1960–’64
Don Grantham (BBA ’62) of Augusta was presented with the Lester S. Moody Award of Excellence, the highest honor given by the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce.
1970–’74
Frank (Lynn) Dempsey (BBA ’73) of Rome was named commissioner of the Georgia Real Estate Commission after his nomination by Gov. Nathan Deal. He is the former president and managing broker of Dempsey Auction Co., the past president of the Georgia Auctioneers Association and was named to the Georgia Auctioneers Hall of Fame.
1975–’79
Jack P. Gibson (BBA ’77, MBA ’79) of Dallas, Texas, was presented a Certificate of Appreciation by the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) of the American Bar Association recognizing the 20-year collaboration between his company and TIPS, which has provided funding for the TIPS Scholarship Program. Jack is president and CEO of International Risk Management Institute Inc. and CEO of WebCE Inc.
Ronald Giomi (MBA ’77) of Columbia, S.C., was named VP of litigation and liability claims within the claims division of Seibels Claims Solutions Inc.
Kevin Knox (BBA ’77) of Dallas, Texas, in his 20th year of service at Southern Methodist University, was honored in November when the Cox School of Business Alumni Association Board of Directors announced an endowment fund in he and his family’s name — The Tryna and Kevin Knox Family Alumni and External Relations Endowment. Kevin is assistant dean-external relations and executive director of the Cox Alumni Association.
1980–’84
Griff Moody (BBA ’81) of Alpharetta joined Alliant as SVP within the company’s construction services group. He previously served as managing director at Marsh.
Ted Young (BBA ’81) of Alpharetta joined Alliant as SVP within the company’s Alliant Americas middle market division.
Holden Anthony Davis (BBA ’82) of Paris, Ill. was named a partner-in-charge at Larsson,
Woodyard & Henson LLP.
John Bremer (AB ’83) of Savannah was named director of business development at Collins Construction Inc. He previously served as the coastal regional manager for Ordner Construction Co.
Gerald (Jerry) Ragan (BBA ’83) of Marietta was named president and CEO of Credit Union of Georgia. He previously served as senior credit officer of commercial at United Community Bank.
1985–’89
Michael (Mike) Louis Buglioli (BBA ’85) of Columbus is working as a senior project manager at Synovus.
George Monk (BBA ’85) of Macon was promoted to executive director of insurance company operations at Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance. Since 2009, George has served as senior director of underwriting, including policyholder services and actuarial/product development.
Emily Moore Hill (MAcc ’87) of Stony Brook, N.Y., was named CFO for Long Island-based BJG Electronics. She previously served as group financial director for New York-based DRI Relays Inc.
John Little (BBA ’87) of Midland was inducted into the University of Georgia Athletic Association Circle of Honor, which recognizes Bulldog student-athletes and coaches who “brought honor to the university and themselves.”
Matthias Kindler (MBA ’88) of Munich, Germany, has recently published his first book Hot dogs as shark bait? — 12 proven principles for special events that work, which was launched in the German-speaking market.
1990–’94
Arnold (Bert) Bearden (AB ’90) of Cartersville was named Lennar Atlanta’s director of operations, Atlanta South. Lennar Corp. builds homes in 18 states.
William Thomas (Tom) Lacy Jr. (BBA ’90, JD ’97) of Peachtree City co-founded Lindsey & Lacy PC, a full-service law firm in Peachtree City. Tom continues to specialize in civil litigation, particularly representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes.
Lawton Bassett (BBA ’91) of Tifton was promoted to president of Ameris Bank and banking group president of Ameris Bancorp. He has worked at Ameris Bank for 19 years and was the bank’s EVP and chief banking officer for Georgia and Alabama.
Stephen Copeland (AB ’91) of Chattanooga, Tenn., was named senior director of customer service at Reliance Partners. Stephen previously worked as commercial lines manager of Southern Financial Insurance Group in Tallahassee, Fla.
John Akin (BBA ’93) of Atlanta was named EVP and CIO for Gables Residential. He recently served as CIO and CFO at Flournoy Cos.
Blake Batley (BBA ’93) of Alpharetta was named a chief sales officer for MacDermid Performance Solutions. He will work to align selling approaches, develop best practices, and oversee the continued capability development of each sales organization. He previously worked with Web Industries Inc. where he was chief sales and marketing officer.
Paul Cummings (MBA ’93) of College Grove, Tenn., was appointed COO of InVivoLink Inc. the technology affiliate of HealthTrust.
