Parker College Advisory Board

David Edwards (ACCT, 1986) is the Director of Strategic Projects at United Bank. United Bank is a privately held community bank founded in 1905 with assets of approximately $2.4 billion that is chartered in Zebulon, Georgia, serving eleven counties in the southern crescent footprint beneath metro Atlanta. Edwards’ career in banking began in Atlanta 38 years ago with the Citizens & Southern National Bank (C&S). He spent 16 years with C&S through its transition to NationsBank and ultimately to Bank of America. After that, he worked for five years with a Synovus affiliate bank and then became a project manager working with the FDIC to resolve failed financial institutions during the Great Recession. During the Great Recession, he was a co-founder of Community & Southern Bank (CSB) where he was the Chief Credit Officer. CSB grew to $4.5 billion in assets and was sold to Bank OZK in July 2016 where he was appointed as the Regional Director for Bank OZK’s Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia region until October 2020. Edwards serves as a board member of the Georgia Southern University Foundation and the Delta Chi Fraternity Housing Corporation at Georgia Tech and the Delta Chi Fraternity Educational Foundation. He is the current Finance and Investment Committee Chair and Treasurer for the University of West Georgia Foundation and serves as a board member for the Atlanta Youth Academy. David is passionate about equipping youth and young adults to succeed in their endeavors. David and his wife, Katherine, live in Carrollton, Georgia. They enjoy spending time with their four adult children and their spouses, along with nine grandchildren. In his leisure time, David enjoys road cycling. 

Carl is a founding and managing partner at Jacobs, Coolidge & Company. He graduated from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and brings more than 26 years of experience in finance to his role. On the team, Carl works with individuals, business owners, medical professionals, and qualified plan participants on financial planning strategies to protect their income, build assets through proper allocation and planning, enjoy a comfortable retirement lifestyle, and leave the legacy they desire.

Outside of the office, Carl is active with the Retirement Advisor University and serves on the boards of the Southeast Georgia Health System Foundation, the Georgia Southern University Parker School of Business, and Chair of the United Way of Coastal Georgia. In addition, Carl is a former board member of the Chamber of Commerce and past graduate and instructor of the Leadership Glynn program. 

Bryant Hosch (ACCT 2006, MAcc 2007) is a controller at Piedmont Healthcare.  Mr. Hosch spent 11 years at Ernst & Young, LLP in the assurance service practice serving as an audit executive of both public SEC filers and private companies.  In 2018, Mr. Hosch left Ernst & Young to serve as a controller at Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta.  Mr. Hosch also serves as the chair of the Friends of the Georgia Southern Honors College board.  Mr. Hosch served on the Parker College Young Alumni Board for seven years including a stint as chair.  He enjoys spending time with his family and friends or on the golf course.

Michael Johnson is the Market Manager – Industrial Products for Norfolk Southern Corporation.  Michael, a native of Swainsboro, graduated with his MBA from the Parker College in 2007.  He started at Norfolk Southern in 2008 as a management trainee and has held a variety of positions at NSC before becoming market manager.  Michael has deep ties to Georgia Southern and Statesboro.  He was a former sportswriter for the Statesboro Herald, past coach at Bulloch Academy, and worked in the Paulson Stadium Press Box during the Paul Johnson era.  

Michael and his wife, Donna Scott Johnson who received her master’s in public administration at Georgia Southern, live in Atlanta.  They are members of Atlanta First Presbyterian Church and are godparents to two girls.

Sue Cox Kath-Burchett (BUS, 76) began her business career in Atlanta in 1976. More than 32 years of her career were spent with Automatic Data Processing (ADP), an international company that she saw grow to over 60,000 employees, supporting more than 650,000 clients. Initially, she worked directly with small-to-medium-sized clients, implementing new business solutions for ADP. At ADP, Ms. Kath-Burchett held positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in her role as southeast regional vice president of client relationship management. Her team was responsible for building and maintaining strong business relationships with Fortune 200 client organizations. She was recognized for outstanding performance and qualified to attend multiple ADP President’s Clubs – the highest recognition event within ADP. In her career, she also engaged in a variety of outside activities including Junior Achievement, Leadership North Fulton, ACS Relay for Life, and the Foster Care Support Foundation among others. Since retiring in 2014, Ms. Kath-Burchett has worked as an independent business consultant. She serves on several boards and is involved with the Atlanta area Southern Women Alumni.

