Podcast Ep. 123: Celebrating Purdue Board of Trustees Chair Mike Berghoff’s Legacy and Impact

Mike Berghoff: 

This is Mike Berghoff and you’re listening to This is Purdue. 

Kate Young: 

Hi, I’m Kate Young and you are listening to This is Purdue, the official podcast for Purdue University. As a Purdue alum and Indiana native, I know firsthand about the family of students and professors who are in it together, persistently pursuing and relentlessly rethinking. Who are the next game changers, difference makers, ceiling breakers, innovators? Who are these Boilermakers? Join me as we feature students, faculty and alumni taking small steps toward their giant leaps and inspiring others to do the same. 

Mike Berghoff: 

It’s been really fun to watch an idea get formulated and implemented by people who are talented and fired up. It’s the part I’m going to miss a lot. 

Kate Young: 

In this episode of This is Purdue, we are talking to Mike Berghoff, chair of the Purdue University Board of Trustees. Mike is a Boilermaker alum who is passionate about all of the many things that make Purdue Purdue. He bleeds Gold and Black as do his wife and three kids who all attended Purdue as well. A 1985 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in industrial management, Mike has helped lead the university through incredible growth and success while managing significant challenges in the higher education landscape and operating through a global pandemic. During his time as chair, things like enrollment, national and global rankings, fundraising, research breakthroughs and partnerships have all seen significant increases. He served under two presidents, Mitch Daniels and Mung Chiang and has helped raise Purdue’s reputation and standing among the world’s top institutions of higher education. In October, Mike announced his retirement as chair of the Board of Trustees, effective January 1st, 2025. 

So in this special episode, we’re celebrating and reflecting on his 15 plus years of service. During his time as trustee, Mike has served as liaison to Purdue Athletics, chair of the Purdue Global Board, chair of the Physical Facilities Committee, chair of the 2012 Presidential Search Committee, chair of the 2016 search committee for the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and member of the Purdue Research Foundation Board and Purdue Fort Wayne transition team. He’s been busy, right? 

He also promoted the design and creation of a university master plan that led to a student success corridor, pedestrian walkway, and new gateways to Purdue’s main campus. As we dive into initiatives Mike has overseen, like Purdue’s Unprecedented 13-year tuition freeze, the recent launch of Purdue’s expansion into Indianapolis, the return of commercial air service and a planned new terminal for Purdue University airport, and so much more, you’ll see Mike’s passions and emotions for his beloved alma mater. Thanks for joining us for our last This is Purdue episode of 2024 as we celebrate the Mike Berghoff. Okay, Mike, thank you so much for joining us on This is Purdue. We’re so excited to celebrate you, reflect back on all your time. We’re really excited for this interview, so thank you. 

Mike Berghoff: 

I’m a little apprehensive, a little nervous. I hope I can do a really good job of capturing the best things that happened in those 15 years to Purdue. 

Kate Young: 

And we’re just excited. We know how passionate you are about Purdue. You’re a Boilermaker yourself. Okay, so you’re going to retire as chairman of Purdue’s Board of Trustees come January 1. But let’s go back to the beginning because you went to Purdue as a student. What first drew you to Purdue? What attracted you to coming to Purdue? 

Mike Berghoff: 

I would say the primary reason occurred late in April, hadn’t made a decision about a college and I was planning on playing football and that required me to go to a smaller school, until a former Purdue football star from Fort Wayne, Roosevelt Barnes, happened to be working out in a gym that I was working out at. It was at Dwenger High School because they had an advanced weight room and everything. And so Roosevelt Barnes was a four-year starter in basketball and in his fifth year decided to play football and ended up getting drafted by the Lions and played in the NFL for a number of years, so that tells you what kind of talent he was. 

