 10 years, you have
to be a good listener.
Many of the programs and theinitiatives that are taking
place on our campus have neverbeen done before, so oftentimes
there's not a playbook to follow, so to speak.
When I think about what theApplied Research team is doing
(06:34):
in the controlled environmentagriculture space, a lot of
that's really new and innovative.
Similarly what themanufacturing advancement team
is doing with ATDM and anaccelerated training program,
you know, eight hours a day onthree shifts a week.
There really isn't a playbookfor that.
And so in order to, I think thefirst thing we learned to do is
(06:57):
to be good listeners, becausewe've set programs up to mirror
either what industry has askedus to mirror in terms of what
they're expecting out of thestudents who graduate, or a
collection of best practicesfrom whatever sources that we've
gained information to create aprogram or initiative.
And if we weren't willing to be, it's not that we're so smart
(07:19):
and we have all the answers andwe put together this master plan
that we just brilliantly knowis going to work.
We really do try to listen andwe try to be flexible so that
when we get feedback, we wantcontinuous feedback and have
that loop of what are we doing?
Well, good, bad and different?
How do we pivot where we needto to improve things or shed
(07:44):
something if it's not working?
Hopefully, if we need to fail,fail fast, learn quickly, pivot
and then move in the rightdirection.
We as a political subdivisionhave a little bit more
flexibility than we would if wewere a traditional unit of local
, state or federal government.
So I think, by the nature ofthe creation of the organization
(08:06):
, our organizational structure,our governing body, our board of
trustees, we have the abilityto be and they encourage us to
be nimble and continue to beresponsive, and when we need to
move and pivot, we do that.
John Hughes (08:20):
Well said, my eye was going to say that you know
we do listen to what ourindustry partners want.
I think that is a mantra thatI've heard Dr Lohman say more
than once in the research sector.
It's not that we're out theresaying we can do all of these
wonderful things although we canbut we listen to what industry
(08:41):
wants and we try to meet thatneed.
Caleb Ayers (08:43):
Tally, I've heard you describe us as a we fill
gaps.
That's kind of a big part ofwhat we do, and that goes
exactly to what you're saying,john.
If someone needs something thatwe have the technical
capability to pull off, we're agood candidate to jump in and
pull that off.
John Hughes (09:00):
And also being aware of your limitations and
capabilities as well.
Right, so we're not trying todo everything and be everything
to everyone.
We're trying to figure out whatthat niche is, like you said,
fill those gaps and see if wecan fill the need, and we'll
make every opportunity to do so.
Caleb Ayers (09:16):
We have a lot of niches we do.
What do you all see as kind ofsome of the biggest challenges
we are facing right now, as wellas challenges you anticipate us
facing over the next few years?
Telly Tucker (09:28):
That's a really good question Challenges we're
facing.
Right now the labor pool isstill relatively shallow in
terms of just global demand fortalent and workers.
So finding the right people tofill the critical roles in a
time where we're still expectedto execute even while we're kind
(09:51):
of building the ship, so tospeak, to use that analogy pun
intended, I think that's achallenge.
It's not unique to just ILR,it's really unique to probably
every hiring manager and everycompany out here that's in need
to hire talent right now, and soI think that will continue to
(10:12):
remain a challenge for us goingforward long, long term.
I think about things likesustainability of programming,
because we are piloting a lot of, you know, brand new
initiatives.
Oftentimes they're funded withgrant or contract funding to
kind of test the case, improvethe model Well, improving that
(10:34):
model.
We often come to a crossroadwhere we have to look at what's
the sustainability model or thebusiness model that sustains
resources and funding tocontinue to provide that if
there's value and we really leaninto the value proposition.
So for us, if we are confidentand we can communicate that
(10:55):
there is a tremendous valueproposition, it makes it much
easier to think about what's thesustainability plan and who are
the benefactors of that value,because, ultimately, if people
are receiving value, they'rewilling to help pay for that,
and so those are some of thethings that I think are
challenges that are always on mymind and, keep you know, keep
(11:18):
me up at 3 am.
John Hughes (11:19):
From an operational standpoint, I tend to lean
toward some of the safety andsecurity measures right.
Not only physical safety andsecurity, but information
technology security.