Sean Knox (MKTG, ’1998) is co-owner and president of Knox Pest Control.  He and his wife, Crawford, have 3 children: Addie, Sim, and Pate.  He holds a BBA from Georgia Southern University, a MA from Regent University, and a MBA from Baylor University.  Sean currently or has recently served on the boards for the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, the Columbus Convention and Trade Center Authority, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Country Club of Columbus, Boys and Girls Club of Columbus, Young Life, Rotary Club of Columbus, and the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation.  In addition, he is Past-Chair of the Parker College of Business Dean’s Advisory Board. He is a graduate of Leadership Columbus, Leadership GPCA, and Leadership Georgia.  Sean is a J.R. Allen Young Leader Award recipient as well as being recognized as 5 under 40 by Columbus and the Valley.  He and his family attend Church of the Highlands and in his spare time enjoys being with family, golfing, snow skiing, watersports, and running.

Information coming soon!

Amy Noland Pack is the Co-founder and Principal Partner at AccruePartners, the largest independently owned Staffing, Search, and Project Solutions provider in the Charlotte, NC region. With 70+ internal employees, her company supports both mid-size and large, Fortune 500 companies across the following lines of business: Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, Marketing, Corporate Support, and Financial Services. Amy is well known as an experienced thought leader in the staffing industry. The organization has successfully expanded the AccruePartners footprint nationally across 41 states and has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies by Inc 5000.  In 2021 Amy was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal as a Top Woman in Business where she actively participates in the Charlotte community. Amy currently serves on the board for Good Friends Charlotte, Jr Achievement of the Carolinas and has been both a Co-Chair and active member of Go Red for over 10 years.  In both her personal and professional life, Amy is dedicated to being a valued talent solutions provider and building the people, companies, and careers of the Queen City and beyond.  In her spare time, Amy enjoys traveling, cooking and exercising. She is a native of Atlanta and a graduate of Georgia Southern University.    

Sharon Jester Ponder is vice president of finance for Bennett International Group, a Georgia-based logistics and transportation company headquartered in McDonough. She oversees all accounting aspects of the 25-entity company. When she is not working on the expansion of Bennett, she is heavily involved in two areas that she is very passionate about, business expansion and education. These passions have led her to become heavily involved with the local chamber of commerce. Once serving as its executive board chair and currently as chair of its Strategic Development & Communication committee, she has pushed to ensure the members not only get networking opportunities but also added value services. She also works closely with the local chapter of Communities in Schools, as well as sits on the Superintendent’s Advisory Council and the Henry County Library Board.

Michiel Soeting (MBA, 1984) is a Dutch national and the former global head of Energy and Natural Resources of KPMG. Based in the United Kingdom, he led close to 20,000 professionals based all over the world, delivering audit, tax and advisory services to organizations in the Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, Mining, Energy Services and Renewables industries. During his 32-year career at KPMG, he has led global teams providing audit and advisory services to some of KPMG’s largest clients, including BHP Group, Equinor, LafargeHolcim, Philips Electronics and RD Shell.

From 2012 until 2014 he was a member of the Resource Efficiency Platform of the European Commission, building policy for efficient use of resources in the European Union. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant in England and Wales, qualified as certified public accountant in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Michiel is an Independent Director at Veon Ltd, the NASDAQ listed international digital operator and a Non Executive Director at Serica Energy, a UK listed independent oil and gas company.

