“So, what made me interested in the Bush Center was, first, my admiration for the man. George W. Bush is an extraordinary person, and he made decisions on the basis of principles. I don’t think that those principles are his; I think those principles are American principles and they should be shared with young people or else they’ll wither away.
“There’s a lot of opportunity here. And so for me, it was the right time to join the Bush Center, to join SMU, and take the Bush Center to new heights.
“One of the things I most look forward to is moving back to Texas. I’m a Texan by birth and I haven’t been here in 23 years, and so to get back in this region to raise my family here, you know… I can’t wait to do that.
“I want to learn. I want to think. And this is a place where there’s constant learning and constant thinking going on. I think that the Bush Center has a real opportunity to revolutionize the model of presidential libraries to engage young people, 7,000 of whom are on this campus, and to teach them and cultivate them and expose them to principles of statesmanship and character.
“I’ve seen the way that those things work to change a life. And so to come and be a champion for the values that this center stands for has meant a lot to me.”