As we have talked about ourgrowth here.
We may be a target for thosenefarious characters that you
see at three o'clock in themorning when you're thinking
about things on um and and onyour email or on your text
(11:44):
messages, and they're.
They're ever present.
And so as we grow in in um, whatpeople sees as ILR, then you
know people are looking at us tosay how can they get into what
we do in a not so nice way?
And so the physical securitypiece access to our buildings,
(12:08):
how many people are on campus?
What are we doing on campus inrelation to our conference
center and visitors on campushave increased pedestrian safety
, vehicle safety all of thosethings matter in what was maybe
a smaller campus years ago, havebecome really important in the
last year or so or moreimportant, and so we've hired
(12:31):
some additional staff to reallylead that effort in
collaboration with leadership,and hopefully that will bring
about a lot of change in thefuture and have a culture of
safety as it relates to not only, again, physical safety but
information security as well.
Caleb Ayers (13:22):
Yeah, no, that makes sense that.
Yeah, the more people that areinvolved, the larger the space
that is involved, the moredifferent things you have going
on.
Obviously, there's more factorsat play.
More exposure yeah, I've gottenthose texts from Telly asking
for me to buy those gift cardsRight.
I did not buy any gift cards,though.
So in talking about just likegoing back, I guess, to the
(13:45):
beginning of, we do a lot ofdifferent things.
You know, there's Navy trainingprograms.
There's middle school,technical, career and technical
education that's happening, thatwe're, you know, leading and
putting in middle schools.
There's a conference center.
There's economic development.
There's AmeriCorps membersgoing into schools that we're
managing.
There's AmeriCorps membersgoing into schools that we're
(14:07):
managing.
I mean there's a lot of verydiverse, I guess, diverse
services, but then also diverseaudiences that we're trying to
reach.
So when you guys are thinkinglike big picture about us as an
organization, how does thatfactor in that, like, our list
of target audiences is a verylong list of different I mean
(14:29):
ranging from large corporationsto middle schoolers how does
that factor into your thoughtprocess when you're thinking
about what we do and how we'retrying to grow and what we're
trying to do?
John Hughes (14:40):
That's again the million-dollar question.
I think economic transformationstarts with the people.
The million dollar question.
I think economic transformationstarts with the people and it's
a big deal to me that we adviseyou know people on that.
We interact with the breadth ofwhat we do and how important
(15:17):
what we do is to the economicchange in this region.
And so getting to a point ofhaving the public be interested
again in ILR and what ishappening here is very key to
our mission.
You can't say so.
We train people to make partsfor submarines, we do controlled
environment agriculture, wehave educational systems, but
it's really all about the peoplethat are involved in that
continuum, even with ourcommunity health worker outreach
(15:39):
.
That's really about the people.
There may be some people inthat continuum that never set
foot on this campus, but theyare involved and they know that
ILR is a part of what is tryingto transform their lives from
being an AmeriCorps volunteer tobeing a community health worker
, to being a CNA or furthereducation than that.
(16:00):
So really I think we need todrill down and make sure we
remain aware that people arereally the catalyst for this
economic transformation thatwe're trying to make.
Telly Tucker (16:10):
My response will probably speak to our listeners
who have a business or abusiness development background.
I'm an economic developer atheart, kind of been in that
sector for 20 years, that sectorfor 20 years, and the one thing
you have to do you never knowwho you're going to run into and
(16:31):
who your next potential targetaudience is going to be, and so
you develop very quickly.
You develop a skill of learningto recognize what your intended
audience needs to get from you,to convince them that you know
this is a place that you shouldinvest.
So, whether we're recruiting abusiness, one day you could be
(16:54):
recruiting a Fortune 500technology company.
The next day you could besupporting a mom and pop
entrepreneur invest their lifesavings into a service-based
business on Main Street.
Those two audiences aredrastically different and you
have to be able to communicatein a way that speaks to each one
(17:17):
of those audiences, and so itrequires you to be able to scan
and listen and understand whatinfluences their decision-making
and hopefully be able topresent something about the
community that you work in orthe project that you're working
on that speaks and resonateswith them.
