Northwest Florida State College President Dr. Devin Stephenson reminisces about his career in education and why he is driven to help others succeed.

Words by Terrell Manasco | Images by Ryan McGill

Some people want to be king. Dr. Devin Stephenson just wants to make you one. 

Stephenson has been President/CEO of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida, since 2017, but grew up in Jasper. He graduated from Walker High School in 1971, then studied business administration at Walker College, supporting himself by working at Kilgore-Green Funeral Home. 

After earning a business degree from Birmingham-Southern College in 1975, Stephenson, who had taken piano lessons for years, accepted an opportunity to travel as a pianist with an evangelical group that was holding crusades across the South. After a year or so of traveling, during which he and his wife, Judy, were married, he decided to come home. 

“I got to meet a lot of people but the traveling sort of isolated me,” he says. 

At the time, Stephenson hadn’t considered a career in education, but when he heard that Walker State Technical College in Sumiton (now Bevill State) needed a Director of Financial Aid, he decided to apply. He still recalls his interview with Dr. Harold Wade. “He said, ‘You've got the perfect degree. You're the person who can set this new campus-based financial aid program up.’”

Wade’s assessment proved to be spot-on. Through the years, Stephenson ascended through the college’s ranks, becoming Director of Admissions, Dean of Students, Financial Aid Director, Vice-President, and later President. In the process, he “fell in love with making a difference in people's lives,” which inspired him to earn master’s and doctoral degrees from The University of Alabama. 

“We could visually see how you could take somebody making minimum wage and put them through a nursing or welding program and…a high demand, high wage job was at the end of that program,” Stephenson says. “And that was the thing that really set me on fire to earn my degree and elevate myself to make a difference.”

When Dr. Stephenson was offered the president’s position at Three Rivers Community College in 2009, he and Judy moved to the town of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He remembers his 5 ½ years there as a “great experience.”

“When I went to Three Rivers, it was in disarray,” Stephenson says. “I like to fix things. Leaders at Bevill State would often turn to me and say, ‘Let’s fix this.’ At Three Rivers, we built three new buildings. That was one of my favorite places because of things we were able to do in construction that they had not been able to do in years.”

In 2015, Dr. Stephenson was hired as the president of Big Sandy Community and Technical College in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. The area’s once-robust coal industry was now faltering with 28,000 coal miners out of work. Stephenson, who had worked with miners in Walker County and understood the culture, felt compelled to help. “Eastern Kentucky was having the same issues with the decimation of the coal industry primarily because of EPA rules and regulations,” he explains. “I felt my job was a calling to help put programs in place. We built a state-of-the-art high technology training center in Pikeville, Kentucky, and started fiber optic training. They could learn fiber optic splicing, testing, and maintenance and earn a salary equal to what they made as a coal miner.”

A few years later, Stephenson got a call from constituents who supported Northwest Florida State College, suggesting he apply there. He politely declined. Then school representatives called again. After the third call, he agreed to visit the campus. 

“Judy and I drove there because it had to be an authentic fit,” Stephenson says. “It was like, wow! You're talking about an institution with 6,000 students. The college foundation is robust, possessing $65 million in assets. Athletics are Division I at the top level in the nation. My wife is a huge softball fan, and they have great softball there. We thought, this could really be a good fit.”

Despite doubts of being chosen from 130 applicants, Dr. Stephenson applied for the job. By January 1, 2017, he was settling into his new office in Niceville. “It's been unbelievable,” he says. “It's like the crowning achievement for me as I look toward the end of my career. We're honored to be working with the great people of northwest Florida who make us look so good every day.”

One mark of a good leader is choosing quality people for his team. Stephenson has wisely surrounded himself with leaders from diverse backgrounds. “I don't want people who think like me, and I don't want ‘yes’ people—I want diversity of thought and individuals who are innovative and entrepreneurial,” he says. “The challenge is getting people around the table who can work together, who think differently and won't get mad at each other. The challenge as a leader is facilitating that conversation and effectively managing change.”

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “You can have anything you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.” Dr. Stephenson subscribes to that philosophy and believes his purpose is to elevate others to their desired place. “I think my calling is not to be a king; my calling is to be a kingmaker,” he says. “If you help people get where they want to go and where they're gifted to go, it will automatically come back to you.”

Stephenson’s mentor, Dr. Harold Wade, helped advance his career years ago and Stephenson always tries to do what he can to pay it forward. “I've watched people whom I’ve had the opportunity to mentor move onto presidencies, and now deans and vice presidents across this country,” he says. “If you give me your best for 3-5 years and you want to elevate somewhere else, I will help you—but you have to plow the field first and demonstrate you are willing to make good things happen.”

Stephenson plans to eventually retire in a few years to his home on Smith Lake, where he can spend hours refinishing old furniture, planting Japanese maples, and doing landscaping work (“Look around and you'll see my mother's monkey grass (liriope) all over these grounds”). He may hang his hat in Florida, but his roots are here.

“I am a Walker County boy,” Stephenson says. “I grew up here and I will never forget what a great place this is.”

Until then, Dr. Stephenson will continue to lift others up where they want to be. “Every morning when my feet hit the ground, I say, 'God, help me be a better president today than I was yesterday. Help me touch somebody today.'”

That’s how kings are made. 78