Deal appoints eight to boards

K. Andrea Phipps, Georgia Board of Nursing (Reappointment)
Phipps works in patient triage at the Cardiology Center of Dalton and is training in nuclear medicine. She is a former volunteer firefighter and has spent more than 15 years rescuing and rehabilitating injured or orphaned animals. Phipps also owns her own marketing design company, AP Designs. She is a member of the Alzheimer’s Association of America, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Circle of Hope, the Spinal Bifida Association of America and the Humane Society of Northwest Georgia. Phipps earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Dalton State College and specializes in geriatric nurse management. She and her husband, Doug, have two children and two grandchildren. They reside in Dalton.

Melissa Goodman, Georgia Film Music and Digital Advisory Board
Goodman has more than 30 years of experience with the Georgia Branch of the Screen Actors Guild and the Atlanta Local of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, serving as the Atlanta executive director since 1992. She previously worked at a talent agency in Atlanta. Goodman also sits on the board of directors for the Georgia Production Partnership. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from State University of New York College at Buffalo. Goodman and her husband, Jeff, have two children and live in Marietta.​​

Chris Hicks, Georgia Film Music and Digital Advisory Board
Hicks is the director of film and entertainment for the Mayor’s Office of the City of Atlanta. He has experience in record label management, artist management and publishing. Hicks was previously the managing partner of CONTENT Music Group, senior vice president/head of Urban Music for Warner Music Group and the executive vice president of the Island Def Jam Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group. He has worked with a number of award-winning artists, including Justin Bieber and Jennifer Lopez, and Grammy Award-winning songwriters, including Brian Michael Cox and Johnta Austin. Hicks earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University. He resides in Atlanta.​

Beth Nelson, Georgia Film Music and Digital Advisory Board
Nelson is the executive director of the Savannah Area Film Office. She previously worked as a location manager for film, television and commercial productions in the Savannah area. Nelson also has experience as a teacher with the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System and served on the Savannah Film Commission for four years. She is a co-president and a founding member of Savannah Women in Film and Television, and she sits on the advisory board for the Savannah State University Department of Journalism and Mass Communications. Nelson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in Education from Armstrong State University. She and her husband, Tom, have two children and live in Savannah.​

Frank Patterson, Georgia Film Music and Digital Advisory Board
Patterson is a studio executive, entrepreneur and higher education thought leader currently serving as president of Pinewood Atlanta Studios, the second largest purpose-built film studio in North America. Throughout his career, he has founded and led several film production companies, including Houston Cinema Group, Envisage Media and Pulse Evolution Corporation, a technology company that produces hyperrealistic digital humans for live and virtual reality applications. As an educator, Patterson taught production and served as dean of Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts from 2003 to 2016. He was named one of the nation’s top mentors to a generation of Hollywood filmmakers by the Hollywood Reporter. Patterson’s creative and research activities are focused at the intersection of artificial intelligence and immersive technologies, with an interest in digital human agency. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Film and Digital Media and a master’s degree in Film and Digital Media from Baylor University. Patterson and his wife, Leslie, have two children and reside in Fayetteville.​

Dr. Dennis W. Ashley, M.D.,  Georgia Trauma Care Network (Reappointment)
Dr. Ashley is the Milford B. Hatcher Professor and Chair of Surgery and the director of trauma and adult critical care at the Medical Center Navicent Health and Mercer University School of Medicine. He is a member of American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Southern Surgical Association and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Ashley is currently the chairman of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission, vice president of the Georgia Society of the American College of Surgeons and the southeast region chief of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Transylvania University and a medical degree from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Dr. Ashley completed a general surgery residency at the Medical Center Navicent Health and Mercer University School of Medicine, a trauma fellowship at Grady Hospital and a surgical critical care fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He has one child and lives in Macon.​

Regina Simione Medeiros, DNP, Georgia Trauma Care Network
Medeiros is the trauma program director at Augusta University Health. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the Medical College of Georgia and the College of Nursing at Augusta University. Medeiros has held leadership positions for committees, research grant teams, nonprofit organizations and educational programs in the medical community. She received the “Nurse Hero” recognition from the American Red Cross in 2013. Medeiros earned a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Northeastern University, a master’s degree in Health Services Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina and a doctoral degree in Nursing Practice from the Augusta University College of Nursing. Medeiros has two children and resides in Augusta.​

R. Bryant Hightower Jr., State Board for Funeral Service (Reappointment)
Hightower is the director of Hightower Family Funeral Homes, a third-generation funeral service with locations in Carrollton, Bremen and Douglasville. He is a former president of the Georgia Funeral Directors Association and the Academy of Graduate Embalmers of Georgia. Hightower is the secretary to the board of directors for the National Funeral Directors Association Committees and will begin his term as the organization’s treasurer in November 2017. He is a member of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, an organization composed of private citizens activated in the event of a disaster. Hightower volunteers with the Carrollton Rotary Club, Relay for Life of Carroll County and the Tanner Medical Foundation. He is also active with the Carrollton Mainstreet board of directors, the Carrollton Jaycees, the Carrollton Evening Sertoma Club and the Carroll County Chapter of Ducks Unlimited. Hightower and his wife, Cathy, have three children and live in Carrollton.