Bunting College of Business and Technology Leadership Board

Mr. Lennie Brame

Mr. Cal Brantley

Mr. Nick Brooks

Mr. Davenport started his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young in Atlanta. He then worked for eight years  at Arcilla Mining & Land with Foundation Member, Ted Smith. McKenzie moved to Fowler Flemister Concrete in June 2018 where he currently serves as CFO. McKenzie received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Auburn University.  He has served on the board since 2019.

Advocating for management, while creating a pro-employee environment, thus eliminating the need for third-party intervention. Supporting employers and employees in their fight against unwelcome / forced unionization.

Mr. Scott Edens

Larry  Edwards is the National Accounts Manager for Sigma Plastics (since 2007). Prior to this, he was the National Sales Manager for PCL Packaging (1989-2007).

Mr. Edwards earned a MBA from the Terry College of Business, UGA and currently serves as the Treasurer of The GCSU Foundation Board of Trustees.

Larry and his wife established the Larry and Sharon Edwards Endowed Scholarship in 2015.

Mrs. Bevin Landrum

Mike  Madison is currently the Senior Director of Product for Westhill. He was previously the Product Manager for Acoustic and has also worked   in several other capacities including: Senior Manager, Customer Success- Aha! Senior Director/Head of Product- dESCO- FieldEdge, SAI Global Ethics and Learning.

Mr. Madison earned a BBA in Management Information Systems in 2006, a MBA in 2007 and Master of Management Information Systems in 2015, all from Georgia College. 

During his tenure at GC, he was highly involved in campus life and was named the Outstanding Student of the Year for the Bunting College of Business and Technology (2006) and the   Outstanding Departmental Major, MIS, (2006).

Mike  McCabe is a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones. His wife, Christy, is the owner/instructor of a local dance studio, The Vibe.

Mr. McCabe earned a B.S., Management from Georgia College in 2003

Larry Moore was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. His ancestors were among Georgia’s early settlers. He stole the school bus while in high school, but served no time and went on to receive an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, later doing graduate work in management and economics at several colleges in different sections of the country, including Princeton, NYU, and Pace. With wife Jenny, an Agnes Scott alum who has no record and has served as part-time faculty at Georgia College, he purchased a home on Lake Oconee 25 miles from Georgia College in 1994 before retiring in 2000 after careers as an AT&T Vice President, founder of MooreCom and Division President of CD Tech, while living in a number of US cities. While at AT&T, Larry spoke to business classes at Harvard and MIT on business models.

Current and past community activities include: Chairman of the Historic Scenic Byway Corp. Board, Business School Leadership Board (Business) at Georgia College, columnist for the Eatonton Messenger and Lake Oconee News, Georgia Public Radio (NPR) Commentator, Eatonton Main Street Board Chairman, Rock Hawk Effigy & Museums CEO, Eatonton Kiwanis. He is a past Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year and later Volunteer of the Year for Putnam County. 

Past outside activities have included: running marathons and triathlons, bicycling, running 1984 Olympic Torch and serving on 1996 Olympic Committees, coaching Little League baseball and community basketball, and recruiting minorities and women for MIT and Georgia Tech.

Mr. Grant Peagler

Mr. Jonathan Pope

James Robertson joined Aruba at the beginning of 2019 after a successful career in the Media and Entertainment industry where he held numerous Operational, Engineering and Executive roles across multiple disciplines including Infrastructure, Networking, IT Security, Satellite Operations and Broadcast Media Technology.

James is a hands-on technologist who brings a pragmatic approach to each and every situation – finding the right solution that best fits the need. At every stage of his career James has lead teams through significant M&A, R&D, Company Acquisitions and Business Transformations that have unlocked value, enhanced capabilities, pushed technology forward and ultimately driven successful business outcomes.

At Aruba, James serves as part of the Industry Executive Group within the Office of the CTO. This small team of visionary industry experts have all led complex organizations and have been recognized for their deep technical leadership and business excellence. As part of his role, James helps to enhance strategic and thought leadership between Aruba, its partners and customers, that further strengthens our “Customer First, Customer Last” philosophy.

James regularly speaks at industry events globally and leads Aruba’s Executive Forums and Technical Advisory Forums held throughout the year.

He holds a BSc and MS in Computer Science with specializations in Networking, Security and AI. He has also contributed to numerous industry publications, text books, standards research and product development across technology and media over his career.

Originally from the UK, James and his family now live in Atlanta, Georgia.  He has served on the Leadership Board and the IT Advisory Board for the Bunting College of Business and Technology.

Ms. Raymell Shannon

Mr. Mark Smith

With over three decades of experience in driving product innovation, research & development, quality methodologies and organizational streamlining, Wilbur Strickland has helped world-class CPG companies like Mondelēz International, Kraft Foods, Cadbury and Procter & Gamble realize remarkable success.

Presently, as the Founder & CEO of Next Result Innovation, Wilbur focuses on helping clients develop winning products, packages and services.  He’s an agent for positive change – keep what’s good; improve what needs to be better, and deliver extraordinary results.

Having worked across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Wilbur is widely recognized by industry experts and thought leaders for deep skills in innovation creation, business growth, product commercialization, process improvements and start-up operations in global market spaces.

From his early days at Procter & Gamble – helping to facilitate multi-billion dollar R&D integrations to spearheading development for the 'Swiffer' brand (generating $1B in revenue in record time) – Wilbur’s played an integral part in expanding and building global brands.

