OFFICERS
George Garzon, Chair
George Garzon is a management instructor pilot at Delta Air Lines. Before joining Delta, Garzon served for 14 years as an F-15E fighter pilot, instructor pilot and mission commander in the United States Air Force. He then served in and retired from the Air National Guard as a Lieutenant Colonel Garzon graduated from The University of the South (Sewanee) with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Economics. He received a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Garzon also serves on the Bellingrath-Morse Foundation Board and The Bellingrath Gardens and Home Foundation Board. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Cornerstone Schools of Alabama. He is also a member of the Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club and Downtown Kiwanis Club of Birmingham.
Joshua F. Mandell, Vice Chair
Josh Mandell is the President/COO of the Gateway Companies, an owner-operator of multifamily housing communities across the Southeastern US. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Alabama and a law degree from Loyola University College of Law.
He is a member of the Louisiana and Alabama State Bar Associations. His community activity includes service on the boards of directors of The Alabama Wildlife Federation, Birmingham Jewish Federation and Mountain Brook Athletics.
Phil Passafiume, Treasurer and Finance Chair
Phil Passafiume assumed the role of executive vice president, chief investment officer for Protective Life Corporation on March 1, 2022, having most recently served as the company’s senior vice president, chief investment officer since June 2020. He has also previously held the title of senior vice president, director of fixed income, where he was responsible for general account investments pertaining to corporate bonds, MBS, ABS, CMBS, CLOs, private placements and bank loans. Passafiume, who has more than 23 years of investment management experience, serves on Protective’s P&A, ALM, investment policy, retirement, enterprise risk management and internal controls committees. Prior to joining Protective Life in 2003, he was a senior analyst/portfolio manager for ING Investment Management in Atlanta, Georgia.
In addition to being a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Passafiume has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a master’s degree in finance from Georgia State University. He is on the investment committee of United Way of Central Alabama; on the advisory board for Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama; and serves as the diocesan finance trustee of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.
Caroline Thompson Little, Grants Chair
Caroline Thompson Little started her real estate career at Bayer Properties after graduating Bowdoin College in 1997 and working for a short time in New York City at Court TV. She rebranded Thompson Realty, developer of the Shoal Creek Community and Golf Club to Shoal Creek Properties, where she serves as president.
She has been involved in many community organizations throughout the years, such as Symphony 30, JWC PTO and others. While at Bayer Properties, she started the Junior Executive Board of the American Cancer Society and has served as president of the Ballet Guild, an organization benefiting the Alabama Ballet. Little also has been active in her church, Saint Luke’s Episcopal, serving several years as the inaugural Chair of the Saint Luke’s Day School Board and the 2017 Clerk to the Vestry. She is a member of the Mountain Brook Club Board of Governors, the Board of Directors of Smile-A-Mile and Friends of the Botanical Gardens.
Andy Robison, Secretary
Andy Robison is managing partner at Bradley’s Birmingham office. He advises primarily privately held companies and private equity funds and their operating companies in formation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate finance transactions. He also represents publicly traded clients in these matters, as well as in securities offerings, divestitures, proxy contests, and general corporate and securities law issues.
BOARD MEMBERS
Leroy Abrahams
Leroy Abrahams is the head of Community Affairs for Regions Bank and in this role serves as Chairman and President of the Regions Foundation and the President of the Regions Community Development Corporation. He is a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team. Regions is a regional bank that operates throughout the South, Midwest and Texas and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Prior to being named to his current role in 2018, Abrahams served as Area President in North Central Alabama. He joined Regions in 2013 as head of Strategic and Corporate Planning. His prior experience includes serving with SunTrust Bank as President and CEO of the company’s Hampton Roads region in Virginia. In addition, he held roles as the retail banking executive and central group retail line of business leader. Before joining SunTrust, Abrahams was a consumer banking manager in eastern Tennessee for Regions.
Abrahams graduated from Texas Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Finance.