And one time while we were in the gym together, I was slow but I was strong and I weighed more than I do now. He said, I am going to make a phone call. You need to call the folks at Purdue, the coaching staff and you need to go there. I let that be the deciding factor and off I went. And my football experience was short. It was two years. The first year was better than the second year because I was in better shape than a lot of the student athletes who didn’t have the same kind of gym as we did, but talent wins and they were way more talented. So it was the best pivot, last-minute pivot I’ve probably ever made for something like that. 

Kate Young: 

It changed the trajectory of your life. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Changed everything. 

Kate Young: 

Tell us about your student experience. You were a proud fraternity member with Theta Chi, you played football two years. What are some of your favorite memories from your time as a student? 

Mike Berghoff: 

At the beginning, let’s start with what that entry experience was because I accepted to go to Purdue late. I didn’t have any housing, so I show up and I have to get an apartment. So I am in an apartment with my brother and a goofy friend of his and I slept on the couch and that was about two to three weeks or maybe four weeks and an opening in one of the dorms became available. So I move in to Owen Hall Northeast 449 and it was an eight person, was an eight man. There were four rooms, two students each except it was a 10 because the need for rooms exceeded supply. So they put three mans and I was the 10. I wasn’t very welcome initially because I crowded out the space, but it turned out to be one of an incredible experience because I keep in touch with all nine. 

We were on top of each other for a whole year and I was a Owen Hall dormer and it was great. It provided really the first time ever for such a significant difference in each of the students you met, background, interests. And then the other thing that stayed with me was how the second semester there was a lot more room in the dorm than the first semester and a lot of people went bye-bye. And so sharpen the saw and don’t let that happen to you. So it was a great start. And then I guess just the second half of that was rushing and a good number of the guys in the dorm room, we all rushed together and the Theta Chi fraternity is just down the hill and that whole experience was terrific and lent a lot of other meaningful things to me. 

Kate Young: 

I’m a proud Delta Zeta right next door. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Oh yeah. The Acres. 

Kate Young: 

Mike shares more about a few professors and mentors who significantly influenced his college experience and career path. 

Mike Berghoff: 

A couple of folks come to mind. One was a physics professor named Professor Schluter and he was German and I thought, this is perfect. It’s like a movie, a German physics professor. He just had the most simplistic way of describing complex concepts, not really concepts in physics, they’re like laws, this is how it works. It was the first time I was so impressed about transferring knowledge in a teacher-student relationship that and partly because of the numbers were so big, I remember him very clearly. The second person was the alumni advisor at Theta Chi fraternity, Father Phil Bowers. He was the first person I ever met at Theta Chi, and it was in the summertime. He was a Maryknoll priest and he started out his priesthood in the Philippines in some of the most remote regions of the country. He was just an incredible advocate for life, for growth, for tolerance, and we became really close friends. One academic, Phil was campus-wide. He used to say Purdue has more Catholics than Notre Dame. We did. It was 10,000, but Notre Dame is only like 7,500. 

Kate Young: 

Mike was appointed a Purdue trustee in 2009 and has served as chair since July 2015. And by now you know that he’s a proud Boilermaker alum. So how did his values and experiences as a student shape his approach to serving his university? Mike digs into Purdue’s a well-recognized and admired tuition freeze. Plus, he shares an interesting story about reconnecting with the Boilermaker community post-graduation, which involved a job interview with Purdue Athletics. 

Mike Berghoff: 

It really opened my eyes to making sure the Purdue experience is attainable for all different sorts of students and you get reminded about the difference. Every time I ever went up there, there was some reminder about how different students are and what pathway they’ve sometimes had to take to make it work. Some students work full-time, some are really shy and they don’t get in a dorm they want or a fraternity they want. And then the financial part of it, that was a very important piece. 

So we started increasing scholarship opportunities and we decided to maybe make some more sense to expand more rapidly than we ever contemplated. And then of course the tuition freeze. It was a classic. Mitch came in and it’s really his very first meeting and Mitch’s way, well, I know this probably won’t work and folks will think it’s a bad idea and it might be a bad idea. Not sure we should do it, but boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Here’s the reasons why. That was an important piece of it and we thought it would only maybe last a year and here it is, 13, 14 years later. 

