Hosted by Headmaster Byron Hulsey ’86, the Woodberry Podcast consists of informal yet substantive conversations with WFS alumni, faculty, friends, and students. The conversations explore how Woodberry’s core values allowed alumni to build a solid foundation; how those core values are taught today by Woodberry teachers; and how those values are put into practice by today’s students.
Paul Cumbo is an educator, author, and entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience teaching English at Jesuit high schools for boys. He was a rowing coach for much of that time, and he has also served as a swimming coach, retreat director, and service-learning coordinator. He currently teaches part-time at Canisius High School in downtown Buffalo, NY. Paul is the author of five books, including two novels. His most recent work, A Path to Manhood: Encouragement and Advice for Young Men, was published in February 2025. https://www.paulcumbo.com/
Tom Batty is the executive director of the International Boys School Coalition. Tom has spent thirty-two years working in boys schools as both a math teacher (at schools such as Eton College in the UK and Waverley College in Australia) and principal of Scotch College in Melbourne. Tom joined the board of IBSC in 2012, and served as chair from 2018-2021, before being named executive director in 2022.
Ben Hulsey ’22 is the son of Headmaster Byron Hulsey ’86. Currently a junior at Washington & Lee University, Ben was the senior prefect at Woodberry, where he was also on the track and cross country teams, served on the Oracle staff, and participated in the Woodberry-in-Spain trip. Ben spent several summers working on the Woodberry maintenance crew and is serving as a class volunteer.
Tom Darden '73 is the founder and chief executive officer of Cherokee, a Raleigh-based company that builds environmental technology businesses and remediates environmentally contaminated real estate. Tom began his career with Bain & Company in Boston, working with Bain from 1981 to 1984. Beginning in 1984, he served for 16 years as the chairman of Cherokee Sanford Group, the largest private brick manufacturing company in the United States and previously the Southeast’s largest soil remediation company. Tom earned a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar, a Master in Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a JD from Yale Law School.
