George L. Hanbury II plans for life after NSU presidency

After 27 years of working at NSU, George Hanbury II, NSU president and CEO, plans to step down when his contract expires on Jan. 1, 2025.

“As much as I hate to admit it, I need to spend a little more time than I have in the past with my wife and family. They definitely deserve it. And I never knew what work life balance was. Work was life and life was work, and that was the balance,”

Hanbury said. “We need to take some time to smell the roses. And I’m learning that now at 80 years old.” Hanbury is now in the process of writing a memoir focusing on his life and role as a leader.

“My book is on what I’ve done for 60 years in a leadership role. I’m on chapter 10 and I have five more chapters to go,”

Hanbury said. “I hope I’ll have it finished by July of next year. So in a little less than a year, I should have it all wrapped up.”

Mako Radio Station Manager Alex Hernández, junior double major in international studies and national security, is in her second year of President’s 64, a group of 64 students who provide support and feedback to Hanbury. She remembers trying to take a picture with Hanbury at the Grande Oaks Club during a President’s 64 meeting.

“He’s like, ‘I’ll only take the photo if we do a fins up.’ And he made 20 of us do a fins up. It was so funny,” Hernández said. “He bleeds NSU blue, all his clothes are blue. Everything about him is so proper. When I first met him, he was just so nice.”

Hernández is sad to see Hanbury stepping down and is also thankful that he will remain president until 2025. She is curious as to how NSU will change in the coming years.

“I know that the person he’s going to be leaving his tenure to, we’re going to be in good hands, but Hanbury is one of a kind,” Hernández said. “What direction is the next president going to take the school? I hope that it’s one that continues Hanbury’s morals of unity and diversity.”

After six years of working with Harry Moon, NSU executive vice president and COO, Hanbury recommended to NSU’s Board of Trustees that Dr. Moon succeed him as president in 2025. Until then, Moon will serve as president-elect. A national search will be

held to find Dr. Moon’s successor, the next COO.

“It is an honor. I’m humbled by the Board of Trustees and Dr. Hanbury asking me to take this on,” Moon said. “It’s worth doing. I think some of my experience and, particularly in healthcare, will help us in advancing to the next stage of what we’re doing in the healthcare fields.”

Moon’s plans for NSU include developing 700,000 square feet of healthcare facilities, a new dental college, a cancer center, an increase in student housing options and more.

“I look forward to helping us advance along to become a R1 university. We’re a high-performing R2 today, and this is a Carnegie designation,” Moon said. “R1 is the highest level of research universities in the country, and it’s based on research expenditures, Ph.D. programs, postdoc fellows, a certain set of criteria.”

Hanbury will still be involved with NSU, but instead of president, he will be chancellor of the new Institute of Citizenship, Leadership, and International Affairs. Hanbury is currently working with the deans and the provost to create the institute and expects to reveal more about it in another year.

“Any president would love to say, ‘I’m going to stay until I die,’ but that doesn’t do any good for the university. That may be good for that person, but what’s best for the university is to have a logical, rational transition to ensure stability in the organization and continued progress toward preeminence,” Hanbury said.