Kate Young: 

When you graduated, were you still involved in the Boilermaker community? What brought you back to serve in these roles for Purdue? 

Mike Berghoff: 

I had my first job was in Detroit, made it a little bit more difficult, but I found ways to come to campus. Also Kristin was working. I was working. We were in our first jobs, then we started having some kids, so it made it difficult. But anytime Purdue played at Michigan State or Michigan, we’d find an excuse and there are a lot of Purdue people in Detroit. I didn’t follow two closely about the important things at Purdue, but mostly what was happening in athletics and I had a burning fire for something to do there and I didn’t work very hard at trying to make it work for me until I read this post. 

I don’t even know where it was, couldn’t have been on social media because I wasn’t there. But that Morgan Burke, the athletic director at the time, which I’m going to say was probably 1992 or three or four, had made a decision to hire an in-house marketing person that would handle all of the marketing for Purdue athletics. And I’m reading this, I’m like, perfect for me. I’m going to apply. I told Kristin, I said, hey, look at this. Can you believe this? This job is hardwired for me. 

Kate Young: 

Dream job. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Yeah, I can’t believe it. She goes, well, how much are you going to make? Who cares? So it was a bad number. But anyway, so I interviewed and I was told there were a hundred people who had applied for the position. The short list had a one-on-one interview with Morgan. So I made the short list and it turns out there were only two of us is what they told me. So I had come down and I’m sitting in Morgan’s lobby in the same building that’s there today. It was new at the time. I go in for my interview and it went really well. I was pretty certain I nailed it. I was already thinking about, okay, where am I going to live? And as he ushers me out the door, the second candidate was a fraternity brother of mine at the same time. 

And the search was confidential and we had no idea. So it was like kidding me. So he goes into the interview and he ends up getting the job and he deserved it. He had a much better profile of experience that was suited for it. He was in sales and working for a medical company, but his name is Bob Bernard. I will not, I forgive him for it, but having made it all the way there, I started thinking about, well, maybe I have some influence over whether or not I get involved. And so I just started to stay close and then we moved to Indianapolis and then the connectivity kicked in. 

Kate Young: 

Mike takes us back to the moment he received the call about potentially serving as a Purdue Trustee, which ultimately changed the course of his life. 

Mike Berghoff: 

I was in Chicago with Kristin and we were at some mart. We had just bought a house and we were redoing it and I got a phone call and it was Earl Goode and he introduces himself and he says, my name is Earl Goode. He’s a southerner, comes from southern Indiana. And he was working in the governor’s office, explained that he wanted to talk to me if I had any interest in being a trustee. I knew who Earl was, but I didn’t know much about him. I knew enough that I needed to pay attention to the call. He was the chief of staff of the governor and thinking Trustee? Isn’t that what, when people die, don’t you have, is that what it is? No, I don’t have any experience, I didn’t even know what it was. He said, okay, well, I just wanted to know if you’re interested and maybe we’ll get back to you. 

And then about a month later, we were celebrating Kristin’s birthday at Ruth’s Chris at Keystone, and I’m getting out of the car and Earl calls again and he said, I’d like you to come in for an interview. I said where? I need you to come down to the State House and we’d like you to meet the governor. I went, okay. So I tell Kristin, the only trustee I really knew was Bill Osterling. I go, do I need to wear a suit down there? And he goes, yeah, I recommend you wear a suit. 

So I went down and Mitch was having a press conference and the room was full and there was a lot of hustle. And right when I got there, his executive assistant said, oh, did you get my message? And I thought, that means the governor’s going to be delayed. He’s got this press conference. I said, I can wait. Mitch came out, grabbed me, says, I’d like you to sit in on this one. Okay. It’s the first time I really met him. So we went through the press conference and I watched him work and it was remarkable. I won’t go into what the press conference was about, but it was a battle between him and the state legislature about the budget. So they clear it all out. We sit down and he interviews me for about two hours, which for Mitch is a long time. 

