A Welcome Homecoming for Founder Dr. Greg Hudnall

Hope Squad is thrilled to welcome back our Founder and President, Dr. Greg Hudnall. After two impactful years serving at BYU-Hawaii where he focused on piloting Hope Squad at the collegiate level, Dr. Hudnall is excited to return to the Hope Squad organization to continue building a culture of hope and connection across schools and communities nationwide.  

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Dr. Hudnall’s passion for suicide prevention is deeply personal and impactful. In 1997, while serving as a high school principal in Provo, Utah, he responded to the heartbreaking loss of several students to suicide. Determined to be part of the solution, Dr. Hudnall helped create the Utah County Hope Task Force, uniting schools, mental health agencies, and community partners to bring suicide prevention training and crisis response to schools across the region. These early efforts inspired the Circles4Hope model that remains central to Hope Squad’s mission.  

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While these efforts saved lives, youth suicide remained a challenge. After yet another tragedy in which a student had shown clear warning signs to several peers—but none had shared their concerns with an adult—Dr. Hudnall realized the power of peer-to-peer connection. He envisioned a model where students could be trained to recognize signs of distress and link their peers to trusted adults.

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From that vision, Hope Squad was born. Over the past 20+ years, Hope Squad has grown into a nationwide network of thousands of Squads who all share the same goal of harnessing connectedness to save lives and eliminate suicide in schools.

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“It takes a village to raise a child—but it takes an entire community to save one,” Dr. Hudnall reflects. “I am so excited to be back with the Hope Squad team and grateful for the chance to once again work closely with schools and communities in this life-changing mission.”