Upon joining Cadbury, he led teams through successful product launches, supply chain innovations and building new organizations.  Later with Kraft Foods and Mondelēz International, Wilbur led the design and delivery of critical product, process and packaging technologies and innovation platforms that earned an industry reputation for the highest rate of innovation and level of incremental growth from new products over any competitor.  Along the way, Wilbur became the inventor or co-inventor of more than 25 US and international patents.

In 2017, Wilbur launched his consulting business, Next Result Innovation, with a passion to help others bring ideas to reality — delivering deep industry expertise as a Change Agent, Entrepreneur, and Strategic Leader.

Outside of the corporate and business world, Wilbur serves on a number of committees in his local community, and still finds some time to devote to his passion for cars – collecting cars and enjoying the good-spirited camaraderie of various clubs.

Wilbur has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Eric Tillirson joined Thiele Kaolin Company as Marketing Manager in 1999. He progressed through various commercial roles and in 2004, he was appointed Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Thiele and in 2011 he was appointed the company Vice President with continued responsibility for the sales, marketing and technical service function. In November 2013, Eric was promoted to Senior Vice President and Director of Sales Development. In this role, Mr. Tillirson was responsible for Thiele’s global sales and marketing activities in over 15 countries.  Mr. Tillirson was appointed President of Thiele Kaolin Company by the Board of Directors in February of 2015. He also serves as President of the Company’s silica operations, Short Mountain Silica, in Tennessee.
Before joining Thiele, Eric worked in various sales, marketing and technical service roles in the specialty chemicals industry. He has been awarded patents for novel chemical products and has been active in various paper and chemical industry associations.

Eric received his Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia College and his Bachelors of Science degree in Chemistry from Presbyterian College.

Eric currently serves as Leadership Board Member of the Bunting College of Business and Technology at Georgia College and State University, a Board Member of the Brentwood School Foundation and a Board Member of the Georgia Mining Association.
Eric and his wife Jennifer have two sons: Sims (29) and Joel (25) who reside in Columbia SC.

Mr. Rusty Williams

Barry Wolfe gained eight years senior level experience as the Senior Director of Labor/Employee Relations for Dean’s Foods and Dairy Farmers of America before he opened his own firm, Lone Wolfe Consulting in 2020.  He advocates for management, while creating pro-employee environments and eliminating the need for third-party intervention and is committed to supporting employers and employees in their fight against unwelcome/forced unionization. 
In 2019, he became an adjunct professor at Georgia College where he teaches “Labor Relations“ and “Principles of Management.” Mr. Wolfe has also taught classes  at Penn State University and Brenau University.
Mr. Wolfe holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, along with a M.S. in Industrial Relations from Marshall University and a  B. A in Political Science and English from West Virginia Wesleyan College.
He has been a member of the Leadership Board since 2019.

Rhonda Wood is the Deputy HRS IT Program Manager at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). 
She has worked at the OPM for over 35 years and was the Chief, Employee Systems from 1985 until 2016.

Ms. Wood graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Based Info Systems from Georgia College in 1984 and received a graduate degree in 1989. At Georgia College she was a member of the Honors Program and she was also awarded the 1990 Outstanding Recent Alumni Award. She is a former Foundation Trustee and former GC Alumni Board Member.

Dr. Micheal Stratton is Professor of Management and Dean of the Bunting College of Business and Technology at Georgia College & State University, the designated public liberal arts institution of the University of Georgia System. Prior to joining Georgia College and State University in July 2020, Dr. Stratton served as an academic leader and faculty member at The University of North Carolina Asheville since 2010. He is also in the second year of his three-year term as President of the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) for which he has served in various capacities on the Board of Directors since 2012.

Dr. Jones is a retired professor and former dean of the Bunting College of Business and Technology at Georgia College (1976 to 2003). 
In Milledgeville, Dr. Jones has been very active in the community and served as the first female chairwoman of The Development Authority of Milledgeville and Baldwin County. Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Education:
Ph.D., Economics, Louisiana Tech University MBA, University of Louisiana at Monroe
BBS, Business Education, University of Central Arkansas

Dr. Jones has created several scholarships to benefit students in the Bunting College of Business and Technology: The Jo Ann Jones Endowed Scholarship, The Ken Jones Endowed Scholarship (in honor of her husband, Dr. Ken Jones, who was the former dean of the Graduate School at Georgia College) and The Joy Godin Endowed Scholarship (in honor of her daughter, Dr. Joy Godin, MIS professor at Georgia College).
 

Ms. Pickett worked as the Associate Director of the Pharmacy Department at the Medical College of Georgia (now Georgia Regents University Hospital) from 1967 until 1998. 
Ms. Pickett is also the daughter of J. Whitney Bunting for whom the Bunting College of Business and Technology is named after. Ms. Pickett often travels with and is accompanied by Erich Thorpe (in photo) with her to board meetings. 
The two were recently wed after many years of courtship.

Tony founded and served as CEO of one of the earliest private-labeled broadband internet and communications services companies and established the first intellectual Capital Partnership Program in technology for higher education in the State of Georgia.

Tan has served as a Leadership Board member to the Bunting College of Business and Technology and as a Trustee to the Georgia College & State University Foundation.

Mr. Tan was inducted into the 2013 class of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni and Friends, presented by the GCSU Foundation. Mr. Tan was also awarded an Honorary degree from Georgia College in 2009.