I didn’t know that at the time, but I got up, it was over. Walking out the door and I was kind of like, maybe there’s somebody else out there. And he looked at me and he says, you’re my guy. That’s how it began. 

Kate Young: 

Take us back 15 years ago. What were you thinking when you first came in as a trustee? What were some of your goals and how did that vision evolve to today? 

Mike Berghoff: 

Once the trigger got pulled, I started, I’m pretty active about thinking about how I can help, and one area that was close to me that Purdue was failing in was on the whole physical facilities department was not well-liked by any engineers or contractors in the state. In fact, I had significant numbers of Purdue people say they’d rather work for the physical facilities department in Indiana than Purdue, and I knew it because we had considered doing work up there too, and it needed an overhaul. It was a 50-year overdue overhaul. 

And so that was the first thing I started on. I remember one of our very well-known alums, Bob Bowen, you probably have had one with him. He came over and he says, you’re never going to get it fixed. I said, okay. We got at it, made some changes, and now Mike Cline, Jay Wasson, the entire team over there is preferred. We went from deferred to preferred. That was the primary thing. The second thing was athletics. We were in a very bad spot. Nobody was happy. I wasn’t happy and I knew that we needed to elevate that because that’s the front door for many people. That became a high priority. Keith Krach appointed me the first liaison to athletics, and that’s what I started focusing on. 

Kate Young: 

It’s your background. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Right. 

Kate Young: 

What were those early days like? Do you remember? 

Mike Berghoff: 

They were with Morgan. He was frustrated and he had a couple of things that he wanted to get accomplished. One of them was the baseball stadium, the women’s softball and the women’s soccer field. I think we had progress on those. There was resistance. I wasn’t the only one, but I helped get those out of the way and we got them all built. And that was the first time people started to realize, ooh, maybe we got something here. The next big thing, which I think was a big, big deal, was a football complex. Mitch and I went at it for a while. He just didn’t want to spend the money, but he knew internally it was important and just kept pounding him and pounding him and pounding him. He had some very good points. I had some very good points. And one point in his office, he grabbed his napkin and he said, I surrender. Let’s get this thing done. And so when that building went up, it sent a signal. Everything’s changed. Those were two really big steps for me and I think we’re partway the pathway to advancing in the board. 

Kate Young: 

For those who don’t know, leading Purdue’s board of trustees is not Mike’s only gig. He is also the founder and president of Lenex Steel, a steel fabrication company based in Indianapolis. We actually shot our interview with Mike right inside his office at Lenex. Mike shares how he’s managed to balance his full-time role at Lenex with working for the board of trustees over all of these years. 

Mike Berghoff: 

It’s an exercise for sure. I spent more time at Purdue than here by a large margin, made possible by the staff we have here. It was a challenge to them, and so they answered the challenge. I let them run. Nothing but growth occurred, so I didn’t have many knobs to turn. Now it does prevent some very significant decisions from being made that only the president or CEO can make, and that’s how I’m going to spend my time starting January 1st. We’re going to start addressing those types of topics. 

Kate Young: 

How did this position here and all of the work that you’ve done with your company influenced how you work and collaborate with people within Purdue and key stakeholders? 

Mike Berghoff: 

The role of Purdue helped me network with my industry folks. They would communicate with me. They’d call if they had a problem or ideas. Lots of them have ideas, really good ideas. So that was one way. Culturally here, for me, it’s all about the people and then the customer. That’s something I took to Purdue. I wasn’t exclusively that, but I wanted to make sure that that was the mentality we had and I think that existed and got better. But I also probably benefited more from the exchange about what we’re doing at Purdue here. I got to watch a lot more people and I got so many different departments and it’s a complicated place. It’s a complex place. So I got a lot of exposure that most business people don’t have and that helped us here. 

