Berry Alumni Association Executive Committee
President and Vice Presidents are elected volunteers who serve as leaders, representatives, advisors and ambassadors.
President, Berry
Alumni Association: Haron W. Wise (57H), 2012-2014
Haron “Harry” W. Wise (57H) became president of the Berry Alumni Association July 1, 2012. As president, he also serves on Berry's Board of Trustees. He was born in
Montgomery, Ala., and raised in Santa Rosa County, Fla. After graduating
from Mt. Berry School for Boys, he attended Georgia Tech before
enlistment in the U.S. Air Force. He earned a bachelor’s degree in
marketing and business administration from Troy State University in
Troy, AL, and he completed the Graduate School of Sales Management and
Marketing at Syracuse University. Harry began a career in sales
with American Can Company in New York, and subsequently spent the next
36 years in various sales, marketing and management positions with
several companies, including work as a buyer for Shell Oil. He retired
as a partner and corporate vice-president of sales and marketing with a
steel and fiber drum manufacturing company in Mason, Ohio. He
is a past ordained elder of the Presbyterian Church, a past mayor of
Montgomery, Ohio, and a past member and officer of several professional
organizations including the Packaging Institute, the Petroleum Packaging
Council and the Steel Shipping Container Institute.
Harry has
been married for 50 years to wife Virginia. The couple, who have two
adult children and two grandchildren, relocated to Rome, Ga., in 2008.
He is a member of the Rome Rotary Club and Rome Exchange Club and is a
member of the Rome First United Methodist Church. Prior to being named
president-elect of the Berry Alumni Association, he was vice-president
of Alumni Events. He is currently on the Board of Advisors
for Berry Student Enterprises and is a member of the Berry Breakfast Club.
Immediate Past President, Berry Alumni Association: Barbara
P. McCollum (79C), 2012-2013
Barbara completed her term as president of the Berry Alumni Association on June 30, 2012, and now serves as Immediate Past President. In addition to being a 1979 graduate of Berry
College, she is an honor graduate of the Georgia Bankers Association, Bank
Audit and Operations School.
Barbara currently serves as business manager for The Emile
T. Fisher Foundation for Dental Education in Georgia, Inc.(a non-profit
organization that raises money for students of dentistry and dental
hygiene). Prior to this position, Barbara worked at other companies in the
Atlanta area, including serving as human resources director at Cardiology of
Georgia, P.C., and assistant vice president and assistant cashier at Mountain
National Bank
Barbara has also served in a number of volunteer roles. She
serves as 1st vice-president of the New Romans Club in Rome. She has
served for a number of years on Berry’s Alumni Council, for which she served
two terms as a vice-president. She is Vice President of Programs for Daughters of Berry. She
served as committee lead for her college class reunion in 2009. She serves as a
mentor at Pepperell Elementary School in Floyd County, Ga., and was a mentor at
Livsey Elementary School in DeKalb County. She has also worked as fundraising
co-chair at Trickum Middle School PTA and as PTA Co-President at Camp Creek
Elementary. She was also district representative to the Executive Board of
Young Bankers of the Georgia Bankers Association.
Barbara and her husband, Greg, recently moved to Rome from
the Atlanta area. They have two children and one grandchild. In her spare time,
Barbara enjoys hiking, gardening, needlepoint and traveling.
Listing of all Past Alumni Association Presidents
Vice President, Berry Heritage: Kimberly A. Melton
(04C, 06G), 2012-2014
Kim Melton graduated in
2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and in 2006
earned her MBA, both from Berry. Originally from Tucker, Georgia, she
moved to Rome in 2000 to attend Berry and loved it so much she never
wanted to leave. She has worked at Berry since graduating in 2004,
currently serving as assistant budget director. She is also vice
president for membership with the Daughters of Berry and the treasurer
of the Mount Berry Garden Club. She served as secretary of the
Alumni Association 2006-2012. Kim became Vice President of Berry Heritage on July 1, 2012.
Vice President, Alumni Awards: Rebecca B.
Christopher (61C), 2011-2013
Becky Christopher graduated from Berry in 1961. For 50 years she has been happily married to Al Christopher, whom she met at Berry in 1957. She received an MS in English Education in 1965 from Arkansas State University and, after moving to Destin, Florida in 1968, completed certification in Library Media Studies. She either taught English or worked as a public school librarian in Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Florida for 37 years. Since retiring in 2002, she has traveled a bit and has begun teaching ESL classes at her church. She has enjoyed becoming reacquainted with her fellow classmates and participating in alumni activities, especially the 50th reunion in May, 2011.
Vice President, Financial
Support: Timothy J. Goodwin
(03C), 2011-2013
Tim Goodwin lives in Canton, Ga., with his wife Maureen
Trane Goodwin (03C) and their two daughters, Canaan and Shiloh. Shortly after
graduating from Berry, Tim founded Goodwin Investment Advisory to help lead
people to Financial Peace, Independence & Generosity. They are very active
in their church, Watermarke, a North Point Community Campus. They also enjoying
serving with Compassion International, whose goal is to release children from
poverty, and Turnaround Kids, a local rescue home for at risk children. The
Goodwins enjoy giving back to Berry by speaking to students and serving in
Alumni leadership roles.
