Q&A with New Board Member Craig Vick

We would like to extend our deepest thanks to Michael Henderson, who served on the CAC Board of Directors for nine years. “Michael has faithfully supported CAC for more than 28 years, first as a parent, then as a vocal advocate, and finally as a board member. His wisdom, experience, and business acumen have been invaluable in guiding our school, but most importantly, he loves CAC, its mission and its students. He will be missed!” – Wesley Walls, Head of the Board of Directors.

Thank you for your service, Michael!

Craig Vick, the newest member of CAC’s Board of Directors, is the father of two CAC students, the husband of CAC staff member Carrie Vick and the son of Bible teacher Dr. Tim Vick. Craig was recently named to Arkansas Business’ 40 Under 40 list and brings a unique skill set to the leadership team.

Read more about Craig, his family and what he is looking forward to as he takes on this new role with the Board of Directors:

Tell us a little about you, your family and what brought you to Little Rock.
My wife Carrie and I have been married for 13 years. We met at Harding and have lived in the Little Rock area the entire time we’ve been married. We have two kids – Jack, who is 12 and in the 7th grade and Lucy, who is nine and in the 4th grade. We’ve been at CAC for three years now. 

As for me, I grew up in Atlanta and went to school at Greater Atlanta Christian (GAC), where my dad taught Bible and coached basketball. I went to college at Harding University and, after graduation, took my first job in Little Rock with Deloitte, a public accounting firm.

I worked at Deloitte for about three years. We had Jack during that time, and I was scheduled to be on the road quite a bit, and I knew that wasn’t something I wanted to do. So I took a job with USA Drug, which was a retail pharmacy headquartered here in Little Rock. I worked with them for about five years until they were sold to Walgreens. I stayed on with Walgreens for a year during the transition, but that ultimately led me to the job I have now at Colliers International, a commercial real estate company. I’ve been with them for just over six years working as their CFO.

I’m involved at Pleasant Valley Church as a life group deacon. Together, Carrie and I lead a young married’s life group. Outside of that, most of my time is spent coaching Jack and Lucy in basketball during that season and kind of following them around with whatever is going on. 

What brought you to CAC?
We lived in Benton for a time but decided we wanted to live in Little Rock to be closer to both my job and to church. All at the same time, the opportunity to move our kids to CAC came and Carrie took a job at the secondary campus. It was kind of a whirlwind three months as we changed schools, changed jobs and moved houses. It was crazy, but we settled into a pretty good groove pretty quickly. 

What do you appreciate about CAC?
The family community that we’ve felt since being here. We got plugged in pretty quickly on multiple levels because from the beginning we experienced CAC from two perspectives – as parents of students and Carrie working in the counselor’s office and interacting with faculty on a daily basis. 

Carrie and I see the investment the teachers are making in Jack and Lucy’s lives. We see the effort they put into investing in the kids by trying to model Jesus and help them develop their own faith. They help our kids develop in all areas of their lives – not just academically, not just athletically, but spiritually as well.

The past year has brought a fun new connection to CAC for you and your family. Your dad, Dr. Tim Vick, is in his second year teaching Bible at the Secondary Campus! Tell us a little bit about that. 
It’s been really neat to have my parents move here from Atlanta and to see my dad teach Bible at CAC. For one thing, it’s been really neat to see my kids making connections with my parents. I love knowing that my dad is working with Jack on homework after school or practicing shooting basketball in the gym with him. 

One of the coolest things I’ve been able to witness is the connection that my dad has made with his students so quickly. He has five or six boys coming up to him every Sunday morning at church to give him a high-five or just to say “Hi.” That’s pretty neat. I saw it when he taught and coached me, but that was over 20 years ago.

You mentioned that you’ve had the opportunity to see CAC through two different perspectives – as a parent and as the spouse of a faculty member. Now you’ve added Board Member to that list. Welcome aboard! What are you looking forward to as you take on this new role?
I’m excited to add another, different perspective! The people who are already on the Board are fantastic, and after attending just one meeting, I can see the amount of effort that they put into trying to make this school be as great as it possibly can be. I’m excited to be a part of that and add whatever value I can and to participate with them. It’s a very strong Board in my opinion. 

It’s refreshing to hear that the core values of the Board and the school are being used as the guideline to make decisions. They are really striving to help make disciple-makers of the students here. I’m excited about that. I know that having multiple perspectives could be challenging at times, but I know that I enjoy that kind of work and I’m looking forward to doing that with the group here. 

This is an exciting time to be part of what CAC has going on. There are a lot of really good things that are already in the works for this school, and to be able to join the Board at a time when that is going on is exciting to me.

What are you hoping to bring to the Board?
Obviously, Christian education is important to me. It’s the world I grew up in. The high school I went to was very similar to CAC, and I was there from Kindergarten through senior year. I want to be able to help CAC continue to offer a high level of education with core Christian values. 

What I bring is a background in accounting and finance. I’m a CPA by trade…I live in a world of numbers. I think in Excel spreadsheets. Being able to make decisions and forecast based on numbers and operations is a strength of mine. I’m immediately drawn to those areas, but I’m also excited to see what value I can bring from a development and growth perspective through the relationships I have because of the work I do on a day to day basis. 

Thank you for giving your time and skills to help further the improvement of CAC! We are blessed to have a group of leaders so dedicated to our students and teachers. 

What do you like to do in your free time? Any hobbies or passions?
I’ve been accused by my wife of having too many hobbies, so that’s a balance that I try to work on. I love playing golf. My dad was the golf coach at GAC while I was in high school and even though basketball was our primary passion, when basketball season was over, we played golf together. That’s something that I’ve tried to get Jack involved in. And now that my dad is here, we’ve been able to play together more. 

When I went to work at Colliers, I picked up the duck hunting hobby, which has been a good fit between the golf season. If you had told me 15 years ago that I was going to love duck hunting, I would’ve told you that you were crazy. But I really enjoy it.

Okay, we have time for one silly question! If you had to pick one restaurant to eat at for the rest of your life (breakfast, lunch, dinner), where would you choose?
I’d have to go with Heights Tacos & Tamales. They’ve got everything. They do brunch, they’ve got chicken, steak, pork. I think that would be my choice right now.