As an immigrant turned entrepreneur and college president, here is why I celebrate our nation as it turns 250

Americans throw the best birthday parties. I know. I showed up to one uninvited and never left. I came to this country as a young man with no money and limited knowledge of the language. What I lacked in material substance, I made up for with conviction. I had a half-formed but fierce belief that this was the place. Not a place. The place. So I did what you do when you want to belong somewhere officially. I sat down with the citizenship paperwork and began working through the questions one by one. The first questions were simple. What is your name?Where were you born? The final question was much bigger. Are you willing to pledge your allegiance to the United States of America? Somewhere between the signatures and the small print, I realized I was doing more than making a choice. I was making a commitment. I was committing to a country. As I look back on my life in this country, I know that America also made a commitment to me. That reciprocity, that mutual love, is what I find myself thinking about as this nation turns 250. An Immigrant’s Perspective Most of the people writing about this milestone were born in America. They inherited it the way you inherit a last name. I had to earn it. And there is something clarifying about that process. What came next surprised even me. Opportunities appeared where none had existed before. I built a career in banking, real estate, publishing and retail, and became an internationally known author and consultant. I was asked to serve on the boards of Truist, La-Z-Boy and Savista, and was appointed executive chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company. When you choose a country deliberately, moving thousands of miles from your family and with full awareness of what you are walking into, you do not take the birthday for granted. Two hundred and fifty years is not without its flaws and blemishes. But it is long enough to see that America offers plenty of opportunity to those who are willing to be persistent and take some calculated risks.