Kate Young: 

Purdue University is the number one most recognized public university in the country. What moments stand out to Mike as pivotal in shaping our university’s legacy over the years? 

Mike Berghoff: 

I think it was confirmation that all that we had allowed us to attain that level, and I think we kept a cover on it too long because of humility. And that is one of the things that I worked on really heavy is promoting them as a board strategy is we needed a comprehensive marketing strategy. And it started with Dan Hasler making a position for him and investing in that, and that’s what happened. And so I think the roots for that being the most, well-known Purdue University were there, but they were undercover and all we did was turn the light on. People noticed. 

Kate Young: 

As chair, you’ve supported the 13-year tuition freeze. We talked about that a little bit, so rare in higher education. How have you seen this impact Purdue students and families? You said previously that’s one of the most important things that you’ve gotten to work on, and it was so important to your heart. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Walking around, seeing students working in all economic backgrounds, it hit you there. The number of parents who refer to that as one of the main reasons their children are going to Purdue, it’s another key factor. And plus I think it showed innovation and an appetite for risk that we were willing to do something that hardly anybody was willing to do. We took the complexity out of it, made it really simple. We just said, as long as our revenues exceed our expenses, why would we raise tuition? And so we had a surplus and we said, when the surplus goes away, we’ll raise tuition. Well, here we are. It’s been 13 years of surplus and 13 years of flat tuition. 

Kate Young: 

The Purdue Moves initiative in 2013 and Purdue’s next moves in 2021 were transformative for the university. Mike shares more about the impact of these initiatives on Purdue’s community and reputation and his role in shaping them. 

Mike Berghoff: 

I think for the board, Mitch hatched the idea and it was a signal that we’re on the move. We will set some bold initiatives and targets to go with them and we have the people to do it. That’s how it started. It’s been really fun to watch an idea get formulated and implemented by people who are talented and fired up. That made the 150th an easy decision, and we had an excuse to even go bolder, which was the anniversary, and that helped highlight the university. So maybe we got another one coming. 

Kate Young: 

And then more recently we have the Mitch Daniels School of Business. We have Purdue Computes, One Health. All of these initiatives are emerging. What excites you about these and what it means to the future of Purdue? 

Mike Berghoff: 

The most exciting for me personally was the Daniels School of Business. Our business school in the sixties and seventies were highly regarded, lost our way in the eighties and nineties, didn’t really have the identity. And so Gary Layman, Mike Klipsch and I all came out of that program and decided that we wanted to have a look at what could we do differently at the Daniels School. When Mitch came on board, it was really the leverage we needed. He said, this is a perfect justification, let’s name it after him and totally rebuild the school in a different way with combination of engineering and business. Build a new building so we can handle the growth. That’s a big one. And then the One Health, it’s just so practical. Animal, people and plant health and to partner with folks in Indianapolis downtown at the same time Purdue University Indianapolis, it’s a great fit and we’re going to expand our footprint. 

Kate Young: 

You’ve also overseen the return of commercial flights. We recently did a podcast about that and all these different partnerships, Rolls-Royce, etc. What do these developments mean to you that had such a big role in that? 

Mike Berghoff: 

The best thing about this is it builds a stronger web, geographic web around campus for people like Saab and Rolls-Royce, and to bring their folks and now SK hynix. And that web ideally is going to build a stronger, more interesting West Lafayette, which brings all sorts of things, entertainment, retail, food and beverage, new residents. And that’s what I’m excited to watch. Our downtown really isn’t, the boundaries aren’t perfectly suited, and with this expansion, there’s going to be more room and there’s going to be more people who are going to be looking for housing in West Lafayette. And I think that’s the neatest thing. And when an airline comes, if it’s successful, it’s another visual tool that people say, wow, they’re on the move. 

