[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 120 (Tuesday, June 30, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E592-E593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING THE RETIREMENT OF PHI DELTA THETA FRATERNITY CHIEF 
                   EXECUTIVE OFFICER ROBERT A. BIGGS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DAVID ROUZER

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 30, 2020

  Mr. ROUZER. Madam Speaker, I am honored and privileged to recognize 
Robert A. Biggs in tribute to his 44 years of service to the Phi Delta 
Theta International Fraternity as well as his lifelong dedication to 
the collegiate and interfraternal movement.
  I have been a very proud member of Phi Delta Theta since joining the 
North Carolina Delta Chapter in the Spring of 1992 when I attended 
North Carolina State University and later served as president in 1993.
  Phi Delta Theta is a values-based college fraternity with nearly 200 
chapters, 12,000 undergraduate members, and more than 280,000 lifelong 
members.
  Robert A. Biggs, outgoing chief executive officer of both the Phi 
Delta Theta Fraternity and its Foundation, has served the Phi Delta 
Theta organization since he graduated from Georgia Southern University 
in 1976. He began his career as a chapter consultant, and later served 
as director of chapter services for more than a decade until 1990 and 
has led the Fraternity as its executive vice president since 1991. His 
decades of leadership as the organization's fourth executive during its 
172-year history has provided great stability and bedrock support for 
its future growth.
  Since 2011, Bob has simultaneously held dual leadership posts by 
leading both the Foundation and the Fraternity. Since its humble 
beginnings in 1958, the Phi Delta Theta Foundation has awarded more 
than $4.1 million in scholarships and fellowships to outstanding young 
Phis. The Foundation has also granted nearly $10 million toward the 
Fraternity's premier leadership and educational programs, including the 
Kleberg Emerging Leaders Institute, the Presidents Leadership 
Conference, the Leadership Consultant Program, and the Alcohol-Free 
Housing initiative. The Foundation president position has only been 
held by two individuals during the past 20 years. It was his leadership 
and work with the Phi Delta Theta Foundation board of trustees that 
grew the assets of the Foundation from $4 million in 2011 to more than 
$20 million in 2018. Under Bob's watch and leadership, the combination 
of long-term strategic planning and a focus on the development of 
financial support blended both organizations into effective and 
streamlined systems, complementing each and working toward clearly 
defined, measurable goals.
  Phi Delta Theta was one of the first fraternities of its size to 
implement an Alcohol-Free Housing policy, requiring that all Phi Delta 
Theta chapter facilities remain alcohol-free to support the health and 
safety of its members and create an environment of brotherhood without 
the distractions of alcohol and/or substance abuse. An Alcohol-Free 
Housing Alliance of several fraternities was formed in the late 1990s. 
This initiative was one of the most controversial in the organization's 
history. Bob Biggs and the Fraternity's governing board, the General 
Council, led this charge with staunch determination and a resolute 
confidence that this was in the long-term best interest of its members. 
Bob had to lead in the face of threats, and even lawsuits, to move past 
a small group of detractors and keep the Fraternity on course. He did 
so with a positive attitude and clear vision, taking the lead among 
peer organizations. In 2018, three additional fraternities committed to 
alcohol and substance-free housing by 2020, bringing positive change to 
collegiate campuses and Greek communities everywhere.
  Along with the decision of Alcohol-Free Housing came an entire 
overhaul of how the organization would manage its undergraduate 
chapters, facilities, and volunteer leadership, including the need for 
fundraising to support the initiative and re-education efforts. As a 
result of Bob's resolve, the Fraternity was strong enough to not only 
withstand, but overcome the pressures from inside and outside the 
organization.
  Bob Biggs has been a leader in many fraternal associations, including 
the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), the Fraternity 
Executives Association, of which he is a past president, the Edgewater 
Conference, and the Cincinnati Society of Association of Executives. 
Bob has been a Certified Association Executive since 1986. In each 
organization, it has been the relationships with his peers that meant 
the most to Bob, and he continues to nurture and cherish them.
  In 2006, Bob was awarded Phi Delta Theta's Legion of Honor Award. 
This high honor recognizes a member who has made a major contribution 
of his time, effort and energy to serve the Fraternity and improve its 
stature, has distinguished himself in representing the Fraternity's 
principles of friendship, sound learning and rectitude, is widely 
recognized as a leader of fraternity men and

[[Page E593]]

identified with the promotion of fraternities, and has widely advanced 
and enlarged the opportunities for growth and leadership among college 
men through fraternities. Phi Delta Theta asserts that fraternities, 
and the education of their members therein, are a microcosm of 
university life. Bob Biggs has been instrumental in collaborating with 
various college and university presidents during his tenure.
  In Bob's own reflections recently when questioned about his impact on 
the Fraternity, he was emphatic that if not for his role at Phi Delta 
Theta, he would not have had the opportunity to meet and work with so 
many top level university and college officials, business executives, 
entrepreneurs, Nobel laureates, astronauts, and other citizens of great 
influence.
  In addition to his Fraternity related service, he has always been 
dedicated to his community of Oxford, Ohio where he and his wife Coni 
raised their three children, Lori, Kyle and Amy. He has been president 
or chairman of several local organizations, including the Oxford Rotary 
Club, Oxford Jaycees, Oxford Community Foundation, has volunteered as a 
troop leader with Boy Scouts of America, and served St. Mary Catholic 
Church on the Finance Committee.
  Throughout his career, Mr. Biggs has been an ambassador and advocate 
for all Greek organizations. Based on his many achievements and long, 
distinguished tenure within the Greek movement and Phi Delta Theta, I 
am honored and proud, as one of his Fraternity brothers and a colleague 
in the collegiate Greek movement, to acknowledge with gratitude the 
distinguished career of Robert A. Biggs, on the occasion of the 
culmination of his career of selfless service to the Phi Delta Theta 
International Fraternity and the Phi Delta Theta Foundation.

                          ____________________