The Zeta Beta Tau Supreme Council is made up of volunteers who dedicate their time to serve ZBT. These brothers are chosen because of their track record of leadership and their desire to make ZBT a better and bigger fraternity.

The directors on the Supreme Council are elected at our International Convention and serve a two-year term. We are so fortunate to have brothers willing to work hard on behalf of our Fraternity.

The Digital Deltan team had an opportunity to spend some time with a few of these brothers to get to know them better. The Supreme Councilors interviewed include:

• Bernard (Buddy) E. Weissman Ph.D., Xi (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 1975
• Zachary P. Nahmias, Gamma MU (University of Memphis) 2010
• Barry M. Aarons, Gamma Tau (Arizona State University) 1971
• Seth Levine, CPA, Alpha Omega (University of Miami) 1984

What does it mean to you to serve on the Supreme Council?

Aarons: It is both a privilege and an honor to have been selected to be an officer of the Fraternity and a director of the Supreme Council. I want to be able to give back, through my Supreme Council service, some of what my ZBT experience has given to me. As a Supreme Councilor, I can hopefully make our Fraternity more successful in providing a great brotherhood experience to our undergraduates and to our alumni.

Nahmias: Serving on the Supreme Council is an opportunity to direct the future of our beloved organization. ZBT must change to meet the times, but we should also preserve the important and appropriate traditions of our past. Serving with fellow brothers in such a stead is a great honor, privilege and responsibility.

Weissman: After two terms on the Supreme Council, I am honored to continue to help the Fraternity grow as well as adapt to the changing views of Greek Life in our society.

Levine: Serving on the Supreme Council is one of the biggest honors of my lifetime. I learned early on through my involvement with the Fraternity that the more effort you put in, the better the eventual results. I’ve always felt that my efforts with the Brotherhood have had an exponential ripple effect that touch the lives of individuals I’ll never even get to meet!

What does Brotherhood for a Lifetime mean to you?

Weissman: It means that a palpable thread runs through my life that connects my past experiences in ZBT to my current interactions with our alumni and undergraduate brothers.  In a broader sense, because these experiences have substantially shaped me as a person, ZBT permeates into all aspects of my life including my relationships with my wife, children, family and friends as well as my career.

Nahmias:  ZBT is a lifelong process. It really begins in the selection process. The values instilled by our parents and teachers prior to college make us into the men who ZBT wants to recruit. We go through college as ZBTs and learn in what is a great laboratory for adult life. Eventually we graduate and become alumni, serving as mentors to young men in college and as parents and teachers for the children who will grow up in our adulthood and in whom values need to be instilled. This is how the process comes full circle. ZBT is Brotherhood for a Lifetime.

Levine: Brotherhood for a Lifetime means to me that I will always have a true group of men who I can count on in good times, but especially in the eventual not so good times. There is no greater gift than friendship, and the bonds I’ve established while in school, and especially after graduation, continue to shape me and hopefully help me to always grow as a man.

Aarons: I once asked a retired friend if he had been a Marine and he responded, “I am a Marine.” It is, to him, a lifetime experience and that is the same as I feel when I consider ZBT to be Brotherhood for a Lifetime! Whether there are chapter brothers I have known for decades or fellow Supreme Councilors who I have just recently gotten to know, the relationships are lifetime friendships that continue to grow and expand as the years go by.

Why is it great to be a ZBT?

Levine: It’s great to be a ZBT because we always have each other’s back, and because the Fraternity continues to work on doing so many things for the common good, both on and off campus, to improve the lives of others.

Weissman: Because volunteering for ZBT has given me the opportunity to give back to my community and help shape the next generation of future leaders for our country.

Nahmias: ZBT is an organization that is fraternal in nature and instills important values in its brotherhood. Take full advantage of ZBT and you will reap many times what you put in. ZBT also is one of those things in life that keeps on giving and giving.

Aarons: It is great to be a ZBT because of the sharing of life’s experiences with my fellow brothers. It is great to be a ZBT because of the opportunity to improve the undergraduates’ experiences in scholarship, fellowship and charity. It is great to be a ZBT because of the all these things and so much more. It’s just great to be a ZBT!

The Supreme Council of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity meets three times per year; once in the fall, once in the spring and once combined with the International Convention. All matters of importance are discussed at meetings of the Supreme Council and, often, decisions are made that impact the organization as a whole. Supreme Council meetings are open to any initiated brother of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, except those meetings deemed as closed. Brothers are encouraged to attend to better understand how the Fraternity functions on an international level.

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