Austin Scott (BBA ’93) of Warner Robins, a U.S. Congressman serving Georgia’s 8th District, was named chairman of the Subcommittee for Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit.
1995–’99
Scott Deviney (BBA ’95) of Carrollton was awarded the 2017 Carrollton High School Distinguished Alumni Award. He is the president and CEO of Chicken Salad Chick.
Win Walstad (BBA ’95) of Atlanta was named partner with BT Wealth Management LLC, a financial advisory firm.
James (Jas) Short (MBA ’96) of St. Petersburg, Fla., was included in Marquis Who’s Who, a publisher of biographical volumes featuring “leaders of American society.” Jas is SVP and director of Eagle Asset Management, a wealth management and investment firm. He was previously a chief investment officer for Waypoint Advisors and VP and portfolio manager for Bank of America.
Russell Lenon Bates (BBA ’97) of Waycross was promoted to president and CEO of Waycross Bank & Trust and was also elected to the WB&T board of directors. He previously served as the bank’s SVP.
Nikki L. Brown (BBA ’98) of New York City was named a Woman to Watch by Business Insurance magazine. She is president and founder of NLB Risk Advisors and SVP of U.S. fine art, jewelry and specie at JLT Specialty USA.
Josh Bare (BBA ’99) of Norcross, a councilman for the Norcross City Council, was elected to serve as the 2017 Mayor Pro Tem in Norcross.
Anthony Uhrich (BBA ’99, MAcc ’01) of Savannah was named principal and VP of Hussey Gay Bell.
2000–’04
Jeffrey Buice (BBA ’00) of Marietta is principal and senior investment adviser for GENCapital, a wealth management firm that opened with an office in Atlanta. GENCapital offers investment management, financial planning and banking advisory services for individuals, families, businesses and institutions.
Brandon Powell (BBA ’00) of Atlanta launched HatchWorks, a digital technology firm helping customers evolve their business to be successful in a world that is connected and measured.
Ted Terry (BBA ’00) of Charleston, S.C., is president and CEO of Crescent Homes and is expanding his homebuilding business into Nashville.
Mandy Edwards (BBA ’01) of Statesboro is the founder of ME Marketing Services, a social media marketing company providing social media marketing, advertising, consulting and business training.
Amanda Reeves (BBA ’01 MIS) of Daniel Island, S.C., was named VP and president-elect of the Charleston, S.C., branch of Commercial Real Estate Women. She is a broker with commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates.
Wade Beacham (BBA ’02) of Roswell was named VP of Alliant within the company’s Alliant Americas division. He previously served as VP of Marsh.
Scott Cook (BBA ’02) of Savannah achieved architectural licensure and passed all seven divisions of the Architect Registration Examination. Scott works for LS3P Associates LTD.
Jonathan Levens (BBA ’03) of Atlanta was admitted as a partner of the accounting firm Moore Colson. He was a senior manager in the firm’s tax practice.
Reagan Wolfe (BBA ’03) of Atlanta was selected as one of NAIFA Atlanta’s Top Advisors Under 40 for the fourth consecutive year. Reagan is a financial representative with Ashford Advisors in Atlanta.
Ori Epstein (BBA ’04, MAcc ’04) of Dunwoody was named partner at Aprio (formerly Habif, Arogeti, Wynne LLP), the largest independent accounting firm in Georgia.
2005–’09
Brian Hartley (BBA ’05) of Smyrna joined Synovus Mortgage as a mortgage loan originator in Atlanta. He is a member of the Atlanta Realtors Association and served on the Atlanta Junior Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for the 2012-13 term.
Matt Thompson (BBA ’05, MBA ’12) of Alpharetta serves as a regional safety manager for Kloeckner Metals Corp. based in Roswell.
Jeremy Wilson (BBA ’05, MAcc ’06) of Atlanta was named a partner of Draffin & Tucker LLP. Jeremy serves in the firm’s private client service group where he focuses on high net worth individuals, closely-held businesses, family businesses, and estates and trusts.
David Andrew Dill (BBA ’06, AB ’07) of Washington, D.C., joined Lockheed Martin, located in Marietta, as director of government relations. He previously served as director of federal relations for the University of Georgia Office of Government Relations.
Ben Hurley (BBA ’07) of London, England, was named chief client service officer of Rise Interactive, a digital marketing agency.
Kevin Rabinowitz (BBA ’07) of New York City was promoted to managing principal, head of placement strategy and carrier engagement at Integro Insurance Brokers for the firm’s operations in North America and the UK. Kevin was previously SVP and insurer consulting leader at Marsh.
