Southeastern Council of Foundations Elects Trustees to Class of 2009

Largest regional grantmaking association elects new Trustees. The Southeastern Council of Foundations which covers eleven states in the southeast elects four new trustees to its board for three-year terms.

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) January 10, 2007 -- The Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF) has elected four new trustees to its board for three-year terms. The new trustees are:

Louie Buntin, chief executive officer, the Louie M. & Betty M. Phillips Foundation, Nashville, TN
Lesley Grady, vice president of community partnerships at The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Karen McNeil-Miller, president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, Winston-Salem, NC
Dot Neale, IBM corporate community relations manager for the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana Mississippi and Tennessee, Memphis, TN

Elected to a second three year-term were:

Peter F. Bird, Jr., president, The Frist Foundation, Nashville, TN; William B. Johnson, president, Alabama Power Foundation, Birmingham, AL; Mr. C. Dennis Riggs, president, the Community Foundation of Louisville, Louisville, KY; and Mr. David D. Weitnauer, executive director, The Rockdale Foundation, Atlanta, GA. W.E. "Chip" Gaylor, trustee of the Patricia J. Buster Foundation Charitable Trust, Venice, FL was elected to a second one-year term as board chair.

About the New Trustees

Louie Buntin became the CEO of the Louie M. & Betty M. Phillips Foundation in 1996, after a career as a financial consultant. He currently serves on SECF's Family Foundations Committee. A graduate of Auburn University, he is very active as a volunteer in civic affairs in the Nashville area, is a member of Immanuel Baptist Church and serves on the boards of Belmont University and The Harpeth Hall School.

As Vice President of Community Partnerships at The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Lesley Grady oversees the foundation's community leadership, grant making and strategic programming for a 23-county service area. Before joining the foundation in 2000 as senior program officer, she did management consulting for corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. From 1989 to 1996, she was Vice President of Education and Executive Director of the Atlanta Partnership for Business and Education for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Lesley is a graduate of LaSalle University and has a master's degree in community planning and economic development from Georgia State University.

Karen McNeil-Miller, President of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, came to that position from the Center for Creative Leadership. There she was Vice President for Corporate Resources and oversaw the total operations of the organization's campuses in Greensboro (NC), San Diego, Colorado Springs and Brussels, Belgium. A graduate of Isothermal Community College (A.A.), University of North Carolina at Greensboro (B.S. and M. Ed) and Vanderbilt University (Ph. D), she also has taught children with special needs and been the Director of The Piedmont School.

Dot Neale has been employed in a variety of positions by IBM since 1979. She currently is based in Memphis and is Corporate Community Relations Manager for the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana Mississippi and Tennessee. An honors graduate of Rhodes College, she is very active in Memphis civic affairs, with a variety of educational institutions and in the work of her church, Calvary Episcopal.

The Southeastern Council of Foundations is a membership association of 370 grantmaking foundations and programs in 11 states representing more than $30 billion in assets. SECF promotes excellence throughout the field of philanthropy and the creation of new philanthropic resources to benefit the Southeast. For more information, contact Helen M. Ishii, Director of Communications at 404-524-0911, or visit SECF's Web site at www.secf.org

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