Vice President, Young Alumni
& Student Relations: Laura A. Sutton (09C), 2012-2014
Laura Sutton graduated from Berry College in May 2009, Magna Cum Laude, with majors in Management & Marketing. During her time as a student at Berry, Laura, a Birmingham, Alabama native, served as the Student Government Association President, SGA Vice President for Campus Services, and a Freshman Mentor. In 2009 she was awarded the Martha Berry Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement, the Gordon L. Foy Business Award, and a Voice of Berry Student Award.
While serving as a member of the alumni council from 2009-2011, Laura collaborated with the Alumni Relations team to create a new Berry young alumni program. She moved to Nashville, TN in July 2009 to pursue her Masters of Education in Organizational Leadership from Vanderbilt University. While at Vanderbilt, Laura worked as a special educational research assistant where she delivered tutoring in math to low performing 2nd grade students in Metro Nashville Schools. She graduated with her M.Ed in May 2011.
Laura currently works for Deloitte Consulting, LLC in Atlanta, GA. She is a Human Capital Analyst in Deloitte’s HR Transformation service line. In her free time Laura enjoys catching up with her friends, twitter, hula hooping, hiking, the outdoors, Alabama football, traveling, and spending time with her family. Her brother, Trevor Sutton, is a junior at Berry and is in the Winshape College program.
Vice President, Alumni
Events: Ruth K. Martin (65C), 2012-2014
Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Volunteer. Even before retiring from active employment as manager/coordinator of volunteers for various agencies in the Rome area for over 25 years, Ruth was also a volunteer. She remains active with First United Methodist Church, Townview Garden Club and P.E.O. and their four busy grandsons fill lots of time for her and Wes. They still sing in church and in the Rome community. A most recent project was purchasing and now updating the Martin family home in Southwestern Virginia for a place to get away and see some snow!
Chaplain, Parliamentarian, Secretary, and Historian are volunteers appointed by the Alumni Association President to serve and support specific functions of the Alumni Association.
Chaplain, Berry Alumni
Association: K. Scott McClure (89C), 2011-2014
A native of Jasper, Georgia, Dr. McClure graduated from Berry College in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial manufacturing technology management. Prior to that, he earned an Associate Degree in printing technology from Chowan College, Murfreesboro, NC. He completed his studies at Covington Theological Seminary in Rossville, Ga., where he earned a Masters of Ministry degree and a Doctor of Ministry degree. He is a former professor at Covington Theological Seminary (Rome Extension) and presently serves as pastor of Flatrock Baptist Church in Rome, Ga. He has been happily married to the former Jennifer Ellis of Rome for the past 21 years and is a father of four: Kerri, Kaylan, Kristopher and Thomas.
Parliamentarian, Berry
Alumni Association: Giles M. Chapman, Jr. (66C), 2012-2014
Giles is the third generation member of his family to attend Berry. His great-uncle and father both attended the Mount Berry School for Boys before Giles attended from 1954-55. Giles returned to his hometown and graduated from Pensacola High School in 1957. Following service to his country in the U.S. Army and working on construction, he returned to Berry in 1964, enrolling as a sophomore at the college, and graduated in 1966.
In 1968, he joined Berry as the first director of Krannert Center, Visiting Groups to the Campus and Cultural Affairs. He served on the staff until 1972. He earned a Masters and Educational Specialist degree from West Georgia College and became an administrator in the public schools of Northwest Georgia, the Georgia Psychoeducation Network and Northwest Georgia Regional Education Service Agency. He retired from public education in 1999 and obtained additional educational training to become a certificated paralegal and a general mentor.
He presently serves as a mediator in the Floyd County Magistrate Court, does community service work in the City of Rome on the Zoning Board of Appeals and serves on the Grievance Hearing Panel of the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority. In addition, he serves as the Lay Leader and Advanced Lay Speaker for Second Avenue United Methodist Church. He is also actively involved in the Exchange Club of Rome, where he served as a member of the Board of Directors and chairman of the Americanism Committee. He is equally and actively involved in the Coosa Valley Fair Association.
Secretary, Berry Alumni
Association: Nelda P. Ragsdale
(64C), 2012-2014
Nelda Parrish Ragsdale is a 1964 graduate of Berry College with a degree in elementary education. She received her Master's in Education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and an advanced certificate from Auburn University. Nelda previously served on the Berry Alumni Council from 1992 to 2000, holding offices of Secretary and Vice President for Awards. She is active in the First United Methodist Church of Calhoun, Georgia where she lives with her husband Joe (65C). They have two married sons and two grandchildren.
Historian, Berry Alumni
Association: David F. Slade
(97C), 2012-2014
The Director of Alumni Relations serves as an Ex Officio member of the Executive Committee.
Director, Alumni Relations: C. Christina
Watters (89C), Ex Officio
A native of Rome, Georgia, Chris graduated from Berry College in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in psychology. She earned her Masters of Business Administration degree in 1994 from Georgia State University. Chris has served as Alumni Relations Director for Berry since August 2007. Prior to this she spent more than eleven years with Accenture, a global management and information technology consulting firm. Chris is happily married to Mark Watters, a 1983 graduate of Berry College. Their daughter, Kristyn, is a student at Berry College Elementary and Middle School.