by Georgiana Vines for the Knoxville News Sentinel (republished with permission) December 25, 2023
When Jerry Askew, who has been in higher education, health care and nonprofit work as well as being a community and civic volunteer, leaves one area of responsibility, he doesn’t get more sleep at night.
He gets another job.
With a three-page resume listing most of what he’s done in small type, he makes light of his situation.
“Looks like I can’t keep a job,” he laughs.
The Rev. Dr. Jerry Askew also is an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church and serves at St. John’s Cathedral downtown. In 2020, he was appointed archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, which means he works with 16 active deacons throughout the diocese’s 43 churches.
And on Dec. 1, he took on duties as interim canon to the ordinary, a member of Bishop Brian Cole’s diocesan leadership team.
Askew says he’s helped countless individuals through his paid and volunteer roles, and will continue to, but he feels working on systemic issues best helps the most people.
A year ago he was replaced by Mayor Indya Kincannon as a member of the Knoxville Utilities Board when he would have been eligible to serve another seven-year term. He was board chairman. But Kincannon had agreed in 2020 not to appoint current KUB members to consecutive terms as part of a compromise plan with environment and economics activists who wanted to change KUB’s charter through referendum.
Askew is fine with this decision but adds he’s most proud of a major decision made by KUB during his time as chair, which was to establish a fiber division to provide broadband services. The decision had to be approved by Knoxville City Council but wasn’t done without some opposition from what Askew calls the “for-profit” internet providers. KUB has started implementing the program.
“It was the most important project I’ve ever worked on for those underserved,” Askew said. His comments were made in an interview Dec. 11 at the diocesan offices at 814 Episcopal School Way off Lovell Road in West Knoxville.
Askew, who will be 70 in February, was born and grew up in Ahoskie, N.C. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976 with a major in recreation therapy and the intention of working with preschoolers who were intellectually disabled. Then he got interested in college work and went to the University of Memphis to study student personnel in the College of Education, and received a master of science. In 1982, he received a Ph.D. from the College of Education at Ohio State University.
“My hope was to become a college president,” he said.
He became a student personnel assistant in the office of the vice president for student services at Ohio State before going to the University of Miami in Florida to be an assistant to the vice president for student affairs and divisional ombudsman in 1982-85. In 1985, he came to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville as dean of students and eventually served as associate vice chancellor for development and alumni affairs in 1993-98.
He was a finalist to be UT president twice. Askew said he and his wife, Robyn, a lawyer, made a decision early in living in Knoxville to stay here rather than move away and take college administrative positions elsewhere that might lead to becoming a college president. They thought Knoxville was the place to raise their two children, Taylor and Avery.
In 1998-2001, he was president of the East Tennessee Foundation, a regional community foundation with assets, at the time, exceeding $60 million and serving 24 counties.
In 2001-17, he was senior vice president/vice president at Tennova Health Care, responsible for government, community and media relations, among other duties, for a system with seven hospitals and related medical facilities.
In 2017, Askew became president and CEO of the Alliance for Better Nonprofits (ABN). ABN later merged with United Way of Greater Knoxville and Askew “retired.” He said at the time, “More of the philanthropic dollar gets to go to the people we’re serving, and less to the administrative overhead.”
In mid-2022, Askew was asked to step in as the interim CEO of the Knox Education Foundation in 2022, a position he held for seven month.
He currently serves on seven nonprofit boards and leads two major fundraising efforts. The one he says he is most hopeful of creating systemic changes is the statewide Families First Community Advisory Board, of which he serves as vice chair. The board’s mission is to transform the way Tennessee delivers supportive services to families in need. He was appointed to the board by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge.
Seven pilot projects are underway in the Families First program and, if successful, they “will provide the opportunity to reimagine the way we deliver social services in Tennessee,” he said.
Whether working for the Episcopal diocese or as a volunteer, Askew continues to be a deacon, which he describes as “a prophetic voice for the poor and to the church and the world.”
When Bishop Cole announced Askew’s appointment as interim canon to the ordinary, Cole said Askew is “a trusted face and voice and presence in our diocese. … (The interim appointment) will give us a chance to have a smooth transition.” Askew succeeds the Rev. Michelle Warriner Bolt, who has stepped aside for some rest.