HPU's Qubein looks to industry for support
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, January 31, 2005
High Point — New High Point University President Nido Qubein intends to include furniture industry leaders in his drive to make its school of home furnishings a world-class program.
"I want this to be a program that the furniture industry would be proud to be associated with and would want to support in ways that transcend financial matters," he said as he took the presidency.
Qubein, 56, a well-known speaker, author, business consultant and philanthropist whose personal story embodies the American dream, fills the post formerly held by Jacob C. Martinson, now HPU's chancellor.
A native of Lebanon who came to the United States as a teenager with little knowledge of English and $50 in his pocket, Qubein taught himself the language by learning a list of new words each day. He went on to graduate from Mount Olive College, then received a human relations degree from High Point University and a master's degree in business from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
He then launched a public speaking and consulting career that placed him in the national limelight. Since 1974, he has made 5,000 presentations and written a dozen books on leadership, sales and communications. His Qubein Foundation has awarded $3 million to 600 students and scholarship endowments at a number of universities.
Qubein starts his new job several months after the dedication of HPU's 27,000-square-foot Norton Hall, which houses the Knabusch-Shoemaker International School of Home Furnishings and Design.
He considers the new building a major asset for the school, and hopes industry leaders will encourage students to enroll in the program, and provide internships and jobs. He also wants them to be guest lecturers and hold business meetings on campus.
"I unreservedly commit our resources and our attention to this program and have every intent to evolve it, with the help of furniture industry leaders, as a jewel of academic excellence at High Point University," Qubein said. "This is a natural for us, to be known for having a huge home furnishings program. It behooves the university to focus on this and make it a big part of the business school."
He said the program needs to capitalize on its strengths in marketing and interior design and improve on its weaknesses, perhaps with a stronger focus on retailing and international business.
"We need to ... make sure our graduates go on to make sizable contributions," he said. "The school has no choice but to examine the dynamics that are apparent in the furniture industry today and to adequately predict potential future trends, and then align itself in a way that can prepare us and prepare our students for such developments.... We can't just sit on the sidelines and watch."
Qubein is a departure from the typical university president, since he doesn't come from an academic background. University trustees chose him for his strong business skills and leadership abilities.
La-Z-Boy Chairman and HPU Home Furnishings Advisory Board member Pat Norton has known Qubein for 17 years, and believes he's the right person for the job at this point in the university's history.
"I think Nido has certain strengths that will be very good for the university," Norton said. "All of us who know him know he is a very bright and capable man. I see it as nothing but good for the university."
Joe Carroll, publisher of Furniture/Today and chairman of the Home Furnishings Advisory Board, also said Qubein is an excellent fit. "I believe Nido will bring an incredible amount of vibrancy and business acumen to HPU's faculty and student body that will eventually create for us an international reputation as a world-class university in home furnishings marketing and interior design," Carroll said.
For Qubein, it's more an opportunity to serve his alma mater and align it more closely with High Point, the community he has grown to love. "This for me is an act of stewardship," he said. "It is not a career move. It is an opportunity to serve."
