Deal appoints 33 to boards

Jerry “Todd” Cowan, Board of Driver Services
Cowan currently serves as the tax commissioner of Douglas County and has an extensive background in motor vehicle administration and information technology. He previously served on the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the International Standing Committee on Technology, and was the chairman of Georgia’s Chief Information Officers Council. Cowan earned a bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of West Georgia. He teaches Sunday school and is on the Douglas County Boys & Girls Club board of directors. Cowan currently resides in Winston with his wife, Dorcas, and has four children.

Anthony W. Heath, Board of Driver Services
Heath currently serves as the sheriff of Berrien County. He serves on the Training and Standards Committee for the Georgia Sheriffs Association and is a board member for the Boys and Girls Club. Heath began working as a policeman in 1997 and was selected for a vice presidential detail in 2002. He attended the 77th Trooper School in September of 2001 and served as a trooper until he was elected to serve as sheriff in 2007. Heath and his wife, Iris, live in Nashville and have two children.

Terrell “Terry” Buford Cook, State Board of Nursing Home Administrators (Reappointment)
Cook is the administrator of McRae Manor Nursing Home in McRae. He serves on the board of directors of the Georgia Health Care Association and of the Merchants and Citizens Bank. He is active in the Rotary Club, Exchange Club and the McRae United Methodist Church. Cook earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and a law degree from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law. He and his wife, Heather, live in McRae and have four children.

Martin Keith Glass, Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council
Glass currently serves as the chief of police for the city of Monroe and on the executive board of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. He is a former president of the Peace Officers Association of Georgia and served in the Georgia Army National Guard from 1974 until his retirement in 2005. He received the Legion of Merit Award and the Meritous Service Medal for his years of U.S. military service. Glass is a graduate of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy and the Columbus State Law Enforcement Command College. He and his wife, Kathy, live in Monroe and have three daughters.

Homer “Buddy” DeLoach, Jekyll Island Authority (Reappointment)
DeLoach is currently the owner of Martin Insurance Agency Inc. In previous years, he served on the state arbitration committee after being appointed by the Supreme Court. DeLoach is a former mayor of Hinesville and served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 10 years. An Army veteran, DeLoach received the Department of the Army Patriotic Civilian Service Award; he was also named businessperson of the year by the Hinesville/Liberty County Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife, Linda, are active members of the Hinesville United Methodist Church. Together they have one son and two grandchildren.

Mike Hodges, Jekyll Island State Park Authority (Reappointment)
Hodges is the market president of Ameris Bank in Brunswick. He currently sits on the Jekyll Island Authority where he serves as secretary and chairman of the Finance Committee. He also serves as the chairman of the Glynn-Brunswick Memorial Hospital Authority, a trustee of the College of Coastal Georgia Foundation and a board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Hodges earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at the University of Delaware. He and his wife, Dana, reside in St. Simons Island and have two sons.

Albert F. Ike, Jekyll Island State Park Authority
Ike retired as associate vice president for Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia in 1999 after 29 years of service. He had previously served on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Coastal Zone Management, the Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission, the board of trustees of the Georgia Conservancy and the Athens-Clarke County Board of Zoning Appeals. Ike earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, a master’s from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. He and his wife, Ruth, live in Athens and have two sons.

Laney Dixon “Dick” Childers, Stone Mountain Memorial Association
Childers is an instructor for the Mike Cottrell School of Business at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega. He currently serves on the board of the North East Georgia History Center as treasurer and is a member of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants. Childers retired from Brenau University as the vice president of Business and Finance in 2009. He received a bachelor’s degree from Christian Brothers University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Mississippi. Childers and his wife, Elaine, have two children and one grandchild.

Randy Owens, Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission
Owens is currently employed at Gainesville Internal Medicine. He serves as a board member of Challenged Child and Red Rabbit Transit and is an adviser to the North East Georgia Medical Center. He is the co-founder of Our Neighbor Inc., a nonprofit that serves the needs of those with limitations and enables them to be active in the community. Because of Owens’ permanent injury that resulted from a car accident, Challenged Child and Friends was founded. He has been an advocate for young adults with disabilities ever since leaving high school.

