By: Laura Schaffer, Director of Communications If you have the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jeffrey W. Talley, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (Retired), it won’t take you long to realize that he’s a man who gets things done. I learned this for myself when I interviewed Dr. Talley, soon after his selection as Belmont Abbey College’s 21st President.  Although I certainly enjoyed our conversation, and he answered my questions thoroughly and good-naturedly, the fact is that Dr. Jeff Talley is much less interested in talking about himself than in rolling up his sleeves and getting to work… Working his way Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Jeff moved to Arlington, Virginia as a child when his father took a Department of Defense job at the Pentagon.  In a house full of brothers, the resourcefulness and tenacity that would later give Jeff such galvanizing impetus could also land him in hot water, as when he broke into his father’s closet and picked the lock on his classified Pentagon briefcase… This same dogged and creative energy, however, spurred Jeff to start multiple lawn service businesses in high school. “I was quite the entrepreneur,” he said, working what amounted to a full-time job on top of his classes. Focused more on working than on studying, Jeff “didn’t take high school very seriously,” but he graduated in 1977 with a college acceptance and a 1969 Mach I Mustang. Although his in-state college experience wasn’t a good fit, Jeff kept on with characteristic determination, working long hours to pay his way while continuing as a full-time student. “I did every job you could think of,” he remembers, including buffing floors and cleaning pews at the local Episcopal Cathedral.  Even working full-time, however, the college meal plan was outside his budget, so Jeff ate macaroni and cheese every...