F. Scott LeRoy, Esq., Chair
Mr. LeRoy is an attorney with LeRoy Hurst & Bickerstaff PLLC, a legal practice covering a wide range of business ventures, insolvency matters, commercial litigation and small estate planning and administration. He is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and the Chattanooga Bar Association.

Mr. LeRoy is board chair and a member of the Executive Committee of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Alumni Board. He also serves on the UTC Advisory Board for the College of Business Administration and the UT Alumni Association Board of Governors. He is treasurer of the board of the Mid South Commercial Law Institute. Mr. LeRoy also served as a board member for RE:START – The Center for Adult Education (formerly READ Chattanooga) and is a former board chair of Saint Barnabas Nursing Home and Apartments.

Bill Wilder, Vice Chair
Mr. Wilder is a native of Chattanooga and graduate of Chattanooga High School and Middle Tennessee State University. He began his career in the insurance industry in 1975 at Huffaker & Associates, later serving as CEO of Huffaker & Trimble until the local company was acquired by BB&T Bank in February 2005. Currently Mr. Wilder serves as VP/agency manager of BB&T Huffaker & Trimble. He serves on the boards of the United Way, the Chamber of Commerce, Bible in the Schools and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. Mr. Wilder is an elder at Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church.

Jo Ann Yates, Secretary 
Mrs. Yates is an active community volunteer, serving on the boards of Siskin Hospital for Rehabilitation, the University of Chattanooga Foundation and St. Nicholas School. 

Tom White, Treasurer
Mr. White is senior vice president of Investor Relations for Unum Group. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga and his current board positions include United Way of Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Chattanooga.  He previously was a member of the boards for the Urban League and The Partnership for Families, Children and Adults. 

Ross I. Schram III, Human Resources Committee Chair
Mr. Schram is a lawyer and shareholder of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC. He currently serves as an elder and trustee at Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church in addition to being vice chairman of the boards of The Childrens' Home/Chambliss Shelter, Fortwood Center and Volunteer Community School. Mr. Schram also chairs the Allocations Committee of the United Way and serves on its Board and Executive Committee.  He is a past chairman of the Institute’s Board of Directors.

Ward Petty, Immediate Past Chair
Mr. Petty is the past chair of the Institute’s Board of Directors. He and his wife, Nancy, chaired the StarNight fundraiser in 2007. Mr. Petty founded the local office of A.G. Edwards, now Wells Fargo Advisors, in 1991. He oversees more than $200 million of his clients’ assets and is a perennial member of the firm’s Chairman’s Council. Mr. Petty is a lifelong Chattanooga native and has served numerous service organizations since his days as a McCallie School student. He has served as president of McCallie School’s Alumni Council, a member of its Board of Trustees and Planned Giving Committee and was twice chairman of McCallie’s Annual Sustaining Fund. He is a past president of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Alumni Board, a former member of its Executive Committee and member of the UC Foundation. Mr. Petty was co-founder and former board member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of East Tennessee/North Georgia. He also serves on the boards of Memorial Healthcare Foundation and WTCI, Chattanooga’s PBS affiliate station. In years past, he has served as a board member of Creative Discovery Museum, Bethel Bible Village and the American Red Cross and the Partnership for Families, Children & Adults, as well as president of the Fairyland Club and as a city councilman for the town of Lookout Mountain, Tenn.

David Binder
Mr. Binder is a multi-term member of the Institute's Board of Directors and served as board chair from 2008-2010. He is the grandson of Institute co-founder Mose Siskin. He is the assistant vice president of finance for Siskin Steel & Supply Company.

Marvin Hall, M.D.
Dr. Hall is medical director of T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga. He is also a pediatric intensivist and the clinical chairman for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Medicine.

R. Craig Holley
Mr. R. Craig Holley serves as the chairman, chief executive officer, and president of CapitalMark Bank & Trust. In 1998, he successfully completed Georgia State University’s Management Development Program at the Center for Executive Education in Atlanta, Georgia, and is a 2002 graduate of the Center of Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. Prior to founding CapitalMark, Mr. Holley worked for over 25 years with AmSouth Bank, serving as regional president for the bank’s southeast Tennessee/North Georgia area before departing in 2005. Active in every community in which he has lived, he has chaired successful United Way campaigns in both Huntsville and Chattanooga and continues to serve on the board and executive committee of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga. In addition, he currently serves on the board of directors for the Hunter Museum of American Art. Mr. Holley is a member of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Business Advisory Board and past member of the Chancellor’s Roundtable. He has served on the board of directors of Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, The Girls Preparatory School, the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies, Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, the T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, the Cherokee Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, First Things First and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. Mr. Holley earned his bachelor of science degree in economics at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, in 1979 and is a 1987 graduate of the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.

Kathleen Hunt, M.D.
Dr. Hunt graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Science in 1990. She later graduated from Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine in 1994 and completed a residency and chief residency in pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine in 1999. She returned to Harvard and obtained an MBA in 2001.