We do a lot of whiteboarding, alot of I guess you would
(17:44):
describe it as mind mapping,kind of putting things in a,
displaying them visually,looking at Venn diagrams of all
these disparate entities, theseprograms that we administer.
What are their goals?
What are their objectives?
Where do they overlap?
How do we find common groundbetween all the different things
(18:06):
happening on this campus?
And I'm a visual kinestheticlearner, so seeing it wrestling
with it, moving pieces around,helps me rationalize how these
things work together for thecommon mission of an
organization?
In this case, for the commonmission of an organization.
(18:29):
In this case, it's not.
You know, I think I wouldn't behonest if I said it's something
that you master, right, it'salways something that you're
trying to get better at, you'retrying to improve, you're trying
to learn more, you're trying tounderstand more.
And you know, being a I mean Ican't overemphasize listening
skills enough, because it's howwe learn, and there's so many
(18:52):
smart people in thisorganization, people much
smarter than I, that I lean onto bring their expertise to the
table, listen to them andhopefully learn something from
them and allow them to use thattechnical expertise or that
institutional knowledge to bemore effective.
(19:14):
So it's a long-winded answerbut hopefully listeners can get
a nugget or two out of that.
Caleb Ayers (19:22):
John, you said earlier we're a unicorn.
I'm going to start using thatline.
That's a fun one.
I only think of that inreference to basketball players.
That's where my context is Ofcourse it is.
That seems more fun to throw itaround for this, but I just
wrote down when I was thinkingabout what we do.
So our funding is a mix offederal state grant and revenue.
The role that we play can be aconsultant, a partner, a
(19:47):
contract service provider, atraining provider, a convener of
different groups, a host, and Ithink that list goes on.
But that's what I wrote down.
And then our audiences wouldinclude startup companies, large
business businesses, thefederal government, conference
guests, students, people in thecommunity Again, that list goes
on as well Middle schoolers.
(20:07):
So when you put it like that, Ithink most organizations don't
have that level of complexity towhat they're doing.
Last question, real quick howhas our mission expanded, slash,
changed with the growth of theorganization?
I know that idea of economictransformation has kind of been
there since the beginning over20 years ago, but how is our
(20:30):
mission kind of growing,changing, expanding, adapting to
who we are today?
John Hughes (20:35):
I'll give Telly the last word on this as the
president.
I think economic transformationfor the southern region of
Virginia.
I alluded before that we reallyhave a footprint that's
worldwide.
At this point I think we cannotlose sight of that mission.
(20:56):
Sometimes it's hard to do andwith growth maybe there's a need
to conceptually expand thatvision.
But we really have to keep thesouthern region of a region as
(21:30):
opposed to bringing people intoa region stewards of not only
sustainability, the environment,but also of our base here in
the southern region of Virginiaand our initial footprint to say
ILR is still here for you.
We provide training for theregion, we provide economic
(21:51):
support and those funds, thosepeople that still live here,
work here in our region, theymatter.
So there may be, there is aschool of thought to say, yes,
our mission does expand intoother parts of Virginia and even
the world.
(22:11):
But we really still have tokeep a focus on the southern
region of Virginia to see thatit does not revert to the way it
was, you know, 30 years ago orso, because there was a booming
industry here and they did havea lot going on in this region.
But one of the things thatbirthed ILR was an economic
downturn, and you know we arenot immune to that happening
(22:34):
again.
So we really have to insulateourselves, be aware, have a
strategic vision that is stillfocused on the southern region,
while serving a greater audienceand a greater number of
participants and partners inwhat we do every day.
Telly Tucker (22:49):
What Dr Hughes said no, in all seriousness, no,
in all seriousness, I'm not sosure the mission has changed in
terms of economic transformation.
What I would say is maybe howwe accomplish it has evolved and
(23:11):
grown.
Give you an example A lot ofpeople ask the question how does
a program, how does a nationalprogram that's funded by the
Navy, that trains people from 48different states coming to
Danville and then they train for16 weeks and leave and go
(23:31):
somewhere else?
How does that help Danville?
Why would we do that?
Does that fall into economictransformation?
And on its surface it's a verygood question, because you might
think, hmm well, it's a niceprogram to have, right, it's
nice to say we've got a nationaltraining program it's funded by
(23:51):
Navy in our backyard.
