The Greg Kelly Memorial Scholarship

Honoring a Generous Leader

The winter before her first year at Haslam, Katie Roberts awoke one morning with an urge to check her email. “I just had a gut feeling there was something important there,” she says. Her intuition proved true. Roberts found a message naming her the first recipient of the Greg Kelly Scholarship, which funds four years of tuition for one supply chain student each year.

Roberts completed a general Haslam scholarship application, but she was not aware of this particular opportunity. “I was overjoyed. My parents knew how much I wanted to go into supply chain, but the scholarship was such an unexpected gift.”

Katie’s mother, Lisa Roberts, says the scholarship is an answer to the family’s prayers. “As a high school educator, I had more college debt than I wanted. It means a lot to us that she won’t have that burden.”

For Roberts, receiving the scholarship also connected her with the Kelly family—and Greg’s legacy.

Leadership, Humor, and Wisdom

Greg Kelly (HCB, ’86) met his wife, Julie Kelly (HCB, ’86), while both were studying at Haslam. Optimistic and quick-witted, Greg thrived as a business student. Both he and Julie enjoyed UT sports, often attending football games and playing intramural softball together on campus.

After the pair graduated—Greg with a degree in supply chain management and Julie with a finance degree—they married and had two children, Matt and Lauren. Greg pursued a successful career in management for manufacturing companies. In 1999, he became the director of fulfillment and manufacturing operations at Dell, shouldering responsibility for four plant locations servicing the U.S. and directing 2,000 associates involved in delivering products to customers.

Greg’s generous leadership style and focus on character led to his success, Julie says. “He always believed the best about people and that was one of the reasons he did so well in the manufacturing environment. He always treated everyone with respect.”

While he was at Dell, Greg met Steve Cook, and the two colleagues became friends while working at the same Nashville site. Their friendship grew as they worked closely together. “Greg was one of the best operators I’ve ever worked with because he was very transparent,” Cook says. “You always knew where you stood with him, and he did a great job connecting with people on the manufacturing floor all the way up to senior executives.”

Years later, the friends reconnected after Cook started his own firm, LFM Capital. In 2019, Greg left his role as global IT director for supply chain operations and materials management at General Motors to lead an LFM-owned company, Heartland Steel Products. After serving as CEO for nearly three years, Greg was diagnosed with cancer in 2021. With a desire to spend whatever time he had left with his family, he stepped down from his role at Heartland to undergo treatment.

For the next year, Greg continued to serve in an advisory role at Heartland. His health improved, and he was talking with Cook about coming back when, in 2022, the cancer returned. Greg died several months later.

The Gift of Education

Colleagues at LFM Capital and Heartland decided the best way to memorialize Greg was through a supply chain scholarship at Haslam. “We knew he was really passionate about UT, the education he received there, and his UT Volunteers,” Cook says. “I’m really thankful I had a chance to talk to Greg before he passed and tell him what we were planning to do. He was super excited about it.”

LFM Capital put together $1 million to get the scholarship off the ground and raised more through social media and memorial gifts from friends, family, and colleagues. The effort is important to Cook’s firm both as a way to honor Greg’s legacy and as an investment in the pool of supply chain talent. The company is passionate about U.S. manufacturing and believes in the need for a strong manufacturing base with intelligent people who dedicate their careers to the field. “The supply chain program at Haslam helps to generate those people,” Cook says.

For Julie, the scholarship both carries forward Greg’s appreciation for education and is a way to keep his memory alive. “One of the hardest things about losing him is trying to figure out how to share who Greg was, and this is a great way to do that,” she says. “We can tell so many people about him, from donors to scholarship recipients, and it’s a way to honor him. We’re really happy to have this opportunity.”

In October 2024, Julie, Matt, and Lauren Kelly, along with Steve Cook, met inaugural scholarship recipient Katie Roberts at a luncheon on campus in Knoxville. “The whole meeting was wonderful,” says Julie. “She is a joy, and we were amazed at the things she’s already done and plans to do. We could see the scholarship means a lot to her, and that means a lot to us, too.”

Going into the meeting, Roberts says the Kellys immediately put her at ease. “They are some of the kindest people I’ve met, and I felt that I could see how much of a light Greg was to their family,” she says. “It was so special to have that connection with the scholarship and understand where it was coming from. I felt so supported, and am so grateful I’ve been given this gift as an entering freshman.