Kate Young: 

I even look back when I was a student, we never went to downtown Lafayette. I’m trying to think of how long ago I was a student. Anyway, doesn’t matter. But now I love downtown Lafayette and there’s so much more vibrancy and things to do and cute little streets and shops and restaurants. So that’s been really fun for me to see when I came back to work for Purdue. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Yeah, there’s a lot to like down there. 

Kate Young: 

Purdue is frequently part of national conversations on innovation, affordability and workforce development. So what does Mike see for the future of Purdue when it comes to our reputation continuing to evolve both nationally and internationally? 

Mike Berghoff: 

I think people expect us to continue to be innovators. They’re looking for routine improvements that nobody else thought of, our peers haven’t thought of, and create them to be followers. And we’re the leader, and I think that’s what Purdue people want. That’s what the state legislature would like. It’s what the state deserves and I have an appetite for that. I just can’t stand still and let it go. That requires investment and I’m confident the board will continue to see that as a primary objective for. 

Kate Young: 

You talked a little bit about how you had to balance between your full-time job and being chairman. With all the different projects and these complex decisions you had to make, how did you adapt to that? How did you face these challenges and overcome them throughout your time on the board? 

Mike Berghoff: 

Well, most of them made sense, but not all of them were supported. My primary approach as board chair was to seek understanding of all 10 and make sure everybody understands what the subject is and why it’s important. And then if I did enough to make sure they could communicate together, the outcomes came easier and almost always were the right decision. And that’s just the style I deployed. I’m not a, this is what I think we should do. I save that. It’s more like, hey, I’d like to get your opinion on this, this, and this. And we have a really strong board who’s unselfish, not power seeking, and they’re just really collaborative. That was very fortunate for me. 

Kate Young: 

They’re all passionate about Purdue. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Very passionate. 

Kate Young: 

You used a word earlier that I loved, fired up. They’re fired up to serve Purdue, right? 

Mike Berghoff: 

Fired up and restless with good intent. 

Kate Young: 

When Mike announced his retirement in October, former Purdue President Mitch Daniels said, “I’ve been trying for days to sum up concisely how massive a contribution Mike Berghoff has made to the success of Purdue during his chairmanship of our board. It’s beyond me. The record is too huge.” And Purdue, president Mung Chiang said, “Every moment Mike has the best interest of Purdue and his heart, and every moment he pours his heart into Purdue. Our university is blessed to have Mike Berghoff as one of the best Boilermakers ever.” I asked Mike how working so closely with these two remarkable Boilermaker leaders has impacted his life. 

Mike Berghoff: 

First of all, when you’re leaving, people say that stuff about you, whether it’s true or not. So don’t get too excited about that. It’s the part I’m going to miss a lot. Mitch’s leadership is something to watch. Look at his success and where he started. So it was a real privilege. It helped that I chaired the search for Mitch in 2012. That helped a lot because we were recruiting him. So there was a lot of conversation between the first request, hey, do you have an interest? And him saying yes. 

And so I had to work that and Keith Krach had to work that. We had a search team that was on a separate path. Those were my very first observations with him, and that set me up pretty well I think once the board decided I was going to be the board chair. And then with Mung, it’s a whole different kind of a talent. He’s one of the most talented persons I’ve ever met. Just his intellectual skills, his high motor, his compassion, sensitive person, wonderful family who just took on a big job. I like being with his family. I learned something from him and he learns a lot from me because we both have those gaps and we fill them together. We’re in really, really, really good hands. It’s going to be an exceptional run for him. It’ll get better every year. 

Kate Young: 

Mike shares a few more stories from his time on the board that have deeply impacted him. 

Mike Berghoff: 

There’s been so many, some that are comical that occurred when Bob Bowen learned that I was chairing the search. He called me up and he said, I’ll be at your office in five minutes. I have a list of prospective candidates. His office is like a half a mile. Shows up here. First guy you should get, but you never will, Mitch Daniels. So number two was some general in the Navy or Army, you’re probably not going to get him either. Then he had three or four. 

