The Mealtime Messiah is jazzed.

After just over a year in office, the Messiah--Harvard Dining Services (HDS) Director Michael P. Berry--has a lot to be jazzed about.

January, traditionally a losing month for HDS, was profitable this year for the first time in half a dozen years.

Student response cards, "overwhelmingly negative" last year, are more than 90 percent positive of late.

And having witnessed the remarkable progress made since Berry assumed his post last spring, Harvard officials are considering turning the management of several other campus dining facilities, now run by independent contractors, over to HDS.

Ask what all this has meant to him and Berry--dubbed the Messiah by students grateful for his reforms--will answer, "It's been the best year of my life."

"I've never felt so accomplished as a manager," he says.

And he's jazzed. Berry likes to use the word jazzed when he gets excited. And sitting across the desk from him, it's not hard to see parallels between Berry and the freeform music of the 20th century.

For one thing, Berry never stops moving. His hands are always agitated--gesticulating to make a point, grabbing a can of Coke.

This is when he is in his office. And, judging from the time Berry spends sprinting between the dining halls and cafes that he oversees, Berry doesn't spend much time in his office.

Asked how he feels, Berry will answer "jazzed." Asked why that is, he answers, "I'm driven."

The Messiah as a Young Man

Berry's childhood sounds like that of any high achiever. His parents, a conservationist and an elementary school teacher, stressed excellence.

"I was taught the work ethic very, very early," he says. "All my life it seems like I've been working and enjoying it."

The speed that characterizes his life as a Harvard administrator, is also nothing new, Berry says.