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Beth Bird returned to Cleveland in 2000 after a 25 year absence. She majored in sociology at the University of Georgia and formerly owned her own retail business. Beth is a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church where she is active in the Altar Guild, the Bread Ministry, and chairman of a Caring and Sharing committee. She is a member of FCE (Family and Community Education) under the direction of the University of Tennessee Family & Consumer Sciences and is “in the trenches” as a weekly volunteer at The Caring Place. Beth and her husband Jerry have two children and five grandchildren. |
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Dr. Reba Barkley, a native of Atlanta, GA is currently an Assistant Professor at Lee University in the Helen DeVos College of Education. She has served in the field of education for 28 years. Dr. Barkley completed her undergraduate degree at Spelman College and received a Masters Degree in Special Education from Atlanta University, a Specialist Degree in Educational Administration from the University of Georgia and a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova University. Dr. Barkley taught for eight years as a special education teacher in Georgia and South Carolina before accepting administrative positions at the elementary school level. She spent five years as an elementary assistant principal in Albany, Georgia and served 10 years as an elementary principal in Wisconsin and Ohio. Additionally, she has taught full time at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Southeast Missouri State University. Dr. Barkley is a member of Silverdale Baptist Church and serves on the Board of Directors of The Museum Center at 5ive Points and the Bradley Initiative for Church and Community (BICC). She is also a fund distribution chairperson for the United Way of Bradley County. Dr. Barkley and her husband Bill, married 28 years, have two daughters: Amber, pursuing a MBA at Northwestern University and Tamika who recently completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. They are also the proud grandparents of 22 month old Jasmine.
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| Darlia Conn is a long time resident of Cleveland, and currently an adjunct member of the piano faculty at Lee University where she serves as an accompanist. Her interests have always revolved around music. For many years she served in various leadership roles in the Cleveland Symphony Guild. Currently she is also on the Advisory Board of String Theory, a Chamber music series with performances at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, and with Dr. Conn directs the Presidential Concert Series at Lee University. Aside from music, she focuses her activities on her family—among which are three children, their spouses, and nine grandchildren—and her various duties as wife of the Lee University President, Paul Conn.
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Margo Fitzgerald is a native of Memphis Tennessee who received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the University of Memphis. Margo has taught every grade from kindergarten through college and has also served in a number of administrative positions in school districts throughout Tennessee. Margo served as the Supervisor of Public Information for Cleveland City Schools where she established an after school program and created the Public Education Foundation. After her tenure with the school system, she worked for Rosetta Stone in a national position and retired after ten years. She currently serves on the board of the local PBS station, WTCI as well as being on the executive committee of the Bradley/Cleveland Public Education Foundation. She and her husband Rodney are members of First Baptist Church of Cleveland.
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Coleman Foss, secretary/treasurer, is the Chief Executive Officer of SkyRidge Medical Center. He currently is a member of the Noon Day Rotary Club, on the board of directors for United Way of Bradley County, and Junior Achievement. He is the Co-Chair for the Compass Campaign East Division of the Chamber of Commerce. He received an award for Business of the year for the Dyersburg Regional Medical Center in 2005. Mr. Foss attends First Baptist Church. He is married to Amy, and they have two daughters and two sons.
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Don Goff recently retired from the Cleveland City School System where he had been an educator for 38 years. For 33 of those years he served as principal of three different elementary schools in Cleveland. He also served as the District Director of the Southwest Department of Education Office. Mr. Goff is a graduate of Lee University and earned a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Mr. Goff served as president of the Tennessee Association of Elementary School Principals, president of the local education association, and director of the National Education Association for the Third Congressional District. During his tenure with the National Education Association and the Tennessee Principal Association, he had the privilege of representing both associations while meeting in the White House with two past Presidents. Mr. Goff is a member of Westmore Church of God and is married to former Janie Simmons. They have two daughters, Natalie and Melanie, a son-in-law, Curtis Coleman, and two grandchildren, Cooper and Lillian Coleman.
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Robert Hardin has lived in Cleveland since 2001 and was the Division Vice President for Whirlpool before retiring in June 2010. He currently is an Adjunct Professor at Lee University and a member of the Business Advisory Council for Lee University and First Tennessee Bank. He also is a member of the Board of Directors for Vermeer Inc. of Pella, Iowa. He holds a BS in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and an MBA from Duke University. Mr. Hardin attends First Baptist Church, is married to Mary Jane, and has two daughters who reside in Charleston, SC.
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Tom Harris, is the Director of Produce/Floral Operations for Cooke’s Food Store, and Super Saver Cost Plus. Tom has worked in the grocery business for 37 years and is a Cleveland, TN native. A graduate of Bradley High School, he also attended Cleveland State Community College. Tom has been married to Shirlee for 25 years, and they have four wonderful children and a lovely grandaughter.
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Rev. Cliff Hudson, is the pastor of First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He presently serves as Vice-Moderator of his denomination’s General Assembly and reflects the deep commitment to local ministry by serving on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity and The Caring Place. He is married to Jill, and they have a blended family of two sons, Clifford and Jamie, and a daughter, Ericka.
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Rafael Lastra is a native of Sonora, Mexico. Mr. Lastra came to Tennessee in 1965 to attend Lee College where he met and eventually married his wife Renee. The Lastras have served as interpreters and missionaries to many countries including Mexico and the United States. He worked with Youth with a Mission and Christian Missionary Pilots as a missionary, interpreter and pilot. Rafael and Renee moved back to Cleveland in 1999. Since then Mr. Lastra has worked as a Court Interpreter and Human Resources Interpreter in Dalton Ga. He presently is the coordinator of The Mosaic Center, serves on the board of Ocoee Regional Multicultural Services and Community Department of Corrections and as an interpreter for the Cleveland and Bradley Schools.
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Mike Seago , vice-chairman, is married to the former Mary Helen Windham. They have two daughters and four grandchildren. Mike has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Baylor University. He spent six years as the plant manager of Ethel M Chocolates in Las Vegas, Nevada but retired from M&M/Mars as an Engineering Manager. After retirement from M&M/Mars, he taught in the Business Department of Lee University for 11 years. He is a member of First Baptist Church, and ordained deacon, and was on the building committee for the recently built First Baptist Church building on Stuart Road.
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Dewayne Thompson, Chairman, is a full professor and chair of the Department of Business at Lee University. He holds the BS degree from Lee University, an MBA from Middle Tennessee State and a DBA from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Thompson is an active member of Westmore Church of God and has served the community on various boards as chair and as member, including the Family Resource Agency, the Economic Development Council, Existing Industry Committee, and the Education and Workforce Development Committee at the Chamber of Commerce. He participated several years on distribution panels for United Way and is past chair of the United Way Steering Committee for Lee University. He is an officer and site evaluator for the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, an accrediting body for collegiate business programs in higher education. Additionally, he has traveled and taught internationally related to his responsibilities at Lee University. He is married to Cathy, registrar at Lee University, and has two children: Amie, a graduate student at University of Virginia, and Lauren, a sophomore at Lee University. |