Throughout his career, Abrahams has been active in serving and supporting nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life in various communities. Abrahams currently serves on the boards of Birmingham Promise, the Woodlawn Foundation, the Eyesight Foundation of Alabama, The World Games 2022 and the Alabama Bankers Association. He is also a member of the Southeastern Council of Foundations.
Lora Blalock
A Birmingham native, Lora has spent her career working in the nonprofit sector. She joined the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham in 2011. In her role as Vice President, Philanthropic Services, she leads a team responsible for asset growth, strategic partnerships and relationship management for the state’s largest and oldest community foundation.
Lora is actively engaged in Birmingham’s civic community, having served on the board of the Rotaract Club of Birmingham and as the organization’s President in 2015. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Birmingham, a 2018 graduate of the Alabama Leadership Initiative, and a 2020 graduate of Leadership Birmingham. Lora received her BA in History from Rhodes College in Memphis.
Dr. Michael A. Callahan
Since 1998, Dr. Callahan has held a faculty position as Professor of Ophthalmology in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine and teaches the intricate surgical procedures of phacoemulsification and intraocular lens insertion. In addition, Dr. Callahan lectures on ophthalmic plastic surgery. Dr. Callahan is also very involved in providing ophthalmic care in the U.S. and countries worldwide, where medical care is not readily available. He serves as president of the Board of Directors of the International Retinal Research Foundation.
Lee Clanton
Lee Clanton is an attorney specializing in defense litigation with Porterfield, Harper, Mills, Motlow & Ireland. His areas of practice include all aspects of defense litigation with a specialty in medical malpractice and professional liability.
Lee is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where he earned a B.S. degree in economics; and the Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, where he earned his J.D. While in law school, Lee was a member of the Cumberland Law Review and a recipient of the Presidential Merit Scholarship.
Lee is a member of the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association and the International Association of Defense Counsel. He holds multiple bar admissions in Alabama and is past president of the Shelby County Bar Association. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Advancing Sight Network, formerly the Alabama Eye Bank.
John Coleman
With more than 17 years of experience, John Coleman joined Graham & Company in 2006 as a broker for the company’s Industrial Group. He is a lifetime member of the Commercial Real Estate Club of Excellence and has earned the Specialist in Industrial Real Estate designation (SIOR).
Coleman has a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Alabama. He is a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and serves on Children’s Hospital of Alabama Committee for the Future, the Monday Morning Quarterback Club, the National Multiple Sclerosis Leadership Class 2011 and 2012 and is a board member for Birmingham Business Alliance.
Hartwell Davis Jr.
Hartwell Davis is chairman of the board of Metalplate Galvanizing, Inc., a provider of hot dip galvanizing service for the steel industry throughout the South. For the past 45 years, he has been president or chairman of Metalplate. He holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University. After college, Hartwell served in the United States Navy as a commissioned officer.
Hartwell is past president of Rotary Club of Birmingham, past president of Crippled Children’s Foundation, former Captain of Monday Morning Quarterback Club, past chairman of EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, former vice chairman of Alabama Ear Institute and former trustee of Birmingham-Southern College. He is a member of Canterbury United Methodist Church, where he served as chairman of the Church Council among other roles.
Jim Davis
Jim Davis is chairman of Jemison Investment Co. Inc., a privately-held company with a diversified portfolio of investments, including controlling interests in a steel service center business, a customer-care call center and an auto parts distribution business.
Davis serves as a director of several private businesses and is involved with several civic organizations, including The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama and St. Vincent’s Health System.
He is a 1972 graduate of Auburn University.
Felix Drennen III
Felix Frennen is the chief development officer at Cobbs Allen.
He began his career in insurance in 2011 when he became chief development officer at Cobbs Allen. Prior to Cobbs Allen, Felix worked in construction for over 35 years as CEO of Brice Building Co. for more than 10 years.
He has served as board chair of Callahan Eye Foundation at UAB Hospital, The EyeSight Foundation, Girls Inc. and Children’s Theater. He received his bachelor’s degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA.
