What does fatherhood mean to Jon Rolph? Something not to be taken for granted.

A lot of people probably wondered the same thing when they heard Jon Rolph is leaving the Kansas Board of Regents two years early: Is he OK?

The Wichita businessman has had a public battle with cancer, which he openly shared in an extensive story in The Wichita Eagle and through a Caring Bridge page that kept family and friends updated on his condition after a routine scan revealed a cancerous mass in his abdomen.

The short answer is he’s fine. Rolph gets scans every six months, the most recent of which was in April and showed he’s cancer free.

“I’m probably, in the last week, feeling the most normal I have in two years,” Rolph said.

That’s because finally, after three abdominal surgeries, Rolph was released to begin exercising again on June 1, including doing things like playing ball and wrestling with his children.

“All the kids have just been counting down the days to June first,” said Rolph, who “felt like I missed out a lot as a father.”

The other day, he was swimming with his youngest child, 5-year-old Bear, and threw him in the air — something Bear has no previous memories of since he was 3 when his father was diagnosed.

It’s not only the kids who are excited about having their dad back.

Rolph said getting to interact with his children in a way he hasn’t been able to for two years has taught him not to take it for granted.

“I just have a whole other level of appreciation of it.”

Six years ago when Rolph accepted Gov. Laura Kelly’s appointment to serve on the Regents board, he saw symmetry in the eight years he would serve, which would coincide with eldest child Emma’s graduation from high school.

Now, however, that timing seems more alarming than symmetrical: Emma is leaving home in two years.

“I’ll never get these years back,” Rolph said. “I need to treat them with that sacredness, really.”

Life happens

Though fatherhood is a big prompt for Rolph’s resignation, there are other factors, too.

“I’ve had a lot of life happen while I’ve been on the Regents,” he said.

That could be the biggest understatement the understated Rolph ever has uttered.

He accepted the role right before the pandemic hit. A month into the pandemic came Bear, his sixth child.

“I always tell people he’s pandemic years old.”

Cancer followed a few years later in 2023.

During all this time, Rolph’s Thrive Restaurant Group quadrupled, in part through adding two new concepts: Qdoba and Modern Market Eatery.

Thrive has about 200 restaurants over six brands, which also include Applebee’s along with its own concepts, Carlos O’Kelly’s, HomeGrown and Bakesale Treat Parlor. That concept grew out of the Peace, Love & Pie concept that started just before the pandemic.

Add to that the 15 or 20 hours a week Rolph spends on his Regents work, and it’s a lot, to use another understatement.

“I love the work,” Rolph said. “It’s super meaningful. My family believes in the work.”

The one thing that’s not calling? Politics. Rolph has been mentioned as a possible candidate to take Kelly’s job, but he said he’s not freeing time to campaign for anything.

“I am not doing this . . . to run for governor or to lean into politics.”

Instead, Rolph said he sees myriad business opportunities that “need to have me single-minded for this next part of the journey” if he’s going to take them on.

Serious expansion

So what journey is Thrive about to embark on?

It’s at least twofold.

The company, which has franchise rights for Qdoba in North and South Carolina, is buying its first 10 Qdoba stores in Charlotte and Raleigh with plans to open seven more this year.

Thrive will have 55 Qdobas in those states by the end of 2028.

Also, the company is opening its 15th HomeGrown this August in Alexandria, Va., which is its first outside of the Midwest.

Rolph said his team is “beginning to explore what franchising that brand looks like.”

“We’ve always built it for scale.”

Thrive has been opening a handful of them every year with the expectation of one day franchising the brand.

Rolph said if he’s going to ask people to partner on HomeGrown, he needs to be available at work to show his commitment as well.

Meaningful pursuits

Rolph said his time on the Regents board, which includes stints as vice chairman and chairman, “is chock full of way more highlights” than anything else.

Getting to work on the Wichita Biomedical Campus, even in a small way, was one high point as was advocating for the new University of Kansas Cancer Center.

“I think that will save lives, and that was obviously particularly meaningful for me.”

He said it was special to have his daughters with him at the groundbreaking in Kansas City last week since the last time they’d been on the campus was when their father was in the hospital.

Relationships are “the other thing I’ll carry with me,” Rolph said.

That includes with the Legislature and leaders of universities.

Rolph said he’s enjoyed pondering questions like where higher education needs to go and working on issues such as growing enrollment and retention and increasing need-based scholarship dollars.

“You have this overall sense that you’re . . . impacting lives and families for generations.”

Managing all of this in a pandemic has been challenging.

Then there’s the artificial intelligence revolution.

“We’re really still just figuring it out,” Rolph said.

There also has been increased national interest and scrutiny on higher education, Rolph said, and he said it’s an opportunity to tell the story of higher education in Kansas.

The Regents board faced criticism over its handling of economic issues at Emporia State University when it allowed the school and other public universities to expedite the dismissal of employees, including tenured faculty.

“Those problems had languished long enough that it required . . . more immediate solutions,” Rolph said. “I really feel good about the financial stability of that institution.”

And how about Jay Golden, whose tenure as Wichita State University president lasted less than a year? Can Rolph finally explain what really happened — you know, just between us?

“You, me and everybody reading?” he laughed. “I don’t have any comment.”

Three terrific teams

Perhaps the question to ask Rolph isn’t why he’s resigning now but how has he made it all work for as many years as he has?

Is he an amazing delegator? Does he have a twin? Is he actually Superman?

Rolph said it “really involves great teams in three places.”

First, there’s his board work.

“We just have a phenomenal set of leaders in higher education in Kansas right now.”

At Thrive, he said there’s a “super strong team” with a lot of like-minded people who have trust in each other.

Then, most importantly, Rolph said, there is his wife, Lauren, and his family.

“Lauren is just an amazing wife and mother,” Rolph said.

That said, he added, “I’m sure Lauren is relieved to have me back in the game.”

Last summer, as Rolph learned the hard way that he couldn’t do everything he wanted to physically, his wife was the one to take their children on various adventures, such as zip lines and water slides.

“We said it’s the summer of mom,” he said at the time.

Now that he’s been physically cleared — and also likely will have 15 to 20 hours back in his weeks — does that mean it’s the summer of dad?

“I think you can say that.”