In this edition of Columns we want to highlight members of the National Alumni Association executive board of directors:

Mark Long (BSEE ’85) is president of the University of Memphis Alumni Association national executive board of directors. He is an Association Life Member and is serving his sixth year on the board. Long and his wife, Judy (BSEd ’74), own Holliday Flowers and have two sons and daughters-in-law who have all attended the U of M.

Allie Prescott (BA ’69, JD ’72), Association Life Member and vice president for membership, is serving his second year on the national board. In 2002, Prescott was named Outstanding Alumnus from the College of Arts & Sciences and Distinguished Alumnus from the University in 2003. A native Memphian, he is the owner of a consulting company, Allie Prescott & Partners LLC. He and his wife, Barbara (BSEd ’71, MEd ’73), have two children, Allie and Allison (BA ’06).

Renee DeGutis (BS ’83), Association Life Member and vice president for programs and events, is serving her fifth year on the national board. As a former Color Guard member of the Mighty Sound of the South, DeGutis says the Band Alumni Chapter holds a special place in her heart; she is an active volunteer on that board. She is a personal accountant and has two sons in high school.

Paul Jewell (BA ’78), an Association Annual Member and vice president for communication, is serving his third year on the board. He also is on the Journalism Alumni Club’s board of directors after having served as president of that group. Jewell is the director of marketing for The Commercial Appeal.

Kim Barnett (BA ’95, EMBA ’99), Association Life Member and vice president for finances, is serving his third year on the national board. He was the president of the Fogelman College of Business & Economics Alumni Chapter from 2005-06. Barnett is a senior manager at FedEx. He and his wife, Phyllis, have one student at the U of M and one in high school.

Martin Zummach (BA ’85, JD ’93), Association Life Member, has spent the last two years serving the Association as national president. Before that, he was an active member of the executive board, serving in many capacities. Zummach is active on the Law Alumni Chapter’s board of directors as the scholarship and awards committee chair and is chair of the marketing committee for the Law School Grand Opening Gala. He and his wife, Becky (BSEd ’80, MEd ’93), also a Life Member of the Association, have established book scholarships to assist students enrolled in the College of Education. He practices law at Sparkman Zummach PC. The Zummachs and their daughter live in Germantown.

Deanie Parker (BPS ’77, MPA ’88), Association Life Member, is serving her third year on the national board. She was the 2006 recipient of the University’s Distinguished Alumna Award. Parker is the retired CEO of Soulsville (Stax Museum of American Soul Music) and was instrumental in organizing the 50 Years of Soul celebration. She is currently executive director of the film project I Am a Man.

Terry Morris (BBA ’91), Association Life Member, is serving his third year on the national executive board. Prior to that, he served as president of the Fogelman College of Business & Economics Alumni Chapter board. Morris is still involved with the FCBE Alumni Chapter through its golf tournament. He is a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley and has one young son.

Melinda Edwards (BSEd ’74, MPA ’75), Association Life Member, is serving her third year on the national board. Edwards is active in a number of Alumni Association clubs and chapters, including the College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Chapter, Education Alumni Chapter and the newly established Master of Public Administration Alumni Club. She is the manager of compliance/risk mitigation, Environmental Policy and Programs, for the U.S. Postal Service. Edwards has three children.

Corey Pettigrew (BSEd ’00, BA ’01, MA ’05), Association Life Member, is serving his third year on the national board. He is also involved with his fraternity and with the Luther C. McClellan Alumni Chapter, having served as president. Pettigrew teaches history at an alternative high school with Memphis City Schools.

Robert “Butch” Childers (BBA ’71, JD ’74), Association Life Member, is serving his second year on the national board. In 2002, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Childers and his wife, Amy Amundsen (JD ’87), also an Association Life Member, are both on the board of the Law Alumni Chapter, with Childers serving as co-chair of the Grand Opening Gala for the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and Amundsen serving as gala speakers committee co-chair. He is a Shelby County Circuit Court judge.