But how does that feed into themission of economic
transformation?
To Dr Hughes' point here insouthern Virginia?
So let me just maybe peel thelayers of that onion back a
little bit.
First of all, having a nationalcustomized training,
(24:12):
accelerated training program inyour backyard that you were
asked, that this community wasasked to pilot on behalf of the
Department of Defense and Navyis a demonstration that you have
value in how you approachtraining and that you understand
it.
They could have asked anycommunity.
They probably could have askedany technical school, community
college or training institutionto put together a program, to
(24:37):
pilot this program.
That would become a nationalmodel.
But they chose DanvilleVirginia.
So in some ways it validatesthe value, the institutional
knowledge, the history of thisregion's approach to how you
build training programs.
How you build training programsand I can't tell you how many
(24:57):
times Linda Green has said, andshe will share with prospects
that come to the region whenthey say, can you customize a
training program, she saidrather than me tell you, let me
show you.
We're doing this for one of thelargest customers in the world,
the US government.
If we can do it for them, checkall the milestones and have
(25:22):
success, we can certainly do itfor you.
So it's an illustration ofvalue there.
Similarly, when industry comesand they see programs like this
and they realize that they canhire talent out of these
programs, our theory has alwaysbeen that industry will want to
be closer to the well of talent.
So an industry decides tolocate in this region.
(25:43):
To be closer to a trainingprogram provides a direct
economic impact to SouthernVirginia.
Thirdly, students from all overthe United States now know the
name of Danville, virginia.
They know the name of SouthernVirginia, pennsylvania County.
They know the name of theInstitute for Advanced Learning
and Research.
Many of them are choosing tostay in Virginia.
(26:05):
A smaller number of them areeven staying in the region
because they like the quality oflife, they like the cost of
living, they like what a um youknow, an affordable home looks
like in this region andeverything that comes along with
that, and the people in theregion.
Um, there's something specialabout the region.
(26:26):
I truly believe that, which ispart of the reason that I'm here
.
So we are indirectly reversingour population decline by
bringing in 800 to 1,000students every year, because
many of those students arelooking for opportunities, will
have opportunities to stay inthis region, start families in
this region, um to buy a homeand to create a life of their
own in this region.
(26:47):
So those are just a few waysthat I wanted to highlight.
On how you know, we are no oneever.
I don't think anyone everthought 20 years ago, 23 years
ago now, when the Institute wascreated, that we would start a
national training program insupport of economic
transformation.
(27:18):
Give us the flexibility to thinkoutside the box and to go after
opportunities, not to be sorisk adverse that we become
paralyzed and just doing thesame thing, but to really think
about how could we use anopportunity that's in front of
us that could impact theinstitute today, impact this
region for years, maybegenerations to come.
That's just one example.
I could say the same thingabout a program like you know,
(27:39):
go Tech, that we're looking toexpand and hopefully license
nationally at some point in timeto help support continuing to
deliver world-class careertechnical education in K-12
schools in Southern Virginia.
I could see very easily seethat being a continued economic
(27:59):
benefit to the Southern Virginiaregion.
And the same thing I think wecan say about controlled
environment agriculture, thisregion being recognized as the
East Coast hub for controlledenvironment agriculture and one
of the places that companiesfrom all over the world descend
to work with our researchers,our scientists and to meet and
(28:20):
think about what the future ofthat is going to be.
So those are just a few ways.
I think our mission remainsconsistent, but I think how we
accomplish it really does kindof evolve as the days go on.
And when we're long gone.
Hopefully, the people that comeafter us will continue to think
the same way.
Caleb Ayers (28:39):
Thank you, guys, for the chance to pick your
brains about what in the worldwe do and where in the world
we're going, so I think it'sexciting stuff.
Any other thoughts to addbefore we go?
John Hughes (28:49):
Thank you for having us, Caleb.
I always appreciate it?
Telly Tucker (28:52):
You got it Done.
For the day, my brain is empty.
Got, you got it Done for theday.
Caleb Ayers (28:57):
My brain is empty.
Got it all, thanks for emptyingthe brain for us.
John Hughes (29:00):
Have a good one, not quite.
You have another meeting to goto.
Thank you.
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