Current Active Members

Joe Turner

Joe Turner

Greenville, SC
Executive Advocatus, Rutland Institute for Ethics; Board Chair

Joe is the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of First Sun Management Corporation, one of the largest Wendy’s franchise owners with 50+ restaurants in the Southeast. First Sun Management Corporation is listed in the Monitor 200 as one of the 200 largest franchised restaurant operators in the country, and it is also among the 100 largest private held businesses in South Carolina. In 2008 the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership named Joe Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year.

He has selflessly given of his time in speaking to various business classes and serving on committees and boards for the university. In recognition of his integrity and the significance of his ongoing contributions of time and talent on and off the campus, he was awarded the designation of Executive Advocatus by the Rutland Institute, also in 2008. Joe’s strong affiliation with Clemson includes 8 years on the Development Office staff and 6 years in the Athletics Department as Executive Director of IPTAY. He is a 1971 alumnus with a B.S. in Industrial Management and an M.S. in Management (1977).

Stephan Barton

Stephan C. Barton '72

Athens, GA
Founding Member

Stephan is Senior Principal of Physicians Planning Group, LLC, in Atlanta. He specializes in Investment Analysis, Estate and Pension Design and is a NASD Registered Representative; Registered Investment Advisor; Registered Financial Consultant; and Certified Senior Advisor. Stephan is Chairman of the Board of Advisors for the College of Architecture, Arts & Humanities at Clemson. He graduated from Clemson in 1972 with a B.A. in English and went on to receive both his M.Div. and D.Min. degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. While attending Clemson, he was a Tiger Letterman in track and field, a member of the Blue Key National Honor Fraternity and the Block C Club. In, 2001 he was named a Distinguished Alumni Fellow. Stephan and his wife, Mary, have three children. He is a Deacon and Trustee of First Baptist Church Athens.

Micahel Bolick

Micahel Bolick

Pendleton, SC

Michael founded Selah Technologies in May 2006. In December 2006, Michael graduated from the inaugural class of the Kauffman Foundation's FastTrac® TechVenture program at the Advanced Technology Development Center in Atlanta Georgia. Michael has more than 15 years experience in designing, building, starting up, managing and growing advanced materials manufacturing facilities. The last ten years were focused on serving the pharmaceutical industry as an executive with a Greenville based contract research and manufacturing company. Michael serves on the External Advisory Board of the University of South Carolina's NanoCenter and the Greenville Chamber's Board of Governors. Michael holds a BS Degree in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Selah obtained a worldwide exclusive license in 2006 from Clemson University to develop and commercialize two platform nanotechnologies branded Selah Dots™ and Selah Tubes™. Selah Dots™ are patent-pending carbon based nanoparticles that can be used for various applications, including life sciences, solar cells and anti-counterfeiting, among others. Selah Tubes™, enriched carbon nanotubes protected under US Patent No. 7,374,685, have a number of applications due to their impressive electrical and thermal conductivity properties.  Selah has established relationships with multiple multinational companies to accelerate adoption of its innovative products within a number of highly profitable markets. 

Michele Brinn

Michele Brinn

Greenville, SC

Michele is vice president for workforce development and education at the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. In that role she also serves as director of the Carolina First Center for Excellence (CFCE) and The Advanced Education Partnership (AEP). The CFCE provides professional development to educators with the goal of bringing continuous quality improvement strategies and Baldrige principles to schools and classrooms presently serving more than 35 schools in SC. The AEP is a newly formed collaborative effort of the University Center of Greenville and the Chamber organized around the goal of increasing the adult population with higher education degrees from 25% to 40%.

Michele has both Bachelors and Masters degrees from Montclair State University with degrees in Mathematics Education and Organizational Development. She has served as a SC Quality Examiner, National Baldrige Examiner, and has Lean Six Sigma Black Belt for Service. She has two young-adult sons and actively serves as past president of Congregation Beth Israel.

Debra Clements

Debra Clements

Greenville, SC

Debra is currently serving as Vice President and General Counsel of Milliken & Company. Prior to this, she served in-house for 16 years in positions of increasing responsibility for Harris Corporation. Debra received both her undergraduate and Law degrees from the University of Florida, where she graduated cum laude, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Peggy Deane

Peggy Deane

Anderson, SC

Peggy G. Dean R.N., MBA, has spent her entire professional career in Health Care. Ms. Deane served on the faculty of the Greenville General Hospital School of Nursing and as the Recruitment Representative. After moving to Anderson, SC, she became affiliated with AnMed Health as in-service Coordinator, Assistant Director of Nursing, Director of Nursing, Vice President and then Senior Vice President from which she retired in early 2007 after thirty-three years as a senior executive. Since that time she has been Senior Consultant with NeuStrategy, a Health Care Consulting firm.

