Name: Ryan Sewell
Family: Sarah Sewell (UGA BBA ’05 – Real Estate), Reid (12), Hayes (8) and a handful that feel like my kids!
Hometown: Savannah, Georgia
Current Town: Savannah, Georgia
What Years at UGA: 2002 – 2006
School/Degree: Terry College of Business, Risk Management & Insurance – 2006
Profession: Partner, Sterling Seacrest Pritchard
Accolades: Sigma Phi Epsilon UGA; SEC Academic All-American 2005; Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU); UGA Football Letterman 2005, ++
What life lessons did you learn while at UGA?
Be the Hammer, not the Nail (Coach John Fabris).
Nothing good in life will be given to you.
You can stretch your cash further if you have a drink (or two) before you go to Boar’s Head.
What professor did you most admire?
Professor Diogenes Teufelsdrockh: “My Inheritance, how wide and fair, Time is my Fair seed-field, of Time, I am Heir”; “Considering” and THEN “Quarrel?”; “Let each considerate person have his way and see what it will lead to. For not this man and that man, but all men make up mankind, and their united tasks, the task of mankind.”
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My Kids – they are so different, but so awesome. They challenge me and they love hard. They are respectful, smart, humbly-confident and leaders. They are my greatest achievement.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I like to take tidbits from many people smarter than me.
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” – CS Lewis
“The noblest art is that of making others happy.” – PT Barnum
“Values shape the pillar of identity for all. They are the secular version of our faith and they define our trust in why we do what we do.” – Trevor Moawad
Who are your heroes in real life?
My mother and father. My father (passed) was a Police Officer who ended up Directing the SE GA Police Academy. My mother was a nurse who became the Director of Patient Care and Nursing Services at St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital. Their mutual self-sacrifice for my brothers and my success was unrivaled. They are the definition of servant leaders.
Quote to live by:
“Treat a man as he is and he remains as he is. Treat a man as he CAN and SHOULD be and he will become as he can and should be.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
My boat, on the river, at sunset, “golden-hour”, my people, cocktail in my hand, flood-tide, Widespread Panic or Robert Earl Keen on Pandora Radio, front anchor down and kicked-back on the leaning-post.
What is your most marked characteristic?
I’ve never met a stranger.
What do you most value in your friends?
A safe space. Confidence. Support. Altruism. A willingness to drop everything to be available when life deals a hand you weren’t expecting.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I want to know how to sit still, still working on that.
Who are your favorite writers?
Hamilton Culpepper – an up and coming literary (often times long-winded) genius, with a bright future.
Carter King – Future Birds – He changes lives on stage every day with the songs he writes.
Ray Fulcher – a friend, he’s a behind the scenes Country music legend. He has worked in silence many years.
Thomas Carlyle – He redefined history with his Theory of Clothes.
Fave social media and who to follow?
Instagram – @georgiafootball / @pgatour / @harmanbrian. Great content, hype videos and golf shots I could never replicate.