Sandra Morris, Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (Reappointment)
Morris retired as executive director of the Carrollton Housing Authority after 36 years of service. She currently serves as chairman of the Carroll County Boys & Girls Club, is a member of the Carrollton Rotary Club, is the owner of Grant $$$ For You and was elected to the Carroll County School Board District 2 in 2010. Morris attended Bremen City Schools and Carroll Technical Institute. Morris and her husband, Richard, live in Temple and have two sons, Matt and Ryan.

Susan Radovich, Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (Reappointment)
Radovich is a retired professor at Georgia Southern University and is currently serving as a board member of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. She serves as the chairman of the Community Service Board in Statesboro and is the president of the Sprig-Dig Garden Club. She is a past recipient of the Dean Day Smith Service to Mankind Award and has volunteered with developmentally delayed adults for the past 15 years. Radovich earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana University as well as a master’s degree from Georgia Southern University. She and her husband, Frank, live in Statesboro and have two daughters, Amy and Amanda.

Deirdre Kathleen O’Brien, Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (Reappointment)
O’Brien is currently serving on the Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and is the executive director of the Arc of Georgia, a statewide disability advocacy organization. She received her master’s in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. O’Brien and her husband, Randall, have two children, Connor and Clare.

David Johnson, Professional Standards Commission (Reappointment)
Johnson is president of United Community Bank in Rome. He serves as vice chairman of the Floyd County Board of Education and was recently elected as president of the Georgia School Board Association. Johnson is on the Hospital Authority of Floyd County, the Development Authority of Floyd County and several other boards involving medical and educational interest. He was recently named by Gov. Deal to serve on the Education Finance Study Commission. Johnson is a graduate of Berry College, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. He and his wife, Cathy, have two children and one grandchild.

Julia C. Bernath, Georgia Professional Standards Commission (Reappointment)
Bernath has served on the Fulton County Board of Education since 2000, serving as both president and vice president during her tenure. She currently serves as vice president of the Georgia Professional Standards Commission and is past president of the Georgia School Boards Association. Bernath serves as vice chair for the Sandy Springs Education Force, is on the advisory board for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education and is on the board for the Georgia Music Educators Association. She is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta, Regional Leadership Institute, Leadership Sandy Springs and Marcus Jewish Community Center’s Erwin Zaban and Max Kuniansky Leadership Programs, as well as the Atlanta Jewish Federation’s Linking Leadership to Community. Bernath graduated earning a bachelor’s in Journalism, magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia. She and husband, Terry, have three children and one grandchild.

Penny L. Elkins, Georgia Professional Standards Commission (Reappointment)
Elkins serves as the senior vice president for Enrollment Management at Mercer University in both Macon and Atlanta. She received a bachelor’s and master’s in Education at Mercer, an Ed.S. from Georgia College and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Georgia State University. Her areas of research interest include cognition theory in leadership, transformational leadership, birth-to-5 education, women in leadership and community partnership development. Elkins lives in Dacula with her husband, Jason. 

Adrian Epps, Professional Standards Commission (Reappointment)
Epps is associate dean for the College of Science and Mathematics, director of the Advancing the Teaching Of Mathematics & Science (ATOMS) Center and assistant professor of educational leadership at Kennesaw State University. He currently serves on several educational advisory boards and committees. He served for more than 18 years in multiple administrative and teaching roles in the Atlanta Public Schools System; one of these jobs included teaching science for nine years at Frederick Douglass High School. Epps earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Emory University and a doctoral degree from Clark-Atlanta University. He and his wife, Kathryn, have three children.

Tim Lowe, Board of Governors of the George L. Smith II Georgia World Congress Center Authority (Reappointment)
Lowe is the CEO of Lowe Engineers LLC, which is based in Atlanta. He is active in community affairs and currently serves as chairman of the board of governors for the Georgia World Congress Center. He also chairs the Energy and Environment Committee of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and is vice president of the Buckhead Coalition. Lowe is a board member of Council for Quality Growth, Liveable Communities for Buckhead and Trust for Public Land. He is a graduate of Leadership Georgia, Leadership Atlanta, the Regional Leadership Institute, the Georgia Institute of Environmental Leadership and was selected by Georgia Trend as one of “100 Most Influential Georgians” for 2010. Lowe is a lifelong resident of Atlanta and has three grown daughters.