Ms. Deane has been and continues to be active in community activities serving on numerous boards and advisory boards. She is very active with Clemson university, Tri-County Technical College and Anderson university. She is presently serving on the Board of the South Carolina Rural Physicians and is a member of Healthcare Executives and the National Honor Society for Nurses. She was the first woman chair for Anderson College Board of Trustees and first woman President of the Anderson Rotary Club. She is the recipient of Anderson Chamber of Commerce’s first Athena Award and the recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Clemson university and the Order of the Trilon from Tri-County technical College. Ms. Deane serves as a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Boulevard Baptist Church.

John C. Knapp

John C. Knapp

Samford, AL
Founding Member

John served on the advisory board from 2004 to 2008. In August 2008 he became the first director of the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership at Samford University. A graduate of Georgia State University, John received his M.A. from the Columbia Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Wales. He is considered to be one of the nation’s leading experts on organizational ethics and crisis management. John and his wife Kelly have five children.

David Locke

David Locke

Anderson, SC

The principal of Locke Design, David Locke, has degrees in both Graphic Design and Interior Design from Anderson University and believes in personal attention to each client.

A native of Upstate South Carolina, David has a love of every type of art and design as well as a love of history. His designs fuse color, art, and design together into something that is unique for each client and tailored to suit each company’s needs. His personal interests include photography, travel, gardening, jazz, classical music, and culinary arts. David also remains very involved in the Concord Baptist Church Choir, business and charity and arts organizations.

E.L. Mont

E.L. Mont

Greenville, SC

E.L. has more than 15 years of comprehensive experience working with middle market and Fortune 500 companies including media, telecommunication, technology, consumer products and service-based businesses.  Before joining The Capital Corporation, he was an investment banker with J.P. Morgan Securities and most recently a CEO of a new media company. E. L. received his MBA from the University of California Haas School of Business at Berkeley, where he was a Haas Fellow. He holds undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Northwestern University. E.L. also has a NASD Series 7 General Securities license and speaks conversational Portuguese.

Robert J. Rutland

Robert J. Rutland '64

Covington, GA
Founding Member

Bob is Past Chairman of Allied Holdings, Inc.  In 2001 he established the Robert J. Rutland Center for Ethics, which has evolved into the Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics.  He majored in industrial management at Clemson.  He and his wife, Cherry, have three daughters, one of whom is a Clemson alumna.
More about Robert J. Rutland...

Lewis Smoak

Lewis T. Smoak

Greenville, SC

Lewis is a founding partner of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, and serves as Managing Shareholder of the Greenville office. He is among the one percent of U.S. lawyers listed in The Best Lawyers in America, and has also been selected by his peers for inclusion in the ABA’s College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and Chambers USA Leading Lawyers in America. Mr. Smoak is the author of three comprehensive nationwide labor relations studies in the construction industry. He has also received the 2006 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He received his B.A. from Furman University in 1966, and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969.

Allan Thompson, Jr.

Allan “Buddy” J. Thompson, Jr. ‘69

Easley, SC
Founding Member

Buddy has had an exemplary and varied professional life. After graduating from Clemson with a BS in Chemical Engineering in 1969, he spent six years working for Exxon. He then changed paths and earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical University of South Carolina (second in his class of 166). After a several year residency in ophthalmology, he established a private practice, Easley Eye Associates, in 1981. He remains a practicing Ophthalmologist, yet he also went on to organize and become a founding director of Peoples National Bank, and is a real estate developer. Buddy also continues an active life of service in the community. He is an Elder of Easley Presbyterian Church, has been involved in Boy Scouts of America, Easley Rotary Club, served on numerous community and professional boards, and has been part of five medical mission teams to Brazil and Mexico between 1992 and 2008. Buddy and his wife, Elizabeth ‘71, have two children.

Ex-Officio Members

James F. Barker

James F Barker (ex-officio)

(President)

Clemson University’s 14th president, James F. Barker, is first and foremost an architect. He came to the office with a clear blueprint of Clemson’s future in mind — to become one of the nation’s top public universities. To achieve this vision, Barker led the development of 10-year goals and an action plan built around collaboration, focus, relevance and academic quality.(More...)