Dr. Hunt is a pediatrician with Erlanger Medical Center and a faculty member at The University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga. She has served as a board member for Bright School, the Trust for Public Land and the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy.

Roy Keith, Ph.D. 
Dr. Keith is chairman of BLOC Global Services Group, LLC.  He previously served in executive positions with Almanac Capital Management, Stonington Partners and Carson Products Company. 

A graduate of Morehouse College, Dr. Keith holds master’s and doctorate degrees from Indiana University. He has served as chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, as the president of Morehouse College and as a vice president at the University of Maryland. He also served as an associate dean and assistant professor at Dartmouth College.

Locally, Dr. Keith is a member of the board of directors of the University of Chattanooga Foundation.  He is a past member of the board of directors of the Baylor School, the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and the Chattanooga Zoo. In Savannah, he served on the boards of the Telfair Museum of Art, the Savannah Economic Development Authority, the United Way, the Savannah Symphony and the Community Foundation.  He was a charter member of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Dr. Keith is also a board member of Mentor, a National Mentoring Program and a past member of the board of the National Committee for the Performing Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center. 

Paul Loftin
Paul J. Loftin is the president and COO of Siskin Steel and Supply Co. A Kansas native, Mr. Loftin has been employed with Siskin Steel and Supply for seven years. He began his career in the metals industry with Reynolds Aluminum as a part of their college apprenticeship program. After college he has continued to work in the industry for over 40 years. Most of his career has been in management of steel companies throughout the United States. He is vice chair of The Chattanooga Regional Manufacturers Association and director of Reliance Steel and Aluminum Company. Mr. Loftin is on the board of directors for the RPC Church and the Spirit of America Foundation. He and his wife Sandy have two daughters: Emily, a junior at Lee University, and Katie, who will be attending Gardner-Webb in North Carolina this fall. Additionally, he has two daughters who live out of state. Angie lives in Kansas, and Camille lives in Colorado Springs.

Carla Morgan
Mrs. Morgan is the co-owner and buyer for 2nds in Building Materials, Inc., which operates nine Southeastern Salvage Home Emporium locations. She previously served as the co-chair of StyleWorks, one of the Institute’s largest annual fundraisers. She serves on the boards of the Aim Center and the McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center, and she previously served on the board of the Chattanooga Theatre Center. 

John Pregulman
Mr. Pregulman is a Chattanooga native, father of four and grandson of Garrison Siskin, co-founder of the Institute. He is a graduate of McCallie School and has a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics from Vanderbilt University. After college, he worked for Republic Steel Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio and as a professional photographer in New York City. In 1985, he returned to Chattanooga and rejoined Siskin Steel & Supply Company, ultimately becoming the president and COO and working for the company until 2004. While living in Chattanooga, Mr. Pregulman was involved in various civic and professional organizations. He was a Chattanooga Rotarian, is a graduate of Leadership Chattanooga, and served on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce, Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation, the Steel Service Center Institute, First Tennessee Bank, Bright School, Bnai Zion Synagogue and the Jewish Community Federation. He also is a past board member of Alpha Steel Corporation in Chicago, Ill.

He moved to Denver, Colo. in 2000. While living in Denver, he has had various business interests and now is a private investor and senior finance manager for the The Restaurant Source.

Currently, Mr. Pregulman is a member of the Board of the Allied Jewish Apartments, Anti-Defamation League, Shalom Park (a retirement community) and Citywide Banks. He also was a member of Leadership Denver and the Colorado Chapter of Young Presidents Organization.

James R. Shire, M.D., FACS
Dr. Shire is Board Certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, The American Board of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgeons, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. For eight years Dr, Shire was in a private Facial Cosmetic Surgery practice in Boca Raton, Fla. He was also on the teaching faculty at the University of Miami Hospitals. Dr. Shire was then appointed Director of Facial Plastic Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in New York, where he had an academic and private practice.
 
Dr. Shire has published papers in professional journals and written many chapters for books on facial plastic surgery. Dr. Shire's national reputation keeps him in demand for lectures, personal appearances, and private consultations.
 
In an effort for an improved lifestyle in addition to searching for a community to raise a family in, Dr. Shire relocated to Chattanooga. He has served on the boards of a variety of philanthropic organizations, including FACES: The National Craniofacial Association, the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida. Dr. Shire also is a member of several professional organizations including the Tennessee Medical Association, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Survey and the American College of Surgeons.

Mary Tanner, Ph.D.
Dr. Tanner has spent her entire academic career, over 35 years, at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, rising through the academic ranks from an instructor in the Department of Human Ecology to her present position as UC Foundation and Guerry Professor. She also has served as a Department Head, Associate Dean, Dean (College of Health, Education and Professional Studies), and now serves as Interim Provost.

