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was inducted into the Itawamba
Community College Athletic Hall
of Fame in October. The Amory,
Miss., native began his collegiate
career at ICC before transferring
to BSC and leading the Panthers
to back-to-back Southern States
Conference Championships. The
announcement of his induction
came on the same day that
Baseball America and the American
Baseball Coaches Association
named him the 2014 National
Assistant Coach of the Year.
Thompson is in his seventh season
of coaching at MSU.
’95
Richard Grimes
of Birmingham
has been named RealtySouth’s
new CEO. Grimes joined First
Real Estate in 1998, which later
merged with RealtySouth. He
served previously as regional vice
president over RealtySouth’s new
home sales division and director
of land management projects and
builder relationship programs;
he was promoted to senior vice
president in 2009.
David Royse
of Nicholasville,
Ky., is listed among his state’s
“Litigation Stars” in the 2015
edition of the publication
Benchmark Litigation. Royse
specializes in general commercial,
real estate, banking, lender liability,
and personal injury litigation at the
law firm of Stoll Keenon Ogden
PLLC in Lexington.
’96
J.W. “Trey” Echols III
was
appointed president and CEO of
Highland
Associates
Inc., a
Birmingham-
based
institutional
investment
advisor with
more than
$20 billion under management.
Echols formerly served in a senior
leadership role with Deloitte’s
Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory
practice, based in finance, in
Charlotte, N.C. Prior to Deloitte, he
spent 12 years at Merrill Lynch in
a variety of roles, including leading
its private banking, consumer
banking, and commercial banking
groups in Atlanta and Chicago. His
last role at Merrill Lynch was as
managing director of the Structured
Lending group in Chicago.
MegWilliams Fiedler
of
Montgomery was named assistant
clerk of the Alabama Court of Civil
Appeals in August.
Frank Lang
been named
business
development
manager
of national
rental
accounts at
Atlas Copco
Construction
Equipment based in Denver, Colo.
Lang, who works out of his home
office in Snead, Ala., has more
than 30 years of experience in the
construction rental industry.
Rosalind Flanigan Operton
was the keynote speaker at the
Meridian, Miss., Martin Luther
King Jr. parade and celebration on
Jan. 19. An
educator for
more than
20 years,
Operton is
the principal
of Parkview
Elementary
in Meridian.
She has
also taught elementary and middle
school in the Hoover City Schools
(Ala.) district. Operton, who is
currently working on a Ph.D. in
education from Mississippi State,
holds memberships in several
professional, social, and service
organizations and has been married
for 27 years to Rev. Dr. Zachary
Operton, pastor of Prince of Peace
Christian Fellowship Church.
Alum
News
’71
Steve Briggs
, president and CEO of Petra Life Services Inc. in
Birmingham, has stepped down after some 15 years as chair of
BSC’s Norton Board, handing over the reins after assisting with the
board’s recent reorganization and revitalization.
But the move doesn’t mean Briggs is slowing down. He
remains involved with the Norton Board, which now consists of
250 professionals committed to helping BSC and its students, and
with the Panther Partnerships Mentoring Program. After a more
than 40-year career as a business and life insurance consultant, he
was recently elected to the board of United Security Bancshares
Inc. and its subsidiary, First US Bank. He is serving on the audit
committee of the company and the bank. He was also recently
elected to the board of directors of the American United Mutual
Insurance Holding Company in Indianapolis, where he serves as
lead independent director.
Briggs says the mentorship he received from his professors while
he was a student at Birmingham-Southern speaks to the value of a
liberal arts education.
“Lifetime friendships were formed, a commitment to learning
and serving was instilled, and an appreciation for critical and
consequential thinking was promoted during my years on the
Hilltop,” said Briggs, who began his career with Protective Life
Insurance Co. as a student actuary while pursuing his BSC degree
in mathematics. He was also active with the Triangle Club, Kappa
Alpha fraternity, and the SGA. “Perhaps the most amazing aspect
of life at ’Southern was that they let me graduate—I certainly
brought down the average GPA!”
Afterward, he attended Georgia State University, where he
took graduate-level studies in actuarial science at Georgia State
University; he continued to work for Protective and in 1986 took
over as head of the individual life division at Protective Life, and
later the annuity division, helping grow the company from its
regional status to one of the industry’s largest. In 2008, after
retiring from Protective as executive vice president, he founded
Petra Life, which uniquely provides fee-based insurance, financial,
and investment consulting.
Briggs was honored by BSC as a Distinguished Alumnus for
outstanding achievements and a commitment to service in 2001.
He is also active with the Birmingham Rotary Club and over the
years has been involved with the Foundry Rescue Mission and
Recovery Center, Junior Achievement of Alabama, United Way, and
Leadership Birmingham. The Freedom Source, which he and his
wife, Lynn, founded, develops community strategies to address
issues around alcoholism and substance abuse.
Aside from his job, family (he and his wife have three children and
four grandchildren), board involvement, and volunteerism, he enjoys
writing. He recently published his first book,
Does God Always
Answer Prayer?
, written during his son’s battle with addiction; it is
available at
Amazon.com.