Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera’s last day leading the institution will be Oct. 30. Before packing all his boxes, Cabrera took time to reflect on Atlanta and his seven-year tenure leading the university, his alma mater.

By almost any metric, Cabrera has excelled as Georgia Tech’s president. Admittedly, he would have wanted to stay a couple of years longer. But he got a call from the Aspen Institute, where he had been a Henry Crown fellow and has had an advisory role for many years. It was too hard to resist.

“I’m going to be the leader of two organizations that have shaped who I am,” Cabrera said in an interview on Oct. 21. “Who does that? I mean, that’s so cool. I was shaped by Georgia Tech; I was shaped by Aspen Institute. And all of a sudden, I have a chance to lead both. I mean, that’s crazy.”

Over the past 22 years, Cabrera, 59, has been president of three institutions, including seven years as president of George Mason University before becoming Georgia Tech’s president in 2019 and quickly having to pivot during the COVID pandemic.

During his leadership as Georgia Tech’s 12th president, Cabrera saw enrollment grow from 36,490 to 59,000 (a 62 percent increase), making it one of the fastest-growing institutions in the country. The four-year graduation rate rose from 51 percent to nearly 75 percent. The university’s economic impact on Georgia now totals $6.3 billion (a 61 percent increase), the largest in the state’s university system. And research expenditures have risen from $834 million to $1.35 billion (a 62 percent increase), making it the nation’s largest university research institution without a medical school.

Those are the numbers. And then there are the people.

The mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens, is a Georgia Tech graduate. The incoming chancellor of the University System of Georgia is Tom Fanning, a Georgia Tech alum, the first time that’s ever happened. And Cabrera proudly reminds me he’s a Tech grad, as is Brian Blake, the president of Georgia State University.

But it’s also personal. Cabrera met Beth Fraser, who later became his wife, while they were both grad students at Georgia Tech in the 1990s.

“We’ve lived in many places,” Cabrera said. “Perhaps the city in the world that feels more like our home is Atlanta. When we returned for this job, we were surprised by how much better the city had become from what we remembered. And we remembered our time here fondly.”

What had changed?

“It was more vibrant. There was the impact of the Beltline,” said Cabrera, who quickly added that it was a Georgia Tech student who had envisioned the Beltline as part of his thesis. “Atlantans had discovered their feet all of a sudden.”

To Cabrera, the city felt less segregated with a richer cultural life and vibrant business sector that included traditional companies as well as tech start-ups.

The 10-year strategic plan championed by Cabrera helped change the physical character of Georgia Tech.

The campus has expanded with the Creative Quarter Marietta and Science Square, as well as several new buildings on its traditional campus and east of the interstate.

Cabrera, who proudly rides his bike to work on most days, has also seen Georgia Tech students also discover their feet.

“Our campus is walkable and bikeable,” Cabrera said. “I’m so grateful that my favorite mayor, Andre, has built bike lanes. I bike, as you know. You’ve seen me show up in very unusual places with my helmet. I love cities that are bikeable and walkable, cities that allow people to come together. So, it’s been fantastic.”

When the Cabreras would talk about potential dream jobs after Georgia Tech, they talked about the Aspen Institute. “That was sort of my crazy dream for maybe one day,” Cabrera said.

Even though they will be leaving Atlanta for the Washington, D.C. area, they will remain tied to the city. I know that one way or another, our lives are connected to Atlanta,” Cabrera said. “We’re not selling our [Virginia-Highlands] home yet.”

When asked to share constructive advice for Atlanta, Cabrera was quick to respond.

“My pet peeve: I would love to see Atlanta continue to move to being more walkable and bikeable,” he said. “There’s evidence that cities that are walkable and bikeable and are more humane, they attract creative people. They become more innovative. They create more economic opportunity,” Cabrera said. “The creative economy happens in places that are livable by humans, not cars. My pet peeve is the monstrosity of having 16 lanes of traffic dissect the city in half. You’re not going to change that… We need to and resolve to finally restitch the city together.”

Georgia Tech is “actively working on creating physical bridges” to connect parts of its campus with the city. The goal is to create a more connected and human city that is more walkable and bikeable.

When asked about transit, Cabrera said walkability is powered by transit. “Boy, wouldn’t it be nice if there was more density of MARTA and more opportunities for people to just leave the car at home,” Cabrera said.

Although Cabrera would have liked to stay on a little longer as Georgia Tech’s president, he strongly believes it’s healthy for an institution to have turnover and have new leaders.

“I’ve always described it as a relay race, not a single event,” Cabrera said. “I took the baton from Bud Peterson, who had done great things.”

And Peterson followed Wayne Clough, who had succeeded Pat Crecine. All those Georgia Tech presidents made their contributions to the institution.

“My dream is to pass the baton to the next person with momentum, and I have this great sense of satisfaction that that’s what we’re doing,” Cabrera said. “I’m very excited about the choice of Tim Lieuwen as interim president.

Will Lieuwen be a candidate for the permanent position?

“I hope so. I’m not involved,” Cabrera said. “My not-so-secret hope is that he will be a candidate.”

Cabrera also spoke highly of Raheem Beyah, Georgia Tech’s provost, who decided not to seek the job of becoming the interim president.

“Honestly, both Tim Lieuwen and Raheem Beyah will be great presidents here or somewhere else,” Cabrera said. “I have no doubt.”

Cabrera also said he has appreciated Chancellor Sonny Perdue, a dedicated Bulldog, having become such a fan of Georgia Tech. “He would tell people that we have two flagships in the state – the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.”

In fact, Cabrera supported UGA getting a medical school as well as an engineering school.

“People thought it was the end of the world because other universities were going to offer engineering,” Cabrera said. “Guess what? The world needs more engineers, and Georgia Tech’s engineering school for the first time ever, this year we were ranked No. 2 in the country [behind MIT], tied with Stanford and Berkeley. “I do hope that people in the state appreciate what an extraordinary resource Georgia Tech is.”

Ever since its inception in 1885, Georgia Tech has been linked to the state’s economy. It was an architect of “the New South,” helping the state expand from being an agricultural economy to an industrial one.

“The future of this place is bright,” Cabrera said.  “Others will come and see things that I don’t see and bring their own ideas. And I’m very excited.”

For Cabrera, he has been drawn to leadership roles where he can have an impact. And that place right now is the Aspen Institute, which he described as a place that develops “values-based” leaders. Its programs convene people from different perspectives to converse and understand each other, especially at a time “when dialog is rare.”

Cabrera would like to contribute his experience to help develop new generations of leaders from government and business who will be more self-aware and thoughtful.

“Its mission is to bring people together around the table,” Cabrera said. “I’m just so thrilled that I’m going to be in that position.

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