Long-time Beacon Trustees Reflect on a Decade of Growth and Transformation
By Richard Burnett
Tucked away in a few buildings in downtown Leesburg, Beacon College bore little resemblance to a college when Dr. Dan Averbeck and Hugh Thompson III arrived in 2012. As new members of the board of trustees, they knew Beacon faced some major challenges ahead.
More than a decade later, Beacon has experienced dramatic growth — expanding enrollment, academic programs and its physical campus — while earning national recognition as the first accredited college designed for students with ADHD and other learning differences.
For Averbeck and Thompson, who recently completed their service as trustees, watching that transformation has been a source of deep pride. Much of Beacon’s progress, they said, was shaped under the leadership of President George Hagerty, who also began his tenure in 2013.
“Everything that Beacon is today is due to George’s insights,” said Dr. Dan Averbeck, immediate past chair of the board of trustees. “It’s the result of his ability to establish relationships, raise money, and build the profile of the college.”
Averbeck served as board chair from 2018 to 2025. During that time, he helped foster a more collaborative and collegial board culture, according to current board chair Sarah Flanagan.
Dr. Dan Averbeck (left) speaking during a board of trustees meeting.
“His firm but calm hand brought great discipline to board practices,” Flanagan said. “His biggest talent was his ability to listen and respect all points of view, particularly those of the faculty and staff, whom he deeply respected. The seriousness with which Beacon board members take their responsibilities is in no small part a result of Dan’s leadership.”
Thompson brought four decades of corporate finance and management to the table – first as a senior executive of Coca Cola Foods, later as president of Cutrale Citrus Juices USA in Florida.
When I first got involved with Beacon, it was pretty much a sleepy school of maybe 150 students, and it was in financial trouble. Of course, it’s quite a different story today. Beacon now has more than 500 students; it has a good balance sheet, is recognized nationally as a good value for students, and a great place to send students who have learning differences.”
—Hugh W. Thompson, III, former member of the board of trustees
Flanagan said Thompson’s financial expertise was critical during Beacon’s period of expansion.
“Hugh was forever the great questioner who challenged assumptions to ensure we were looking at all the potential consequences of decisions,” she said. “He had a particular acumen for business and the need to ensure that any new path the college was taking had firm financial footings to stand on. His expertise will be sorely missed on the board.”
For Thompson, the key to Beacon’s successful growth was having a strong collaborative relationship with President Hagerty, Averbeck, and the other board members.
“Dr. Hagerty had the vision to grow the school, and build its image as the premier college in the country for students with learning differences,” he said. “We had a terrific board that was focused on the mission. We gave Dr. Hagerty all the support he needed to accomplish his vision. So that’s the legacy of this board.”
Hagerty praised both trustees for their lasting contributions to the college.
“It is impossible for me to contemplate the advances of Beacon College over the past seven to 10 years without acknowledging the central role played by Dr. Averbeck in his capacity as chair of the board of trustees,” Hagerty said. “He was a colleague to all – respected, admired, and held in great affection. These qualities were the foundation of his success as an effective and vital leader for a unique institution on a meteoritic trajectory.”
As for with Thompson’s appointment, “the Board recognized that it had attracted a business and financial leader who could ask the discerning questions and offer insightful future direction to a fledging institution with great expectations,” he said. “His abiding presence and perspectives paired with his calm and balanced approach to “all things financial” set Beacon on the course to its current enviable and distinct place among institutions of higher education.”
Among the trustees’ most memorable milestones were the decision to more than double enrollment, Beacon’s successful accreditation review by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the college’s navigation through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet both men agreed their most meaningful moments came during commencement ceremonies, when students crossed the stage surrounded by family and friends.
At the May 2025 ceremony, Thompson knew it would be his final commencement as a board member.
“I was sitting there watching these young students walk the stage to get their diplomas, and I realized how gratifying to me it has been to have spent 12 years at Beacon and be able to see results like that,” he said. “These students graduate and have opportunities they might never have had before.”
Averbeck agreed.
“You see the pride that the families and students have in their accomplishments,” he said. “You know that it’s about more than the academic accomplishment, which is great. But it’s also about how they learned to get along with others, increase their social skills, learn to work independently and hopefully live independently. It’s just very touching, and something I’ll never forget.”