Delta Chi - Knight Errant Spring 2022

68 KNIGHT ERRANT | THE DELTA CHI EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
Impact Report: Leadership
A Portrait in Leadership:
“As a leader, you’re not in charge;
you’re responsible for those in your charge.”
Like most great leaders, Sean Conrad, Gorham State
’97 has developed influence quietly, humbly, through
personal relationships and facilitating connections with
others for action-oriented results. It’d been 21 years
since graduation and his last fraternity involvement;
juggling a successful logistics career, two young boys
(Hayden and Dylan), his wife’s interior design business
taking-off (Kelly Conrad & Co.), but Sean decided to
join the newly formed Delta Chi Atlanta Area Alumni
Chapter (DXAAAC) in 2018. There he found alumni
relationships with common values in men who were
in the same place of life. He began attending monthly
Brothers’ Night Out dinners, and his interest grew.
Now he’s a member of the Georgia Tech House Corporation,
the North Georgia Alumni Board of Trustees, an
officer in the DXAAAC, Regional Leadership Conference
Planner (DXAAAC hosted in Destin, FL 2020), a three-time
“A”s’ Academy Facilitator, a four-time RLC Facilitator
at Regions IV, VII, an VIII, and spearheads Delta Chi’s
international sponsorship and participation of the Max
Gruver Foundation on Hazing Education’s annual 5K
(70 Delta Chi participants in 2022)!
He’s increased his contributions to the DCEF as a
four-time Trustee Society donor, a Lamp of Learning
Society donor, and recently recognized as a Leges Club
($15,000+) lifetime giving donor. What sets his donor
record apart is loyalty; 252 gifts since 1999. Sean
started with $25 per month, and continued that commitment
for two decades before his career allowed him
to do more: “I’ve always believed in the Brotherhood of
a Lifetime.” Sean and Kelly attended the Trustee Society
Experience in Lexington, and Winter Alumni Weekend
in Austin, building new friendships and having a lot of
fun along the way!
LEADERSHIP
Through it all, Sean’s personal touch shines: “His enthusiasm
is contagious” says Weslee Knapp, Georgia
Tech ‘98 owner of Kellar-Knapp Realty. Sean has quickly
built the trust of IHQ Staff, the Board of Regents,
the DCEF, alumni, and Chapter members in an everpolarizing
society. Ask Sean about his leadership and he
quickly gives credit to the people around him, “I’m just
the connector” he humbly states.
“I grew up in Portland, Maine and went to the University
of New Hampshire my freshman year; I rowed Crew
- very competitive and like a fraternity but without
the ritualistic values. Two years later I enrolled at the
University of Southern Maine (Gorham State). I walked
into the Delta Chi house during RUSH and found an old
composite in the foyer of 23 Pebble Street - I pointed
to a picture and said, “That’s my stepdad!” At that
moment everything changed for me.
Roger Cote, Gorham State ‘76 married my mom
during my senior year of high school. I had seen some
of his Delta Chi stuff but had no idea he was one of
the key guys who spearheaded the chapter’s early years
and led the house corporation; he was royalty. Through
Delta Chi we established a great friendship that grew
into the natural love a father and son would share.
Alumni were present all the time in our Chapter, which
is probably one of the reasons I’m now at the Tech
house so frequently! Those guys were mentors to me
throughout college and got me involved in my career.
Matthew Lapointe, Gorham State ‘94 gave me my
first opportunity to work in logistics, unloading baggage
at the airport. I built relationships with everyone
in airport operations.
One of my managers gave me the opportunity to apply
for my first post-graduate job, with Delta Air Lines, and
funded my one-way ticket to Los Angeles to begin my
career. I borrowed $1,500 from my grandfather, took
two suitcases, bought a used car, and lived out of it
for my first week in L.A. I’ve always tried to be kind to
others, and it has always served me well. I befriended a
guy in training school and slept on his couch for weeks
until I got on my feet.