Starting Every Conversation with Yes with John Loyack

What if the simplest way to open every door in front of you is to refuse to close any of them?

In this episode, John Loyack, President of Rider University, shares how 40 years across corporate finance, energy, rail, and higher education led him to a model that turns struggling universities into engines of economic redevelopment for the cities they serve.

He has now done it three times, in Wilkes-Barre, Reading, and Pottsville, and is starting again in Trenton. But John traces the whole approach back to two men: a colleague at a lighting company who taught him a leadership style, and a construction executive who handed him an entire political network he had no obligation to share.

[00:04:48] What He Does and Who He Serves

• President of Rider University, a role he started in July

• His third time leading a higher education institution

• Came into higher ed as a first-generation student whose own college was struggling

• Knew nothing about higher education but a lot about restructuring businesses

[00:06:44] The Model: Unleashing What a University Already Has

• Universities rarely start these projects with money, but they have bright, talented people

• Connects those resources to the community to accelerate local development

• Students get experiential learning while providing real free resources

• He has now done this in four cities, most recently Trenton

[00:08:21] Why It Works Like Karma

• When you are in it for something bigger than you, partnerships become genuine

• He arrives with an asset to offer rather than an ask

• Resources then appear that he never would have had otherwise

• Partnerships fall out of it without him even trying

[00:10:26] Do It Before You Have to Do It for Real

• Wants students doing the work many times before it counts

• Runs student-centered business incubators with graduate mentors and local entrepreneurs

• Rider is built to support first-generation students, which benefits everyone

• That experience almost always leads to a job

[00:11:52] The Student as Customer

• Says students are customers and the value equation has to work

• An undergraduate degree means roughly another million dollars over a lifetime

• A graduate degree takes that to about a million and a half

• Higher education has to be the facilitator of that outcome

[00:16:03] How He Got Here

• First-generation student who found his own way to King's College

• Started at Pricewaterhouse and became a CPA

• Realized he wanted finance and problem solving inside a real business

• Moved to Lutron Electronics and then eight years at Union Pacific

[00:18:54] From CFO to College Turnaround

• Became chief accounting officer then CFO at PNM Resources

• The work connected him to Wall Street and bond deals

• Became CEO of the unregulated business after the company split

• Stepped in to save King's College and never left higher education

[00:20:36] What the King's Turnaround Produced

• Arrived when an S&P rating would have been good luck

• Left after completing an $80 million bond deal at BBB plus

• Built new programs, new athletics, and downtown Wilkes-Barre redevelopment

• There were no road maps for running a university like a business at the time

[00:22:00] Reading and the Poorest City in the Country

• Got a call telling him Reading needed what he had done in Wilkes-Barre

• Reading was Pennsylvania's fourth largest city and the poorest in the country

• Grew Alvernia from a master's institution to a professional doctoral one

• Converted half a million square feet of downtown into College Town

[00:23:53] When Others Start Following You

• Developers who worked in Reading came to Pottsville only because Alvernia went there

• They followed the university into a market it had proven out

• He calls it the highest form of compliment when partners follow you

[00:27:41] The First Relationship That Changed Everything: Mike Patino

• Worked with Mike at Lutron after leaving public accounting

• John was a public accountant suddenly standing on a production floor

• Mike did not have to engage at the level he did, but he did anyway

• Even when John failed, Mike made him feel good while teaching the lesson

[00:29:15] The Leadership Style That Built Thousands of Partnerships

• Mike gave him the architecture for connected personal relationships in business

• Accountability and genuine care for each other can coexist

• John credits Mike for the skill set behind thousands of partnerships

• Mike has no idea, because they never had that conversation

[00:31:02] Why It Matters More in Higher Education

• Business partnerships can be transactional and one-time

• A university is in its community forever with infrastructure it cannot move

• He is not leaving no matter how bad it gets

• That permanence makes relationship building the special sauce

[00:32:54] The Multiplier Effect

• Good relationships mean you think of that partner for things beyond the original scope

• That leads to more opportunities and more ways to get things done

• With a difficult client you only think about how to get out

• The best partnerships produce things you could not have drawn on a whiteboard

[00:34:01] The Second Relationship: Barry Schlauch

• Arrived in Reading knowing no one, unlike Wilkes-Barre where he grew up

• Walked downtown at sunset asking himself what he needed that he did not have

• The answer was access to the political machinery

• Barry, a construction executive, happened to attend his first president's dinner

[00:36:29] Hijacking the Meeting

• Barry told a trustee to get John into a meeting on downtown redevelopment

• Reading had 25 years of fits and starts with nothing to show

• John brought his brochure and took over the entire meeting

• They talked about nothing but College Town and the building they planned to buy

[00:37:00] The Network He Had No Obligation to Share

• Barry made his full political network available to John

• John joined every political event and they told the story together

• Every level of government showed up when the building opened

• Barry did not have to help; he saw the community impact and engaged

[00:39:22] Why He Signs Up in Five to Six Year Chunks

• These turnarounds are five or six year processes

• Real value comes from bringing what you know to a business that does not know it

• Every institution is a new Rubik's cube and a new community to impact

• He says it feels like his first job all over again

[00:41:05] The Vision for Rider

• Phase one is reshaping the institution to live within its cash flow

• Phase two is reprioritizing resources to build the engine for growth

• Phase three is community engagement and economic redevelopment in Trenton

• All three run at the same time and shift in weight as the years go on

[00:46:03] Final Word: Start with Yes

• A rule he began at Alvernia, a Franciscan institution

• About 75% of the time starting with yes gets both parties where they want to go

• Another 20% ends somewhere unexpected but still creates a partnership

• Saying no means you never get anywhere at all

KEY QUOTES

"To me, leadership at its best is when you're looking out for your community as a business leader and you're willing to put your capital at risk to make it happen, that's the best level of entrepreneurship." - John Loyack

"We start every conversation with yes. Because if you say no, you don't ever get anywhere." - John Loyack

CONNECT WITH JOHN LOYACK

Website: https://www.rider.edu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-r-loyack-77999012

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.r.loyack.2025

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