Mr. Cody Earley (’06) completed his degree in Religion from ETBU in 2006. He and his wife, LaRae, are raising three children: Annabelle, Easton, and Waverly.
Read along to hear how the Lord laid out Cody’s journey to ETBU and the path he knew was planned for him after his years on the hill.
I joined a friend during my senior year of high school on a campus tour and immediately felt like ETBU was the place for me. I had plans to play baseball and eventually become a youth minister, but neither of those was in God’s plan for me.
In my time, Dr. Utley helped shape the way I studied and interpreted the Bible and applied it to my life. His Hermeneutics class was the single most important class I took in helping shape my relationship with the Lord. Dr. Holloway impacted my life through the numerous classes I took, but none more than his Christian Ethics class.
The relationships that I developed at ETBU, to this day, are the most important thing that I took from being there. My closest friend from school officiated our wedding, and we still have weekly conversations. I value the relationships I made acting a fool at sporting events, and the time I spent with my brothers in the fraternity Pi Sigma Epsilon, who are some of the most important guys in my life. That decision to join a fraternity still has an impact on me, as I talk to them daily, plan trips with them, and rely on them for guidance, mentorship, and a brotherhood that cannot be broken. Being able to meet up with friends who are spread out across America in Atlanta or San Diego, we pick right back up like no time has passed. The fraternity brothers get together multiple times a year, and it’s just like we are sitting in our house at 506 East Avenue, and nothing has changed. Those relationships are what made my time on the Hill so special.
Though I graduated with a degree in religion, I knew God was preparing me for a life in business using my faith as the backbone for a future career. Soon after my time on the Hill, I started my career in banking where I worked in commercial banking for 18 years. In that time, I worked my way up from working with small businesses and start-ups so that by the time I left banking I was working with multi-million-dollar companies handling their day-to-day banking needs and helping plan their long-term strategic growth needs. I left banking to work with one of my clients as their CFO, helping the company prepare for a private equity sale. Recently, I joined a previous client, Epic Stones, in Dallas and Fort Worth as their Sales Director to help the company expand their current sales staff and prepare to open up new locations across Texas and America.
With such a unique and eclectic group of students who were a part of the early 2000s at ETBU, being able to interact and develop friendships with so many wonderful people shaped who I am today, especially in my career. It has allowed me to be successful by being able to build rapport and relationships with people and clients across all walks of life and industries. My ability to connect and engage with my clients to help them continue being successful comes directly from my time on the hill.