Kate Young: 

He seemed to challenge you a lot throughout the year. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Yeah, that’s the way is it, flies in and flies out. And the other thing I’ve been struck by since making the announcement is it’s really moving. How many people have come up to me and said, when I’m at the basketball game last week, I’m going up the aisle and a couple of folks that don’t even know stop me and look at me in the eye and say, thank you. They’re like, for what? There’s just a lot of great stories like that, hearing about students interactions with certain faculty and they say, the person changed my whole life. Just so many different avenues you can go. Oh, and with alumni, donors, you hear why donors give. It’s really moving and the numbers, they’re huge, it opened my eyes. There are a lot of people that have a lot of money and have interest in some really cool causes. There’s never been an interaction. Almost every trip I’d take up there, there’s some sort of interaction that reinforces why it’s been worth it. 

Kate Young: 

So as Mike prepares to step down as chairman in 2025, what legacy does he hope to leave at Purdue? 

Mike Berghoff: 

The board is, I don’t worry about it at all. I want them to be hungry and restless and be number one, be the reason why we’re on national news because of innovative ideas and because we’re doing different things. I want parents to call and say what great experience their kids have and can’t believe it exceeded their expectations. I want it to be a more significant part of the state, play a broader role nationwide. I know we’re the most recognized public university in the country. That’s an important thing to sustain because it means you’re relevant. You have some purchasing power. I don’t want to be quiet. We need to compete at a high level at athletics, need to keep proving our facilities, the master plan. I’m certain it’s going to happen. If it doesn’t, maybe I’ll come back. 

Kate Young: 

Famous last words. What advice would you share with alumni or anyone in the Boilermaker community? How can they get involved and maybe stay involved? 

Mike Berghoff: 

One, I would say stay in touch with trustees if you know them because it makes a difference. People call and make suggestions, folks who never heard or you’re on a trip and you meet them and I start registering. A person has some skills, some background, maybe they’d be a good board member or maybe we should hire them or maybe we can give them a special assignment to do. There’s a lot of that. Obviously the alumni association, connectivity helps. Stay engaged, follow and something good’s going to come out of it. 

Kate Young: 

Okay. A little behind the scenes moment here. Mike said that he met his wife Kristin, also a Boilermaker, at Sgt. Preston’s in downtown Lafayette. Mike shares more about how he and Kristin have kept it all in the family when it comes to bleeding gold and black. I want to get to the personal side of Mike Berghoff. I know you have three kids. They all went to Purdue. 

Mike Berghoff: 

They did. 

Kate Young: 

What does that mean to you to watch them grow up, follow in your footsteps at Purdue and probably some of the time you were on the board while they were students, I imagine? 

Mike Berghoff: 

What makes you think they had a choice? Lauren was the oldest and I said, you can go to any place you want and reason as long as you have a compelling reason. She came back, she says, dad, I’ve looked far and wide and I want to go to the University of Colorado in Boulder. I said, what’s your compelling reason? She says, they don’t have school on Fridays in the winter so we can all ski. Said, you got the colors right, you’re going to Purdue. And then she quickly discovered that having a dad who is a board chair had some advantages. So she got pretty comfortable. And then my second daughter followed her sister and I was on the board and my son was kind of the same thing. Everybody had a great experience, so that helped. 

Kate Young: 

What does that mean to you to have this big Boilermaker family now? 

Mike Berghoff: 

Yeah, I love it. Kristin mostly loves it except when it invades personal life. A lot of our travel was centered around Purdue travel. Hey, kids, Thanksgiving is going to be in Dayton Ohio this year. Why’s that? Well, first round of the tournament. It’ll be new and fresh us to do some other things, and I’m excited about, and she is too. I’m excited. I’ll be around more. I’ll be here more in the office, and I’m really looking forward to that. 

Kate Young: 

Finally, Mike shares his next giant leap with us and sums up what this entire experience as both a trustee and chair as meant to him throughout the years. 

