About the Scholarship
Both Ted Rollins and Holly Rollins have always valued young people who invest extra time, dedication and sweat equity to excel academically (as well as in life), no matter what their obstacles may be. This biannual scholarship will honor the late Ted Rollins’ vision as well as his wife Holly’s vision to give deserving high school seniors a helping hand toward their college tuition.
Ted Rollins (1962-2021)
Ted was a brilliant visionary, entrepreneur, philanthropist, accomplished musician and friend to many around the world. He was also a treasured husband, son, father, brother as well as mentor to hundreds. Ted's first job as a teenager was carrying the bags for Johnny Cash when he was on tour and ultimately performing with him. Ted attended The Citadel and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in business administration before receiving his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He then started his career in New York as an investment banker focusing on real estate finance. He later co-founded Campus Crest with his business school classmate, Mike Harnett and grew an idea into a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with over 50,000 beds in the US and Canada in over 70 markets with assets in both joint venture and wholly-owned properties in excess of $2.3 billion dollars. In the mid-2010s, after Ted helped take Campus Crest public with Harrison Street, he founded Valeo, starting first with operations in England before expanding it into Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland and the United States.
He served on the boards of Fortegra and Rollins Jamaica, among others. His boundless energy, fun-loving and benevolent spirit is captured eloquently in his motto he used for business and life: Work Hard. Have Fun. Help Others.
It is important to note he was greatly influenced by other larger-than-life relatives, mentors and leaders, including: father, John W. Rollins, Sr, cousin R. Randall Rollins, John R Cash and brother John W. Rollins Jr.
His vision for building communities and providing great residential experiences has impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and will continue to do so for generations.
Holly Rollins
Holly is an entrepreneur and an artist. She has more than 20 years’ experience in marketing, public relations, digital marketing, and content marketing. She has created successful content marketing and digital marketing/PR for diverse sectors; from healthcare and wellness to global development. She has always been a champion for workforce development. Through her work with several organizations she has focused on ensuring ambitious scholars of all ages have access to higher education and skilled training — for careers that match both their aptitudes and talents.
Noteworthy client experience includes promoting and positioning B2B and B2C clients in national and international media—from USA Today to the Wall Street Journal. Her prior experience includes public, private, and nonprofit work spanning global healthcare to economic and workforce development. She is also a Huffington Post contributor and named a Top Global Content Marketer by the Content Marketing Institute, several years running, since 2014.
She earned a master’s in journalism/global PR from USC and a BS in graphic design/marketing from Appalachian State University.