Robert Field
Robert Field earned a B.S from the University of Alabama with a major in Accounting. He was a CPA in the Washington office of Arthur Andersen prior to returning to Alabama. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Advancing Sight.
Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith
Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith is a financial consultant and was the 15th president and the first female president of Birmingham-Southern College. She was named President Emerita upon her retirement in 2018.
Flaherty-Goldsmith grew up in Mississippi. She earned her bachelor of science in commerce and business administration at the University of Alabama and a master’s in business administration at UAB. Her 1980 to 1993 tenure at UAB included 5 years as UAB’s CFO; she was then promoted to vice chancellor for financial affairs for the University of Alabama System until January 1998. For four years after that, she taught as an adjunct faculty member in the University of Alabama College of Commerce. Flaherty-Goldsmith was also one of the founding members of the UAB Health System board and chaired its finance committee from 1996 to 2002. In 1997, she was named “Vice Chancellor for Finance Emeritus” and awarded the President’s Medal for her service to UAB.
She founded her own firm, Flaherty-Goldsmith Consulting LLC, in 2000 and has advised institutional and corporate clients in need of financial overhauls. In 2003 she served as a pro bono consultant on Governor Bob Riley‘s “Task Force on Tax Reform”. In August 2003, she was recruited by the University of Connecticut as its first Chief Operating Officer.
In 2010, she returned to her consulting role as special advisor to the Board of Trustees of Birmingham-Southern College. One year later, she became Chief of Staff to the newly appointed president, General Charles Krulak. In 2013, she moved to New York City to work as a pro bono consultant for Human Rights First, but continued her association with BSC as Special Advisor to the President. That year, BSC’s faculty awarded her an honorary doctorate for her role in stabilizing BSC’s finances. In June 2016 she was asked by the Board and the faculty to succeed Edward Leonard III as president of the college. She announced in August 2018 that she would serve through the 2018–2019 academic year. She ultimately stepped down effective October 1, 2018.
Flaherty-Goldsmith is an alumnus of Leadership Birmingham (1992), Leadership Alabama (1994), Leadership Tuscaloosa (1996) and Leadership Greater Hartford, Connecticut (2004). She has served on the boards of YouthServe, the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama and the National Collegiate Housing Foundation.
Flaherty-Goldsmith is also author of one published work, An Anguished Hallelujah.
Alison Gorrie
Alison Gorrie is a businesswoman, civic leader and volunteer who is involved with many of Birmingham’s best and most impactful causes and companies. Co-founder and former co-owner of Dorm Décor, one of the most popular dorm room furniture providers in the nation, Ms. Gorrie has been involved in interior design for many years. Her business background also included founding Bridesmaids, Inc., a bridesmaids apparel store that served the wedding industry for more than three decades.
A graduate of Auburn University, she volunteers with a number of nonprofit organizations, including serving as board member of Red Mountain Theatre and The Linly Heflin Unit. She is a past member of Junior League of Birmingham, The Service Guild and a board member of The Alabama Ballet.
Rett J. Grover
Rett J. Grover is chief executive officer of UAB Callahan Eye Hospital & Clinics.
Grover completed his administrative residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, and assumed the position of director of Business Operations for the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation in 2010. He joined UAB Callahan Eye Hospital & Clinics as the operations administrator. In 2015, Grover became the hospital’s chief operating officer, and in November 2017, he transitioned into the role of interim chief executive officer.
Grover is a member of the Alabama Hospital Association Birmingham Regional Council and the American College of Healthcare Executives. He serves as a board member for the Alabama Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Ophthalmology Services Foundation and the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama.
Grover completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Alabama, and received his master’s degree in health administration and master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his administrative residency at University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Koko Mackin
Koko Mackin is retired from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama after 40 years of service. At the Company, she held various leadership positions including manager of Corporate Planning, VP and Corporate Secretary, and most recently, VP of Corporate Communications and Community Relations.
Mackin served as the past board chair of The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama; on the Strategic Communications Advisory Network of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; and as a member of the Business Education Alliance Advisory Council, the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, The Women’s Network, Junior League of Birmingham Community Advisory Board and the Newcomen Society.