More than sixteen new initiatives benefiting students were launched at UTC during her tenure as dean, including three doctorates and a focus on online learning opportunities for UTC. Throughout her community service runs a common denominator: improving the quality of life for children. A respected leader in early childhood education, her expertise is sought by many nonprofit boards at local and national levels. She has served on more than 40 boards while fulfilling all her university commitments.

She has chaired the Academic Department Heads Council at UTC, volunteered with the board of Friends of the Festival, and graduated from Leadership Chattanooga. She currently serves on the boards of Siskin Children’s Institute, Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga, United Way, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, and is a trustee of Girls Preparatory School (GPS). She cites the work being done by Project Ready for School as a source of pride. That literacy initiative now reaches over 14,000 children with monthly book deliveries, book-based learning activities created by UTC students and free developmental screening.

Dr. Tanner holds a Ph.D. from The University of Georgia, Athens, in family and child development, and a M.Ed. and B.S. from UTC in education (elementary and secondary). She is married to Dr. Homer Kemp, an English professor at Tennessee Tech, and is the parent of two sons, Jim and Waide Tanner.

Edna Varner
Ms. Varner is a consultant with the Public Education Foundation and director of Leadership Development for the Cornerstone National Literacy Initiative. She is on the board of the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy as well as a former Hamilton County teacher and principal.

Rachael Welch
Rachael Welch joined the Tennessee Valley Authority in 2002 and currently serves as Manager, IT Resource Planning & Awareness, and is stationed in Chattanooga. Welch is a graduating member of the Leadership Chattanooga class of 2011, is currently enrolled in TVA’s Leadership and Management for Accelerated Performance (LMAP) program at the Vanderbilt Executive Development Institute. She has recently accepted an appointment to the Board of Directors for Siskin Children’s Institute, and is a member of the 2013 Circle of Red Society for Go Red for Women. Additionally, Welch serves on the PTA Board of Daisy Elementary. She is also leading a team for Jack’s Chattanoggins and is shaving her head to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital oncology unit, who supports local families suffering with pediatric cancer.

As an active community leader, Welch has served in a myriad of positions, including the March of Dimes Mission Family of 2008, Family Teams Chair for the March for Babies, co-chair of the Ronald McDonald House 2010 Share-a-Night campaign, Celebrity Sing Off contestant, and Chattanooga Heart Ball design committee member, as well as serving as marketing lead for multiple non-profit fundraising campaigns. Additionally, Welch holds the Day of Caring Coordinator role for the Greater Chattanooga Area Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), is serving her tenth year on the CFC Leadership Team, and has organized and led TVA in annual March of Dimes and T.C. Thompson events. Welch's story of her premature twins has been featured locally, and she continues to speak on behalf of Chattanooga area non-profit agencies. Welch is a graduate of Covenant College, has been married for 14 years to her husband Chris, and has three children, Eli, (age 10) and twins Zeke and Emmie (age 6).

Advisory Committee

Claire Siskin Binder
Mrs. Binder is an active community volunteer, serving in board positions with the B’nai Zion Synagogue and Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation. She is a past board member of the Chattanooga Symphony Opera Association and a past president of the Jewish Community Federation of Greater Chattanooga.

A.V. “Terry” Blunt
Mr. Blunt is the vice president of Human Resources for Olan Mills, Inc. He serves as an elder for Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church.

Peter T. Cooper
Mr. Cooper served as treasurer of the Siskin Foundation for 29 years. He is a member of a number of advisory committees as well as serving as president of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, Inc., and the chairman of the board of the Chattanooga Tumor Clinic at Erlanger Medical Center. Mr. Cooper previously served on the boards of the University of Chattanooga Foundation and a number of other charities.

Carl Henderson
Mr. Henderson began his career in public accounting 1975 and is now a partner in the firm of Henderson Hutcherson & McCullough, PLLC. He has served as an expert witness before the U.S. Tax Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Mr. Henderson is a former revenue agent for the Internal Revenue Service. His professional and civic affiliations include the American Institute of CPAs, the Tennessee Society of CPAs, a member of the TSCPA Federal Tax Committee and a past president and board member of the Estate Planning Council of Chattanooga.

Sam E. Miles, Jr.
Mr. Miles is a past board member of the Siskin Foundation, Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation and Pioneer Bank. He is a past treasurer and member of the Board of Trustees of the Hunter Museum of American Art and a past president of the Chattanooga Symphony Association. Mr. Miles retired as vice president of Mortgage Loans and Real Estate for Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company.

C.A. “Red” Parks
Mr. Parks is a second generation contractor and chairman of the board of T. U. Parks Construction Company, a regional construction firm headquartered in Chattanooga. He is a past chairman of the board of Siskin Children’s Institute and been involved with the foundation and institute for many years. Mr. Parks is a graduate of Central High School and a World War II veteran. He is a past president of the Cherokee Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and was active in the Associated General Contractors of America at the local, state and national level during his construction career.