Alumni Awards and Gala

John Godfrey was raised in Savannah, Georgia, and has a longtime association with the University of Georgia and the Terry College of Business.

After earning a BBA in economics from UGA in 1964, John was awarded a National Defense Education Act Fellowship to begin graduate studies and was privileged to study under David McCord Wright and Richard H. Timberlake Jr. He earned his PhD in economics from Terry in 1976.

In the years following, John served on the Terry College Alumni Board, including a tenure as board president, and was honored with the college’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1994. 

John’s distinguished career as a business economist spanned 40 years. From 1981 until 1995, he was senior vice president and chief economist for Barnett Banks Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida. Before that, he was a research officer and senior financial economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He started Florida Economic Associates in the mid-1990s. 

A leader in many professional and civic organizations, he served on the board of directors of the National Association for Business Economics, was elected as a fellow, and is a Certified Business Economist (CBE).

John’s wife, Flavel McMichael Godfrey, is a North Carolina native. As vice president of the McMichael Family Foundation, she helps oversee the foundation’s numerous philanthropic initiatives.

John and Flavel have enjoyed a lengthy and meaningful relationship with the Terry College of Business and were inducted as members of the college’s prestigious Pinnacle Society in 2019. They reside in Jacksonville, Florida.

Carol Yancey retired as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Genuine Parts Co., a Fortune 200 company with approximately $20 billion in annual sales and 53,000 employees.

During her 31 years at Genuine Parts Co., Carol held a variety of key financial positions. She was the company’s first female corporate officer and was the most senior female corporate officer when she retired. In her role as EVP and CFO, she served on the company’s executive leadership team, Capital Allocation and Investment Committee and Cybersecurity Committee. Carol was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as the Public Company CFO of the Year in 2020. 

Carol serves on the BlueLinx Holdings Inc. board of directors and is the chair of the audit committee and a member of the nominating and governance committee since 2020. She is also a member of the board of directors of Oxford Industries Inc. since 2022. 

Carol has served as a director of the Atlanta Area Council, Boy Scouts of America since 2015, and as a trustee of the Woodruff Arts Center since 2020. She previously served on advisory boards for Truist, The Salvation Army, Emory Healthcare and others. In addition, Carol was a guest speaker at numerous education and leadership development classes.

Before joining Genuine Parts Co., Carol began her career at Ernst & Young. She served audit clients for six years and left EY as a manager to join GPC. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia Terry College of Business with a BBA in accounting, with honors. Carol and her husband reside in Atlanta and have three grown children.

Howard Young is president of General Wholesale Beer Company, the wholesale arm of a multigenerational family business. As president, he is responsible for directing the overall vision of the company as well as leading its other executives in their respective roles.

Howard attended high school at The Lovett School in Atlanta and graduated from the University of Georgia Terry College of Business with a degree in marketing. All three of his daughters, Coley, Laura and Jana, also attended UGA.

Since his time as a student at UGA, Howard has remained heavily involved on campus. He served on the UGA Parents and Families Council, the Terry College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council and the UGA Presidents Club. In 2010 he received the Jere W. Morehead Award, which is given to an exceptional alumnus of the UGA Honors Program each year.

In 2021, he and his wife, Becky, a UGA economics graduate, established the Becky and Howard Young Distinguished Professorship within the Terry College.

A survivor of pancreatic cancer, Howard is also actively involved in raising awareness and funding for cancer research, serving as a member of the TGen Foundation Board of Directors and chair of the TGen Pancreatic Cancer National Advisory Council and the Destroy Pancreatic Cancer nonprofit organization.

Howard and Becky live in the greater Atlanta area.