Jim Strickland (BBA ’86, JD ’89), Association Life Member, is serving his second year on the national executive board. He was elected to the Memphis City Council in 2007 and is an attorney/partner with Kustoff & Strickland. Strickland and his wife, Melyne, have two children.

Anita Vaughn (BA ’77, MPA ’83), Association Life Member, is serving her second year on the national board. She was named as Outstanding Alumna of the College of Arts & Sciences in 2005. Vaughn and her husband, James, are Life Members of the Association and have one son. She has worked in the Baptist Health Care system for more than 30 years and is currently administrator and chief executive officer of Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women.

Mark Schuermann (BA ’90), Association Life Member, is serving his second year on the national board. Living in Alexandria, Va., with his wife and daughter, Schuermann is an active member in the D.C. Alumni Club and often travels to Memphis. He is the senior vice president for government relations at Financial Services Forum. Schuermann has been featured on the Alumni Association’s Web site for his participation in the Mountains of Misery bike ride and proudly represented the U of M during the event.

Cathy Ross (MBA ’82), Association Life Member, is serving her second year on the national board. She received the Distinguished Alumna Award in 2008. She currently serves on the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., and in 2008 was named to the board of directors of the National Civil Rights Museum. Ross is senior vice president and chief financial officer at FedEx Express.

Wei Chen (IMBA ’98), Association Annual Member, is serving his first year on the national board. Chen received the Fogelman College of Business’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2008. He is the founder and CEO of Sunshine Enterprise Inc., a Memphis-based multinational corporation that manages logistics and manufacturing operations in the U.S. and in China. Chen met his wife, Isabell (MS ’98, PhD ’01), while pursuing his IMBA. They are the parents of three young children. 

David Kustoff (BBA ’89, JD ’92), Association Annual Member, is serving his first year on the national board. In 2007, he received the Outstanding Young Alumnus award from the U of M. In 2006, Kustoff was appointed as the U.S. District Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Currently he is a partner with Kustoff and Strickland, PLLC. He and his wife, Roberta (JD ’98), have two children.

John Bobango (JD ’83) is an Association Life Member and is serving his first year on the national board. He was active as president of the Law Alumni Chapter from 2008-09. Bobango is a partner/attorney with Farris Bobango PLC. He and his wife, Lisa (JD ’83), have two children in high school. 

John Koski (BA ’88), Association Life Member, is serving his sixth year on the national board as adviser to the executive director. Koski is the vice president/general manager of WHBQ-TV Fox 13 Memphis and has worked at the station for more than 25 years. He and his wife Whitney, also a Life Member of the Association, have three daughters.

John Lawrence (BS ’70), Association Life Member, is serving his sixth year on the national board as an adviser to the executive director. Lawrence was president of the national board and has served the University for decades, including as past president of the Fogelman College of Business & Economics Alumni Chapter. He has a proud legacy at the U of M as his father, John (Law ’38), son, Jay (BA ’94, MBA ’98), and daughter, Collin Johnson (pursuing an executive master’s in nursing), are all part of the U of M family. 

Diane Vescovo (JD ’80), Association Life Member, is serving her fourth year on the national board as adviser to the executive director. She is also active in the Law Alumni Chapter, serving as co-chair of the Grand Opening Gala of the Law School. Vescovo has been a U.S. magistrate judge for the Western District of Tennessee since being appointed in 1995. She has two children, including one attending the U of M’s Law School, and is married to Mike McLaren, whose son is a recent graduate of the Law School.

Dr. Robert Wright (BS ’77), Association Life Member, is serving his fifth year on the national board. An adviser to the executive director, Wright lives in Boston and is director of Advanced Graduate Prosthodontics at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Rob Evans (MBA ’97), Association Life Member and past president of the national executive board, is serving his sixth year on the board. An adviser to the executive director, Evans is currently a business unit executive at IBM. He and his wife, Kerri (MBA ’97), have two children.