Christopher Sanders (MBA ’07) of Stone Mountain was named the executive director of the East Metro DeKalb Community Improvement District. He previously served as an assistant director at the Georgia Department of Revenue.
Bobby Bierley (MA ’08) of Houston was named a 2017 Power Broker by Risk & Insurance magazine. He is a SVP strategic broker leader, marine and energy for Lockton Cos.
Ben Colley (BBA ’08, AB ’08) of Marietta was named the VP of venture capital and technology banking of Square 1 Bank in Atlanta. He was previously a VP at AloStar Capital Finance.
Eddie Garrett (MBA ’08) of Winnetka, Ill. was named by public relations firm Porter Novelli as executive vice president of global digital strategies. He will be based in Chicago. He came to Porter Novelli from Weber Shandwick, where he was executive vice president, head of strategy. Eddie is on UGA’s Board of Trustees for the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and serves as 2017 chair for the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors.
Michelle Hein (BBA ’08) of Atlanta was named an associate director in the Atlanta market for The Siegfried Group. She previously served as the company’s recruiting director for the south region.
Charles Krauth (BBA ’08) of Atlanta was named a 2017 Power Broker by Risk & Insurance magazine. He is a VP with Aon.
John McMichael (BBA ’08) of Macon joined James Bates Brannan Groover LLP as an associate attorney practicing in the fields of estate and asset protection planning.
Mary Elizabeth Rouse Rankin (BBA ’08) of Chicago was named the director of marketing for Chicago Loop Alliance.
Catherine Cooper (BA ’09) of Savannah is appearing on the Bravo television show Southern Charm: Savannah, a spinoff of the popular Southern Charm reality show that’s based in Charleston. She works as a marketing director for Dasher Management.
Benjamin Gooding (BBA ’09) of Columbia, S.C., was elected to the South Carolina Wildlife Federation’s board of directors. Benjamin is an attorney with Sowell Gray Robinson Stepp & Laffitte LLC.
Jesse Kuiper (BBA ’09, MAcc ’10) of Los Angeles is a manager of risk advisory services of Ernst & Young and recently participated in the EY Vantage Program, which took him to Argentina for six months where he helped an entrepreneur with a project to help their small but growing company.
2010–’14
Lauren Warbington Fletcher (BBA ’10, JD ’13) of Vienna joined the law firm of Lawson & Reid LLC in Cordele as an associate. Lauren formerly worked as an assistant district attorney for the Cordele Judicial Circuit.
Doug Teacheyz (MBA ’10) of Atlanta was named director of IT training and implementation at Oldcastle Materials. He previously served as director of learning and development at Coca-Cola Refreshments.
Chris Godfrey (BBA ’11) of Atlanta is the president-elect of the Buckhead Business Association. He is an associate at Avison Young and previously served as president of the Buckhead Business Association’s young professionals group.
Rob Law (BBA ’13) of Atlanta joined Creative Financial Group, a division of Synovus, as a financial planning analyst and subsequently passed the CFP exam. Prior to working at Creative Financial Group, Rob worked at Invesco.
Amber Guyton (MBA ’14) was promoted to product management director at USAA Federal Savings Bank based in San Antonio, Texas, where she is responsible for developing leads marketing campaigns for USAA’s real estate products and services. Amber is a 2014 graduate of Terry’s Professional MBA program in Atlanta and began her career at USAA in 2015. She was recruited by USAA for their MBA Career Development Program in Enterprise Strategy and Marketing and completed the development program in November 2016.
Sam Kinsman (BBA ’14) of New York City joined Iconex, formerly a division of NCR Corp., and will move to France to help lead the company’s operations in Europe. He served as an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs.
Patrick Klibanoff (BBA ’14, ABJ ’14) of Norcross joined the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Millennial Advisory Panel and helped develop the Coalition to Advance Atlanta, a non-profit dedicated to building support for regional transit expansion while championing existing transit resources.
Karissa M. Thigpen (BBA ’14) of Atlanta was promoted to client executive at Sterling Risk Advisors, which provides risk management and commercial insurance solutions.
2015–
Kerry Freeman (BA ’15) of Toccoa was named director of programs and events of Pilot International Inc. in Macon. She previously served as an event coordinator with the Walt Disney Co.
Eilidh Geddes (AB ’15, MA ’15) of New York City was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. She is working as a research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Michael Wess (BBA ’15) of Avondale Estates joined the national retail group with Bull Realty.