Doris R. Helms

Doris R. Helms (ex-officio)

(Provost)

Doris R. Helms received her B.S. in Biology from Bucknell University and Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Georgia. She has served Clemson University as Department Head and Associate Dean of the College of Sciences and is currently serving as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

During her career as a biologist, Helms has worked with science teachers throughout South Carolina and has been honored by receiving the Charles H. Townes Award for service to Science and Mathematics Education in South Carolina. She has also received the South Carolina Science Council and South Carolina Hall of Science and Technology awards as well as a Commendation from the State Department of Education for her contributions to teacher education in South Carolina. (More...)

Terry Don Phillips

Terry Don Phillips (ex-officio)

(Athletic Director)

For a person who has coached and worked in athletics administration his entire career, it may be surprising that Dr. Terry Don Phillips defines his passion and drive as Clemson’s athletic director by his recent inclusion as one of the 100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America, as named by The Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island.  The institute’s objective involved a four-year process and resulted in a list that spans scholars, Olympians, coaches, and other industry leaders “who have creatively and effectively used sport in the very best way, as a means to educate and shape positive values.” (More...)

Janice Murdoch

Janice Murdoch (ex-officio)

(Dean, Undergraduate Studies)

Caron St. John

Caron H. St. John (ex-officio)

(Director, Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership)

Caron St. John joined the faculty of Clemson University in 1988. She is a full professor in the department of management and serves as the Director of the Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Dr. St. John has participated in grants receiving over $1.5 million in funding from U.S. SBA, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the National Science Foundation. (More...)

William Maker

William A. Maker (ex-officio)

(Chair, Dept. of Philosophy & Religion)

Dr. Maker has been at Clemson since 1979, after having received his Ph.D from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City in 1978. He was an undergraduate philosophy major at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and also studied philosophy at the University of Freiburg and the University of Braunschweig in Germany. His specialty is 19th and 20th century German philosophy, in particular Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche. (More...)

Elizabeth McClellan

Elizabeth McClellan (ex-officio)

(Office of Development)

Members Emeritus

E. Wendell Clamp, Sr.

E. Wendell Clamp, Sr. '60

Covington, GA
Founding Member

Wendell served as an active member on the advisory board from 2004 to 2005. A 1960 Clemson graduate in Education, Wendell is School Superintendent of the Newton County School System in Covington, Georgia. Wendell and his wife, Nancy, have two daughters; one is a Clemson alumna as was Wendell’s father.

Debbie DuBose

Debbie DuBose '75

Seneca, SC

Debbie B. DuBose is a 1975 Clemson graduate and currently works as the Executive Director of the Oconee Memorial Hospital Foundation in Seneca, SC. She served on the Rutland Institute for Ethics Advisory Board from 2002 to 2008, including as Chair 2007-2008. From 1988 to 2003, DuBose served as the Executive Director of the Clemson Alumni Association. Prior to working for Clemson, Debbie worked for Duke Power from 1975 to 1988, in their corporate communications and nuclear power generation departments. Debbie is married to Bob, also a 1975 Clemson graduate, and is the mother of two teenage daughters.

Harry Durham

W. Harry Durham

Clemson, SC
Founding Member

Harry served as an active member of the advisory board from 2001 to 2008. He is an alumnus of Auburn University and the University of North Carolina. He is retired from Clemson where he was Associate Vice President for University Relations. Harry is a member of Tiger Brotherhood and an honorary member of the Blue Key Club. He and his wife, Ina, have two children; one is a Clemson graduate.

S. Richard Sargent

S. Richard Sargent '65

Greenville, SC
Founding Member

Dick received his B.S. from Clemson in 1965 in Industrial Management. He is President of D&M, Inc. in Greenville and has held several executive positions at Guilford Mills and Insignia Financial Group. While at Clemson, Dick was a Tiger Letterman in baseball. Dick and his wife, Mary, have three children.

T.L. Shealy, Jr.

T.L. Shealy, Jr. '56

Clemson, SC
Founding Member

After 37 years of service Tom retired from Kodak in 1993. At that time he was General Manager and a Vice President of Fibers Division of Eastman Chemical Co. a division of Eastman Kodak.    A 1956 alumnus in Textile Manufacturing, Tom “came home” and now resides  in Clemson. He serves on the Board of Visitors. Tom and his wife, Elizabeth, have two children: the couple’s daughter is a Clemson alumna.

Founding Members

Stephan C. Barton

J. Anderson Berley

Frank Bishop

E. Wendell Clamp, Sr

W. Harry Durham

John C. Knapp

Robert J. Rutland

S. Richard Sargent

T.L. Shealy, Jr.

Allan “Buddy” J. Thompson, Jr

Albert Todd

John E. Walker

T.G. Westmoreland