David began his career in the staffing industry in 1992 after receiving his BBA in marketing from Georgia Southern University. David formed SelecSource in 1997. David has worked with hundreds of hiring managers gaining a unique understanding of what employers look for in talent. He also understands the power of compassionately engaging with job seekers to optimize their chances to grow and prosper.

SelecSource established its roots with operations in Atlanta. Over the course of its existence, they are recognized as a leader in staffing solutions throughout the Southeast with a large footprint in Georgia. David has a daughter Lindsay, 26 (UGA, BBA Management) and son Will, 24 (Studied at Georgia Southern). David is deeply involved in several charitable causes both personally and through SelecSource. He is involved in many areas of Georgia Southern and finds great joy investing in students, athletics, and the Parker College of Business. Also, he has served in multiple capacities at the American Staffing Association.

Rusty Williams (ECON, 2005) is the Sr. Director of Technology Solutions for Vaco; a $1.5 billion talent solutions company that provides consulting, project resources, executive search, direct hire and strategic staffing with expertise in numerous areas including accounting and finance, technology, operations, human resources and sales.  His direct hire and strategic staffing team is responsible for developing deep relationships with clients, candidates and consultants ranging from start ups to Fortune 100 companies.  Rusty has been recognized for outstanding performance and has qualified to attend multiple President’s Clubs – the highest recognition within Vaco.

Rusty, a Bulloch County native, is a founding member of the Delta Chi Fraternity and Member of the Board of Directors for Barrister Capital; an international corporation that owns and manages over $5 million of real estate assets near university campuses.  At Georgia Southern, Rusty is a Board Member for the local Delta Chi Fraternity House Corporation and a former member of Parker Young Alumni Board and Athletic Foundation.

In 2013 he received his Master of Business Administration degree from Troy University and is a 2005 Parker College graduate in Economic Development.  Rusty resides is Roswell, Georgia, and his wife Kelly, have two daughters.  When not working, you can find Rusty at Lake Sinclair enjoying the water.

Harry S. Carter (BSM, 1966) received his Ph.D. in management science and information systems from The University of Georgia. Formerly vice president for academic affairs and president at Georgia Southern, Carter was provost and dean of college at The Citadel, Charleston, SC, where he is currently professor of business administration. The Carter Lecture Series, created under the W. E. Carter Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Business Administration, honors Professor Emeritus Carter. In 1998, Carter was named Georgia Southern Alumnus of the Year.

At a time when female college graduates became teachers or nurses, Olivia Suggs Flanagan (ACCT, 1969) began her career as an accountant at Arthur Andersen. In 1971, she earned her CPA certification, and, soon after, joined Cousins Properties as the first female corporate officer in the company’s history. Ms. Flanagan became a senior vice president for Bristol Development in 1977. Then, after 17 years with Bristol, she joined Flanagan and Waycaster Construction Company where she served as vice president, secretary, and treasurer until her 1999 retirement. In Spring 2004, Ms. Flanagan was inducted as the Chapter Honoree of Beta Gamma Sigma and, in 2008, was named the Parker College of Business’s Alumna of the Year. After serving on the Parker College of Business Advisory Board for 20 years, Ms. Flanagan established the Olivia Suggs Flanagan Faculty Fellowship for its School of Accountancy in 2012.

Lee Tompkins is a native of the Catskill region of upstate New York. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy and then returned to New York where he received his BBA from Syracuse University. Since college, Mr. Tompkins has worked in various capacities in the paper/forest products industry, including ten years with Union Camp Corporation in Savannah (now International Paper); 20 years with Gilman Paper Company, St. Marys; and three years with Durango Paper Company. At Gilman and Durango, he was senior vice president for human resources. After Durango’s closing, Mr. Tompkins spent five years as a human resource consultant before retiring in 2012. Throughout his career, Mr. Tompkins’s focus on community involvement has led him to a number of volunteer opportunities and community leadership roles. He has been active on the Parker College of Business Dean’s Advisory Board since 1995, serving as chair for seven years.