Who We Are

Board Chair

Tony is an active leader and volunteer in the Greenville community. He serves as a Trustee of Furman University; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina; and on the Board of Greater Good Greenville. In 2020 Tony retired as Executive Director at United Ministries, the community agency that offers an array of holistic services that serve and empower people on their journey to financial self-sufficiency. He became Executive Director at Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (GAIHN) in August of 2003. (GAIHN and United Ministries joined together in July of 2016.) Prior to that, he served as a Christian educator and administrator at several congregations in the Carolinas. A native of Union, SC, Tony’s studies have taken him to Furman University (B.A. in history, 1979), Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity, 1982), and Columbia Theological Seminary (a Presbyterian seminary; Doctor of Ministry, 2001).

Tony and his wife, Cam, are active members of First Baptist Church-Greenville and are aspiring master naturalists.

Board Vice Chair

Sam serves as Regional President for the Mid-Atlantic Region for First Horizon Bank, overseeing all banking operations in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

Prior to joining First Horizon in late 2016 through its predecessor bank IBERIABANK, he served as Chairman, President and CEO of Palmetto Bank in Greenville, SC. When Palmetto Bank was acquired by United Community Bank in 2015, Sam served as a regional president with United Community Bank until joining IBERIABANK.

Sam is a graduate of Clemson University. He is involved in a wide variety of other civic and professional organizations, including as a Board Member for the Federal Reserve’s Charlotte Office, which represents the Federal Reserve in North and South Carolina. Additionally, he serves on the Boards of the Clemson Alumni Association, Habitat for Humanity in Grenville and the Business Development Corporation of South Carolina. He is a Liberty Fellowship graduate, Class of 2011.

Board Secretary

Jo represents clients in corporate and securities law matters. She has served as lead counsel on public registrations representing over a billion dollars and has substantial experience in cross-border corporate acquisitions. She has BA in Economics & Political Science from Millsaps College and earned her law degree from Yale Law School, where she was awarded the Israel H. Peres prize.

In addition to her law practice, Jo is active in the Greenville community. Jo currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina Research Authority (Executive Committee), the SCETV Foundation Communications Board, and the Greenville Technical College Area Commission, where she serves as Vice-Chair. She also chairs the Board of Visitors of Camperdown Academy. Past board service includes the Greenville Area Development Corporation (Past Chair), the Community Foundation of Greenville (Past Chair), The Peace Center for the Performing Arts, the Greenville Center for the Creative Arts, Camperdown Academy, the United Way of Greenville County, the SCETV Foundation, the Greenville Chamber of Commerce ACCELERATE Committee, the Emrys Foundation (Past President), Leadership Greenville Forum (Past President), The Children’s Museum of the Upstate, and as a Greenville County Human Relations Commissioner, appointed by County Council. Jo is a Liberty Fellow, an Aspen Global Leadership Network Fellow, a Riley Fellow, and serves as a Mentor for the Liberty Fellowship program. Jo is a founding mentor in the NEXT! Venture Mentoring program. Jo is a founding mentor in the NEXT Venture Mentoring program and also serves as a mentor in the Greenville Chamber’s Pacesetters program and to Yale Law School students. She is also a keynote speaker and presents internationally. Jo has been recognized as a “Woman of Achievement” by the YWCA, received the Community Foundation’s Ruth Nicholson Award, the Legal Service’s Richard Riley Pro Bono Award, the Chamber’s ATHENA award, and the Greenville County Bar Association’s Tommy Thomason Award.

Jo is also a writer and founder of Outdoorosity.org, a free resource that provides information and inspiration about spending time in nature. Jo’s novel Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe (Random House) is a Publisher’s Weekly bestseller and winner of the Southern Book Prize. Amazon named her book a “Teacher’s Pick.” In collaboration with a researcher at Sam Houston State University, Jo is currently conducting an international study to measure the effects of nature interventions designed to improve student performance on standardized tests.