Tazwell “Taz” L. Anderson Jr., Board of Governors of the George L. Smith II Georgia World Congress Center Authority (Reappointment)
Anderson graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1961. He is a licensed real estate developer and technology inventor. He also holds five patents in the fields of advertising and location-based broadcasting. Anderson is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame for Georgia Tech, Savannah, and the state of Georgia after participating in high school, college and professional football. Anderson is also a board member of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award.

Tricia Pridemore, Board of Governors of the George L. Smith II Georgia World Congress Center Authority
Pridemore is a Marietta-based businesswoman with a background in technology companies. She serves on the WellStar Hospitals Foundation Board and the Republican Leadership for Georgia board of directors. Pridemore earned a bachelor’s degree from Kennesaw State University. She and husband Michael are involved in many charitable organizations in Georgia. 

John P. Webb Jr., Georgia Agricultural Exposition Authority (Reappointment)
Webb is a retired master chief petty officer of the U.S. Navy with 30 years of service. He is also the retired deputy director of the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry. He became a certified fair executive in 1995 and served several years on the Speakers Bureau for the International Association of Fairs and Expositions. Webb is past president of the Georgia Association of Agricultural Fairs (GAAF) and currently serves as secretary/treasurer for that organization. He was named “Fairman of the Year” for the GAAF in 2006.

Jamie R. Pennington, Board of Community Health (Reappointment)
After a distinguished career in investment banking, Pennington founded Flexible Executives, a nationally recognized executive consulting company. In 2007, she was named one of the top-40 executives under the age of 40 in the state of Georgia by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Pennington has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, CFO Magazine and other publications as an expert on providing low-cost solutions for growing businesses. She earned a degree from Vanderbilt University where she received the prestigious Founders Medal. Pennington lives in Atlanta with her husband and three young children. 

John “Clay” Cox, Board of Community Health
Cox is the president and CEO of Professional Probation Services Inc., which he founded in 1992. He was the 2002 Republican nominee for Congress from Georgia’s 13th Congressional District and served three terms in the Georgia House of Representatives. He served as the House chief deputy whip, chairman of the Gwinnett County legislative delegation and chairman of the House Human Relations and Aging Committee. Cox has been a member of the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce since 1992 and was a graduate of the inaugural class of the Georgia Legislative Leadership Institute in 2005. He is a graduate of Western Carolina University, where he earned a bachelor’s in criminology. He was a three-year letterman in football and an All Southern Conference Scholar Athlete. He and his wife, Alisa, have been married 20 years and have two sons. They reside in Lilburn and attend Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville.

Eric Johnson, Board of Economic Development
Johnson is an architect and president of Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung International Inc. He received his master’s degree in architecture from Tulane University and is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. Johnson served 17 years in the Georgia Legislature, in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. He was Senate Republican leader for four years and the president pro tem of the state Senate for six years. He served on Gov. Deal’s transition team. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, the Georgia Health Sciences University’s Planning and Development Committee, the Georgia Cities Foundation and the Union Mission. Johnson and his wife, Kathryn, live in Savannah and have two children.

Allen Gudenrath, Board of Economic Development
Gudenrath is employed by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney where he holds the title of senior vice president – Wealth Management, financial adviser. He has worked with the same firm since 1985, serving both institutional and individual investors, foundations and investment banking services. He earned an associate’s degree from Reinhardt College and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia. Gudenrath was a recipient of the Frederick Kerr Service Award and is a J.W. Fanning Fellow Designee with Leadership Georgia. He and his wife, Lynda, have three children and expect their first grandchild in August.

Richard Kevin Jackson Sr.,  Board of Economic Development
Jackson is the president and owner of EnviroVac Holdings LLC in Savannah. He is the finance chairman for Congressman Jack Kingston’s Capital Cabinet and currently serves on the Savannah Economic Development Authority Board. Jackson attended the University of Georgia, where he was a letterman on the 1980 national championship football team. He and his wife, Libby, live in Savannah and have three children.

