KNOXVILLE – Four executives representing various industries across the state have been appointed to the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees.
The new trustees are Shannon Brown, Bill Evans, Rhedona Rose and Julia Wells, as announced by Gov. Haslam today. The new trustees attended Wednesday’s board workshop.
Brown is senior vice president, chief human resources officer and chief diversity officer for FedEx. He replaces Monice Moore Hagler, who was appointed in 2008 and represented Shelby County.
Evans, a graduate of UT Health Science Center, retired as director and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital earlier this year. An expert in pharmacogenomics, Evans had been CEO for 10 years and had worked at St. Jude since his days as a student. Evans replaces trustee Karl Schledwitz, who was appointed in 2005 and represented Shelby County.
Rose is executive vice president of Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, the largest state Farm Bureau in the nation. She replaces Don Stansberry, who was appointed in 2002 and represented the fourth district.
Wells, a UT Knoxville alumna, is vice president of marketing services for The Pictsweet Co. based in Bells, Tenn. She replaces trustee Betty Ann Tanner, who was appointed in 2008 and represented the eighth district.
“This is an important point in time for our board and the future of the University of Tennessee. I appreciate the dedication and commitment of our outgoing trustees and their efforts to move forward our institution,” UT System President Joe DiPietro said. “I would like to thank Gov. Haslam for his thoughtful appointment of these four new trustees. I look forward to working with them and learning from their insights about our state.”
The governor also reappointed trustees John Foy of Hamilton County and Crawford Gallimore of Weakley County. They were both first appointed in 2008. The board welcomed the new faculty and student representatives at the annual meeting in June. David Golden, professor of food microbiology and UT Knoxville Faculty Senate immediate past president, and R.J. Duncan, a junior and member of the Student Government Association at UT Knoxville are non-voting in their first terms.
The UT Board of Trustees governs the University of Tennessee System. Five ex-officio members include the governor, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of education, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and UT System president. The governor appoints 21 other members who represent the counties in which UT campuses are located, each congressional district and a student and faculty member. Trustees from the counties and congressional districts are appointed to terms of six years. For more information about the board, visit bot.tennessee.edu.
The University of Tennessee is the state’s land-grant, higher education institution with statewide enrollment of some 49,000 students at campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Martin; the Health Science Center at Memphis; the Space Institute in Tullahoma; and the statewide Institute of Agriculture and Institute for Public Service. UT alumni around the world number more than 355,000. For more information, visit www.tennessee.edu.
For more information about the governor’s appointments, please visit https://news.tn.gov/node/12940.
Tags: Bill Evans, Governor Bill Haslam, Julia Wells, Rhedona Rose, Shannon Brown