Born and raised in Greenville, Tim has witnessed many transformations over six decades. After a career in the frozen food industry and participating on many trade association boards, he elected to focus on efforts to improve Greenville. Tim is currently serving as a volunteer to the community and enjoys being a part of his three daughters’ and two son-in-laws’ lives. Tim works in various business ventures and pursues real estate investing. He co-founded Upstate Carolina Angel Network (UCAN, now VentureSouth) and he serves on both boards. His efforts to grow new companies in the Greenville area is another passion with involvement in VMS MIT Mentoring Program and various startup companies. In addition to his board experience, Tim is an active member of Westminster Presbyterian Church and has served his congregation in many capacities.

Governance Committee Chair

Richard Sean Dwayne Dogan is a 1998 graduate of Clemson University and attended Shaw School of Divinity, in Raleigh, NC.  He is married to the former Satreva Young and to this union they have a beautiful daughter, Ramiah Dogan.

Sean has served as Senior Pastor of the Long Branch Baptist Church, since 1997.  The church is at 28 Bolt Street, Greenville, SC. He loves the people and community that he serves. Under his visionary leadership the church has grown to over 1,100 weekly attendees.  He has recently led them in a multimillion dollar building project and a $50,000 environmental improvement project which included a stream restoration, rock sitting area, and the planting of over 60 trees. He has always pursued having a church that goes “beyond the walls”.

He has initiated many programs that have positively affected the local community.  Some of these programs include: monthly feeding programs and partnership with Harvest Hope Food Bank to service 75 families weekly in the Greater Sullivan Community to help deal with the food insufficiency of Greenville County. He created a monthly Farmers Market for the community that has now developed into a Mobile Market in collaboration with Mills Village Farms.  He has also initiated scholarship programs and business grants opportunities that are made available to the members of Long Branch Baptist Church.  Recently he implemented Job Readiness Program for the church and community, which includes interviewing techniques, resume writing and personal support coaches.  He has worked diligently to bring the message of Wellness to the community through the “100 Days of Faith, Fitness, and Fellowship”. He has also led the church in supporting youth employment through the community gardening.

Sean is currently involved with the following organizations and sits on the following Boards and Communities:  GHS Authority Board, United Way Board of Trustees, Upstate American Heart Association Board, Liberty Fellowship Class of 2017, LiveWell Greenville, Mill Community Ministries Board, Senior Action Board of Trustees, Generations Group Home Board of Directors, UNCF Upstate (Past Chair), N.A.A.C.P. He is listed as the Best and Brightest under 35 by Greenville Business Magazine (2010 Cover).  He is a graduate of The Riley Institute Diversity Leadership Initiative (Spring 2011 Class).

Investment Committee Chair

Russ Davis is the co-founder of Homes Urban, LLC. Active in the multifamily housing industry since 1984, Russ has founded and led several real estate development and acquisition companies and has received numerous industry awards and accolades.

Russ previously was President/COO of Trammell Crow Residential Services- Midwest and Northeast and served as a member of the company’s National Management Board. Prior to starting his own company, Russ also was part of the management team for Merry Land and Investment, a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust. Cumulatively he has been directly involved in the development or renovation of over 12,000 apartments and condominiums in the Midwest and Southeastern United States.

Russ earned a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of South Carolina. He has been a civic and philanthropic leader, including serving on the Clemson Advancement Board for Real Estate Development (ABRED) of which he is Chairman Emeritus and The Advisory Board for the Innovation Fund.

Bill Henderson is the president and CEO of John D. Hollingsworth on Wheels, Inc. Prior to being named president, he served in various roles at the company including vice president of manufacturing, personnel manager, and personal service specialist. A Simpsonville native, Bill graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1962 and married his wife Rebecca just a year later. The Hendersons are still Simpsonville residents and have two daughters, J. Dawn Brown and Pompey Hammontree.

Greg Ingram is the Chief Financial Officer of Pacolet Milliken, where he is responsible for all aspects of financial, accounting and tax strategy, reporting, insurance and overall portfolio construction in concert with the CEO and the Board. Greg joined Pacolet in 2014.

