2025 South Conference

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Call for Proposals

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Keynote Speakers
Randy Boyd
President, University of Tennessee System

Randy Boyd

Randy Boyd serves as president of the University of Tennessee System, which includes campuses in Chattanooga, Pulaski and Martin; the Health Science Center in Memphis; and the Institute of Public Service. Additionally, it includes the flagship campus in Knoxville, which is also comprised of the Space Institute in Tullahoma and the statewide Institute of Agriculture. The UT System also manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory through its UT-Battelle partnership, where Boyd serves as co-chairman. 

In 2007, Boyd began a journey transitioning from entrepreneur and businessman to full-time public servant. Boyd is a founder and chairman of Achieves, a nonprofit which has helped send more than 133,000 students to community college free of tuition and fees. This success led then-Governor Bill Haslam to invite him to serve as Special Advisor on Higher Education in 2013. During his tenure, he is credited with being the architect of the Drive to 55 and the Tennessee Promise. In 2015, Gov. Haslam recruited him back to serve as Commissioner of Economic and Community Development. During his tenure, his team recruited 52,000 new jobs and $9 billion in new investment for the state. He also founded and co-chaired the governor’s Rural Task Force and chaired the Governor’s Workforce Sub-Cabinet.

Boyd is a first-generation college graduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis on industrial management from UT Knoxville. He also earned a master’s degree in liberal studies with a focus on foreign policy from the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Michael Torrence

President, Motlow State Community College