Mike Berghoff: 

I think on the professional side, I’ve labeled this next decade is where we’ve completed two decades. First decade was about survival. Second decade was about growth. The third decade, which we started in February, is about transformational change that’s within the company. I don’t need to go in what that means, but it means growth and transformation of systems and our production facilities, and that can’t happen without me. So I’m excited about that. Personally, I don’t know. It’s going to be tough. I’m going to miss going up there, coming over the bridge, seeing the tower, going over the Wabash River. That’s when I start to get off the phone and change my gear and parking spots. I’m going to miss it. Maybe I’ll be a relaxed fan. 

Kate Young: 

You’ve been at Purdue for so many pivotal moments and a couple leadership changes. What has this whole experience meant to you, to sum it all up? 

Mike Berghoff: 

I wildly underestimated what it would mean to me. Well, I didn’t know what to think of it until I walked in the door for my first board meeting, and so I also got to thank Bill Osterley. He was deceased. He was on the board at the time, and I never asked him, but was pretty clear he was the one who recommended me to Mitch and he was a fraternity brother. He was a better friend with my brother John than he was with me. But when I walked in, my whole world changed, and it sounds phony or corny, but it fills up a lot, fills up a lot of your calendar. It fills up a lot of your energy, it’s a complicated complex place. I really enjoyed that piece of it. 

Kate Young: 

We can’t thank you enough for joining us and sharing your stories. Is there anything I missed that you want to share with our listeners? 

Mike Berghoff: 

I hope not. I would like to thank you with all the listeners, and I know you have a lot of them for being supportive, being positive, thoughtful, inquisitive, eager to let the spotlight shine on Purdue and be a great example to other universities, and I really appreciate that opportunity that I was able to help make that possible and it’ll carry on. 

Kate Young: 

Well, we can’t thank you enough again. It was a pleasure. 

Mike Berghoff: 

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for bringing me into the famous circles of this podcast gate. 

Kate Young: 

Thank you. 

We are so thankful Mike joined us on the podcast. He is a legendary Boilermaker whose service at Purdue has impacted thousands of people throughout the years. By the way, Mike has quite a fun office at Lenex Steel, and you can check out a tour of his office wall adorned with some fun Boilermaker tributes on our podcast YouTube page, YouTube.com/@thisisPurdue. You can also watch Mike’s full video interview while you’re there. Finally, I have an exciting update for our This is Purdue listeners as we approach the holidays and very soon, 2025. This podcast will be moving to a new seasonal approach with fresh new episodes coming in early February for the spring 2025 semester season. We are featuring a major league baseball groundskeeper, an engineer who plays a huge role in the iconic fireworks shows at Disney, a scientist who uses AI to maximize the benefits of donated food and so many more incredible Boilermakers next year. 

Our team is also thrilled to settle into our very own brand new podcast studio in 2025, so keep an eye out for that on our YouTube channel. With all of these updates, it’s never been more important to follow This is Purdue on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust us, you don’t want to miss any of these episodes. Happy Holidays, Boilermakers, and we’ll catch you in 2025. 

This is Purdue is hosted and written by me, Kate Young. Our podcast videography for this episode was led by Ted Schellenberger in collaboration with John Garcia, Thad Boone, Zach Mogensen and Alli Chaney. Our video production assistant is Dalani Young. Our social media marketing is led by Maria Welch. Our podcast distribution strategy is led by Teresa Walker and Carly Eastman. Our podcast design is led by Caitlin Freville. Our podcast photography is led by John Underwood. Our podcast team project manager is Rain Gu. Our podcast YouTube promotions is managed by Kirsten Bauman. Additional Writing and research assistance is led by Sophie Ritz. And our This is Purdue intern is Caroline Keim. Thanks for listening to This is Purdue. For more information on this episode, visit our website at purdue.edu/podcast. There you can head over to your favorite podcast app to subscribe and leave us a review. And as always, boiler up.