By Robert Dilday
In a unanimous vote Jan. 2, trustees of Campbell University elected Brad Creed as president of the Baptist-affiliated school in Buies Creek, N.C.
Creed, 57, will take office July 1, succeeding Jerry Wallace, who retires June 30 after 12 years as president.
A historian of religion and a former pastor, Creed has been an administrator and professor of religion at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., for 13 years — since 2006, as provost and executive vice president. From 1996 to 2000 he was dean of Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas.
“Dr. Creed is the embodiment of all we hoped to find in Campbell’s next president,” trustee chair Benjamin Thompson said in a press release. “He brings the breadth of vision and depth of experience required to lead Campbell to even greater levels of regional and national prominence. He is a man of strong personal faith and deep integrity. I am confident that Campbell has found the right leader at the right time.”
Creed said he was enthusiastic about the future of the 127-year-old university about 30 miles south of Raleigh. Campbell is “blessed with a strong foundation and is unusually poised for additional growth and remarkable accomplishments in the days ahead,” he said.
A Texas native, Creed graduated from Baylor with a bachelor of arts in religion and received master of divinity and doctor of philosophy degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He also studied at Harvard University’s Management Development Program and in the Spanish-language program at Academia Hispano Americano in Mexico.
He and his wife, Kathy, have two grown children. A third child died in 2007 at age 20.