Prior to joining Pacolet Milliken, Greg was founder and Managing Partner of Foundation Real Estate Partners, where he ran an investment and asset management business that participated across numerous asset classes throughout the Southeast. Prior to that, he spent nearly 15 years as an investment banker, primarily focused on assisting clients in deal structuring and capital markets execution. Most recently, he was a Senior Vice President with Jefferies & Co. and previous to that was with Morgan Keegan & Co., Wachovia and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. His experience spans numerous real estate asset classes including retail, single-family rental, multifamily and office, working with large public REITs and a variety of large private real estate owners and operators to solve major strategic and capital related issues.

Greg is active in the Greenville community, serving as Board Chair for Public Education Partners and as a member of the Community Advisory Board for United Community Bank.

Greg holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Georgia and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.

As President of South Carolina Community Loan Fund, Deborah plays a complimentary leadership role to the CEO to ensure highly-productive day to day management of the organization. She maintains general oversight of internal operations and work plans, and helps establish and execute organizational priorities.

Deborah has over 30 years of experience leading community development organizations and programs. She brings a depth of knowledge and experience in the CDFI industry having founded and served for 12 years as the President and CEO of Greenville Housing Fund, which later became CommunityWorks Carolina.

Deborah holds a Master’s degree in urban planning from Texas Southern University and a bachelor of arts in English from the University of South Carolina. She is also an alumna of Furman University’s Diversity Leadership Institute. Deborah currently serves on the boards of organizations such as SC Community Capital Alliance, SC Association for Community Economic Development, the SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce and the Greenville Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisors.

Minor is president of Micco LLC, a private investment company. Her extensive community involvement includes chairing the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission and serving as a board member of the Foundation and Corporate Boards of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the United Way of Greenville, the Racial Equity and Economic Mobility (REEM) and International African American Museum. Minor has been chairman of the Community Foundation of Greenville, the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, the Junior League of Greenville, the Urban League of the Upstate, the YMCA of Greenville, and the South Carolina ETV Endowment as well as a past trustee of the Columbia Funds Mutual Funds. Currently, she serves as chair of The Daniel-Mickel Foundation and as a trustee and past chairman of The Duke Endowment. She was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 2012.

Audit Committee Chair

Dr. Brenda J. Thames is the former Prisma Health Chief Academic Executive Officer and Provost for the Health Sciences Center.  She provided senior executive leadership for the academic enterprise overseeing and coordinating academic activities across Prisma Health affiliates to ensure alignment with the strategies and goals of the company. In collaboration with other executives, she identified, developed, and nurtured strategic academic partnerships and affiliations.

Dr. Thames has a B.S. degree from Mississippi State University, a master and doctorate degree from Clemson University.  She has devoted her professional career to academics with a focus across the continuum of pipeline through professional degrees and is founder of the Medical Experience (MedEx) Academy program giving students (high school and undergraduates) experience in the “real world” of health care.

Dr. Thames has served on numerous community boards and committees including Furman University, Greenville Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Greenville, Community Foundation of Greenville, Greenville Technical College Foundation, Greenville Metro YMCA, and Greenville Women Giving.  She is passionate about her work and committed to fostering collaboration to improve the health and well-being of our communities.

Bogue is the owner of Blue Wall Real Estate which invests in and develops in-fill properties in the Carolinas (I-85 Corridor) focusing on the rapidly urbanizing cities within the region. Since its founding in 2012, Blue Wall has redeveloped office buildings with a value of over $100M primarily in Greenville and Charlotte, NC. A member of the Urban Land Institute since 1992, Bogue is on the Global Board of Directors for ULI and the immediate past chairman of the SC District Council. Bogue also serves or has served on a number of community nonprofit boards including; Dream Big Greenville, Ten at the Top (the spinoff from the 2009 Reality Check), Furman University Advisory Board, the Greenville Convention and Visitors Bureau (past chairman), the Upstate History Museum (past chairman) and Carolina Elite Soccer Academy. He is also an adjunct member of the faculty at Clemson University in its Masters of Real Estate Development where he teaches real estate investment.