She has served as board chair for Voices for Alabama’s Children, Childcare Resources and Camp Fire Alabama. She has also served as 2013 Events Chair for the Railroad Park Capital Campaign; 2011 Birmingham Chair for the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Luncheon; 2011 Chair of Blue Cross’ United Way Campaign; and 2010 Birmingham Corporate Chair for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night Walk.
She is a graduate of the 2004 Class of Leadership Birmingham and the 2003 Class of Momentum Women’s Executive Leadership Program. The Cahaba Girl Scout Council honored her as one of the “2002 Women of Distinction” as well as the with Mildred Bell Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. In 2007, The Birmingham Business Journal honored her as a “Top Birmingham Woman.”
A native of Meridian, Mississippi, Mackin is a Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The University of Alabama with a BA in Mathematics and an MBA in Finance.
Danny McKinney
Danny has extensive business experience including roles as the COO of Satellites Unlimited and the CEO of McKinney Communications. Danny is a cofounder of McKinney Capital and helped lead the acquisitions of Landscape Workshop and Team Enoch. He graduated with honors from the University of Alabama where he received a BS in International Finance and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Danny takes time out of his schedule to serve on the boards of The Birmingham Promise, Jones Valley Teaching Farm, The Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and The Historic Bethel Baptist Church. In his spare time, Danny enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with his wife and son.
Brian C. Samuels, MD, PhD
Dr. Samuels is the Chair in the UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. He is the inaugural holder of the Dennis Endowed Professorship in Glaucoma Research and serves as the director of the glaucoma service and glaucoma fellowship program. Dr. Samuels received his bachelor’s degree from Wabash College and completed the combined MD/PhD program at the Indiana University School of Medicine, where he was awarded the Chancellor’s Scholar Award for his graduate research work. He obtained his PhD in medical neurobiology and completed his glaucoma fellowship at Duke University where he was awarded the Hornaday Fellowship Award for Outstanding Fellow.
His research has focused on understanding how differences in intraocular pressure and intracranial pressure cause different eye diseases, such as glaucoma and idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri). Dr. Samuels has been principal investigator (PI) on multiple National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute (NIH/NEI) grants (one K12, one K08, one R21, two R01s, one P30, and an NEI Audacious Goals Initiative U24 grant) as well as several foundation grants, including a recent Research to Prevent Blindness Physician-Scientist Award. He is currently the director of the NIH funded P30 Vision Research Core Grant. In addition, Dr. Samuels has been a consultant with NASA, investigating why astronauts who spend extended time in space are at risk for changes in vision. Ultimately, Dr. Samuels hopes his research will eventually lead to new treatments or cures for blinding diseases.
W. Spencer South
Spencer is a native of Birmingham, a graduate of the University of Alabama and alumnus of Harvard Business School, completing the PLD program. Spencer is a private equity professional as managing director of Waldwic Capital and is focused on industrial operating companies and commercial real estate. He is married with two children. Spencer is on the board of the Monday Morning Quarterback Club whose purpose is to support children’s medical needs through the Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation. Spencer enjoys spending time with his family outdoors as well as youth sports and travel.
Stephen A. Yoder
Steve Yoder has been associated with the EyeSight Foundation and Callahan Eye Hospital since 1996. He served as chair of the EyeSight Foundation from 2010 to 2012.
After a 30-year career as a business lawyer, including nearly 10 years as general counsel of a predecessor of Regions Financial Corporation, Steve became as assistant professor in the UAB Collat School of Business. In 2018, he became UAB’s Associate Provost for Academic Administration, and served in that role until his retirement in 2022.
Steve and his wife, Louise, have created the Henry M. Hollis Ophthalmology Research Fund in the UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EMERITA
Torrey V.A. DeKeyser
EMERITUS TRUSTEES
N. Carlton Baker, Jr.
Clarence B. Blair
Duncan B. Blair
T. Morris Hackney
William C. Hulsey
Allen D. Rushton