Dr. Stephen E. Cross

Stephen E. Cross, director of GTRI and vice president of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Steve Cross sees the essence of his job as helping GTRI personnel at all levels from support staff to research scientists do their jobs better.

"I'm trying to show by example how a leader in GTRI should operate, through my own research in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, through my communication, and by creating and inspiring a shared vision with GTRI research faculty, staff and the rest of the university," says Cross, who took over as director in September 2003 .

Employing "Servant Leadership"

Also appointed as a professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Cross brings to GTRI's directorship a management style that reflects his own easygoing, down-to-earth personality. He describes it as "servant leadership." Cross counts himself fortunate to have worked under several of its practitioners during his career.

"Servant leaders are more effective leaders," he elaborates. "They work quietly behind the scenes and don't try to get attention for themselves."

Generating Results

At the same time, Cross' low-key demeanor masks an intense competitive streak. "I'm also driven to achieve great results, and I challenge existing processes," he says. "We can always do things better. It's never acceptable to say, 'This is the way we've always done it.' My personal motto is that progress begins when you deny the present concept."

Whatever one calls it, it's working. When Cross first settled into the director's office, GTRI's activity, as measured by the annual dollar amount of contracts and grants, was $115 million. For fiscal year 2008, the total stood at $185 million.

Finally... Resolution

While many factors have contributed to the growth in research, one of the most significant, from a historical perspective, involves the relationship between GTRI and Georgia Tech. An ongoing issue has been how to strike a balance that allows each organization to share and benefit from the other's resources, but without interfering with their operational prerogatives. The problem has nagged GTRI directors and Tech administrators at least as far back as the 1960s.

Under Cross' leadership, working with former Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough and former Provost Jean-Lou Chameau, this long-standing question has found a productive new path toward a resolution. Today, to an outside observer and increasingly on campus, too the distinction between research coming from Georgia Tech and research coming from GTRI is not obvious, and in many cases, not even relevant.

"I like to say there's just one Georgia Tech," Cross notes. "It consists of an academic side and a research side, but we operate as one Georgia Tech. The sum is greater than the parts."

Read Dr. Stephen E. Cross' bio