40 / ’
southern
CLASSNOTES
The BTI Consulting Group
(
Wellesley, Mass.) has named
James Pennington
,
the managing
shareholder of the Birmingham
office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash,
Smoak & Stewart PC, to its 2012
Client Service All-Star team. The
firm said Pennington is the only
attorney in Alabama to earn the
designation.
’88
This past fall,
Dr. Marietta
Cameron
began her new position
as associate professor of computer
science with the University of
North Carolina at Asheville.
Singer-songwriter
Burleigh Clyde
“
Buck” Johnson Jr.
of Nashville,
Tenn., is working with legendary
producers Mark Needham (Chris
Isaak, Fleetwood Mac, The Killers)
and Charlie Midnight (Joe Cocker,
The Doobie Brothers) on an
upcoming album release. The
single “Southen Belle” is available
on iTunes and Amazon.com. His
website is
’89
Michael “Mike” L. Jones
was
elected to the Alabama House of
Representatives, District 92, in
November 2010, where he serves
on the Transportation and Utilities,
Judiciary, and Rules committees.
Jones is a 1992 graduate of the
University of Alabama School of
Law. He is a partner with South
Alabama Law and also serves
as city judge for the town of
Andalusia.
Manus Rungtusanatham
joined
the Fisher College of Business
at The Ohio State University last
fall as professor of management
sciences.
’90
Collin Asmus
has been promoted
to full professor at Bridgewater
State University in Bridgewater,
Mass. Asmus is coordinator of
the Foundations Program in the art
department and teaches drawing,
painting, and design courses. She
took a sabbatical this past spring.
In June 2011,
Richard K. Behr
became an account executive for
al.com in Montgomery. Al.com,
Alabama’s largest website and
online source for The Birmingham
News, Mobile Press-Register, and
Huntsville Times, launched the
Montgomery edition of al.com
in the fall of 2010. Behr will be
calling on local businesses and
providing advertising and marketing
services from the comprehensive
al.com digital platform. Prior to
joining al.com, he was employed
by Equisouth Mortgage, and he
also has over 20 years of media
marketing experience.
Emily Bell
is a business
entrepreneur in her hometown of
Fairhope. She is the new owner
of Personally Yours, a gift shop/
niche bookstore. For over five
years, Personally Yours has been a
mainstay in downtown Fairhope.
Bell actively supports authors,
literacy, and reading events and is a
contributor to the Alabama Writers’
Forum and the Eastern Shore
Literacy Council.
David M. Benck
of Birmingham,
vice president and general counsel
for Hibbett Sporting Goods Inc.
and a member of the BSC Norton
Board of Advisors, has joined the
board of directors for the American
Arbitration Association in New
York for an initial term of May 2012
through May 2016.
’91
Vikki Millender-Morrow (MPPM
grad)
is
the new
president
and CEO of
the Georgia
Campaign
for
Adolescent
Pregnancy
Prevention
nonprofit. Jane Fonda founded
the organization, which is
headquartered in Atlanta.
W. Brantley Phillips Jr.
and his
law firm were honored with the
Tennessee Bar Association’s 2011
Corporate Counsel Pro Bono
Initiative Award for work done as
a part of a successful clemency
petition to the state’s governor on
behalf of a Tennessee death row
inmate. His efforts highlighted
errors made at the inmate’s trial
in 1984 and resulted in the inmate
being taken off death row. Phillips
is an attorney at Bass Berry & Sims
PLC in Nashville.
’92
The Alabama Coastal Foundation
recently named
Mark Berte
as
its executive director. Berte has
over 25 years of experience in the
nonprofit sector and is a passionate
supporter of sustaining the state’s
environment for future generations.
Alum
News
’06
Rev.Wade Langer
,
a newly ordained
elder in the United Methodist Church,
recently launched a new church in
Tuscaloosa, Ala. He preached his
first sermon at The Capstone United
Methodist Church on April 29, the first
Sunday after the anniversary of 2011’s
devastating tornadoes.
After being appointed by the United
Methodist Church in June 2011 to start
a new church in the Tuscaloosa area, he
gathered a number of people to help him
launch the congregation. Among them is
Faith Renneker Masterson ’09
,
who is
serving as worship director.
Tuscaloosa already has a number of churches, but Langer insists
that The Capstone UMC is focusing on the unchurched population
of the city and its university.
“
The United Methodist Church studied the area and
determined that Tuscaloosa was ripe for a new congregation—
based on an influx of new residents and retail vendors, as well as
an increasing population of citizens without a church home,” said
Langer. “Thus, we’re wanting to start a new congregation that
appeals to the nonreligious and nominally religious, particularly
to those who feel that the church is sometimes adversarial to
academia and reason. We want to help people live meaningful
lives that are informed by deep faith, thoughtful reason, and
transformative action.”
Additionally, Langer wants to strengthen the vitality of United
Methodist churches surrounding Tuscaloosa and throughout North
Alabama, partnering with other vibrant congregations including
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Kansas City,
Mo.—the largest UMC in the United States.
Until a new church facility is built, services are being held
monthly at 10:30 a.m. at the Belk Activity Center at Bowers Park.
Weekly services began on Aug. 12.