Philip W. Tomlinson, Board of Economic Development
Tomlinson is the chairman of the board and CEO of Total System Services Inc., or TSYS. Prior to beginning his career with TSYS, he spent five years with GE Capital. Tomlinson has served as a director of Synovus Financial Corp. since 2008.  He is chairman of the Columbus State University Foundation board of trustees, and serves on the CSU Cunningham Center for Leadership Development Advisory Board. He also serves on the Georgia Cancer Coalition Board of Directors. Tomlinson was a 2008 recipient of the prestigious Turknett Leadership Character Award, presented by the Turknett Leadership Group and Kennesaw State University. He was also recently awarded the Ernst and Young Lifetime Achievement Award at its 25th Entrepreneur of the Year Program.

J. Comer Yates, Georgia Commission on Hearing Impaired and Deaf Persons (Reappointment)
Yates has been the executive director of the Atlanta Speech School since 1998. He is the past president of Camp Twin Lakes and serves on the board of directors there. Yates also serves on the board of directors of the Southeast Region of the Anti-Defamation League, is a member of the Junior League of Atlanta Advisory Board and serves on the board of the Friends of the First Tee of East Lake. He is a member of the Downtown Atlanta Rotary Club and is chair of the Rotary Educational Foundation of Atlanta. Yates received the Distinguished Service Award from the Atlanta Bar Association along with the WXIA Community Service Award for work with students at Therrell High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree and law degree from Emory University. He was a member of the Order of Coif, the Omicron Delta Kappa and the Order of the Barristers. He and his wife, Sally, have two children.

David F. Meldrum, State Board of Dispensing Opticians (Reappointment)
Meldrum is a Licensed Dispensing Optician and has been practicing in Georgia for 35 years. He is certified by the American Board of Opticianry and the National Contact Lens Examiners. Meldrum is also a master in ophthalmic optics. Meldrum is the current chairman of the American Board of Opticianry, and he sits on the board of directors of the National Academy of Opticianry as chairman of the Education Committee. His long-standing interest in opticians’ continuing education spans a number of years, and he has even co-authored books on the subject.

Richard W. Riley, Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority
Riley is a retired principal and executive vice president of Sawyer Riley Compton, an Atlanta advertising and public relations agency. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he served at his alma mater as an instructor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, as well as director to the Dean of External Affairs. Today, he devotes time to family, church and several nonprofit organizations. Riley and his wife, Tena, reside in Gainesville. Together they have two children and four grandchildren.

Lori M. Smith, State Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Reappointment)
Smith has worked as an audiologist at Audiological Consultants of Atlanta since 1999. As a founding member of the Georgia Academy of Audiology, she currently serves as the Continuing Education chair and the 2012 convention chair. She is also involved in her community by serving on the Little Nancy Creek Park Board. Smith graduated from the University of Florida, where she received a doctorate in Audiology. She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband, Rick, and their three children.

James E. Radford, State Rehabilitation Council
For more than 25 years, Radford has been a planner with the Workforce Development Division of the Atlanta Regional Commission. He is the lead staff person for the board’s youth programs and for youth services planning. Prior to his current position, he taught English at Georgia Tech, worked in a local adult literacy program, worked for the migrant and seasonal farm workers employment and training program and directed the start-up of a similar farm worker program in South Carolina. Radford is a graduate of Rice University, the University of Texas and the University of North Carolina. He and his wife, Sharon, have two children and two grandchildren.

Dorothea D. Cadet, State Rehabilitation Council
Cadet is employed by Chick-fil-A Inc. She serves on the Public Policy Committee of All About Developmental Disabilities (AADD) and is the president of the South Fulton Coalition for Understanding Inc. Cadet earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and a master’s degree from Luther Rice University. She has one adult son and lives in Union City.

Robin E. Blount, State Rehabilitation Council
Blount has worked in the disability field since 1989. She began working at the Georgia Advocacy Office as a staff attorney, where she served people with disabilities. She currently is the education services director for Parent to Parent of Georgia, which serves families of children with disabilities and special health care needs birth through 26; she is responsible for oversight of the Parent Training and Information Center for the state. Blount earned her bachelor’s in American Studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and her J.D. at the University of Georgia School of Law. She has dedicated her career to serving people with disabilities and their families. She is married with five children, one of whom has multiple disabilities.