D. Roger Kennedy
D. Roger Kennedy enrolled at ETSU in 1965 and participated in four years of Army ROTC. When he graduated in 1969, he had a degree in marketing and management and a commission in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant.
In the early 1980s, he became a market analyst for AFG Industries, a fairly new entry into the field of glass-production. He rose rapidly to the position of vice president of marketing.
In 1986, AFG became a private company. Eventually, the company, and Kennedy, moved to Fort Worth, Texas.
AFG was finally sold to Asahi, the Japan-based largest glass company in the world. Only five senior AFG personnel stayed on, including Kennedy, who became president and chief executive officer of AFG's North American Distribution and Fabrication Group in Atlanta.
Kennedy directed that office for 11 years, and then became president and chief executive officer of AFG in 1999, until his retirement in 2004.
Named the 2005 ETSU Outstanding Alumnus, Kennedy serves as
chairman of the ETSU Foundation, serves on the ETSU Alumni Board,
and is the alumni representative on the Intercollegiate Athletics
Standing Committee. Kennedy and his wife, Martha, are members of
the President's Trust Silver Society and the ETSU Legacy Circle for
their support of the university through the ETSU Foundation. They
have endowed a business and technology scholarship fund and an
intercollegiate athletic scholarship fund through their estate
planning.
Stephen J. LaPorte
Stephen J. LaPorte began his education at the University
of Tennessee-Knoxville, but graduated from East Tennessee State
University in 1978 with a degree in management.
LaPorte entered the banking business under his father's tutelage at
Citizens Bank in Elizabethton.
A few years later, the LaPorte family became partners in the
Government Securities Corporation in Houston, Texas.
The family merged the two regional investment banks and created
Coastal Securities, with headquarters in Houston. LaPorte has seen
the company's holdings increase from $40 million to $70 million.
LaPorte is currently the Managing Director of Trading and Banking,
and works closely with his brothers Chris, who is also in Houston,
and Sam and Joe, who operate from Elizabethton.
Charles O. Steagall
Charles O. Steagall attended what was then East Tennessee
State College and graduated in 1966 with a degree in accounting.
The new graduate became a revenue agent for the U.S. Internal
Revenue Service, but left later that year to join the Johnson City
accounting firm of Blackburn and Childers.
He successfully passed the Certified Public Accountant exam in
1968, and became a partner the next year. Blackburn, Childers and
Steagall, PLC is now the largest accounting firm in Northeast
Tennessee, with offices in Johnson City, Kingsport and Greeneville.
During his 45 years with the firm, Steagall has provided
accounting, consulting, and tax services to a wide variety of
clients. In addition, he specializes in business valuations and
litigation support services.
ETSU presented Steagall with an Award of Honor in 2007, and he has
served on the ETSU Foundation Board. He served for many years as
treasurer of the ETSU Foundation. His leadership was instrumental
at his firm to create the BCS Faculty Fellowship in Accountancy at
ETSU as well as an endowed scholarship in accountancy that honors
the late Joe Blackburn, the late Carl Childers, and also honors
Charles Steagall.
A. Richard Wilson
A. Richard Wilson attended what is now University School
on campus and earned a bachelor's degree in economics and finance
from ESTU in 1963, followed by an M.B.A. in real estate finance
from the Harvard Business School in 1969.
He served his country as a U.S. Army Captain and as an Army
Intelligence Officer.
After his graduation from Harvard, he joined Alodex Corporation in
Memphis as vice president of joint ventures. During his four years
there, he assisted in a $30 million public offering, developed over
1,000 condominium units in California and Florida and untangled the
bureaucratic regulation difficulties of a $400 million commercial
complex in Chicago.
Next, Wilson, along with leading members of the business community
and three major banks, founded a venture capital firm, New South
Investment Company, in Memphis. An initial investor in Federal
Express Corporation, the business acquired sites and developed
feasibility studies for financial institutions and corporate
investors.
In 1979, Wilson joined the Harry R. Jones Company in Houston as a
vice president. He developed a 460-unit apartment complex and
evaluated commercial investment opportunities for the firm.
A year later, Wilson accepted a position with the Horne Company,
Realtors, as a senior investment broker. His accomplishments
included selling the largest, at $65 million, Texas office complex
outside a major urban area.
In 1985, Wilson became a real estate advisor, reviewing and
marketing Real Estate Owned (REO) portfolios for banks, savings and
loans, and individuals. Some 500 properties valued at over $1
billion were involved.
Currently, Wilson is president, chief executive officer and founder
of The Property Group, a real estate investment and development
firm working with corporations and sophisticated investors.
The recipient of a 2003 ETSU Award of Honor, Wilson is a member of
the ETSU Foundation's Distinguished President's Trust for his
support of the university over the years. Wilson has also been an
active participant in the Alumni Return to the Classroom program
for the College of Business and Technology.
J. Lane Latimer III
J. Lane Latimer III is a member of the East Tennessee
State University Class of 1959, although he transferred and
graduated from the University of Alabama.
Latimer's first employment after graduation was in sales at
WJHL-TV.
A few months later, Latimer accepted a position as a stock broker
at Shearson, Hammill and Company in Orlando, Florida.
Ten years later, Latimer returned to Northeast Tennessee when he
became the owner and president of Oak Hill Funeral Home and
Cemetery in Kingsport.
Latimer and his wife, Sherry, have endowed a business scholarship
in the ETSU Foundation to assist ETSU students. A longtime member
of the ETSU Foundation, Latimer for many years served the
Foundation as a member of the Foundation Investment Committee where
he helped to lead the impressive growth of the Foundation's
endowments and assets.
Martha Butler Rector
Martha Butler Rector attended what was then East Tennessee
State Teachers College from 1941-1942.
Her college career was abruptly curtailed when Pearl Harbor was
attacked. Rector decided to follow her brother's example and joined
the U.S. Marine Corps. She enlisted in 1942 and served at Camp
Lejeune, North Carolina, until 1944. She was secretary to
Lieutenant General Lewis Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine
in U.S. history, and the only Marine to receive five Navy crosses.
After her discharge from the Marines, Rector returned home and
enrolled at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 1945. Using
the G.I. Bill to finance her education, she took a heavy course
load to graduate as quickly as possible. She received her business
degree in 1947.
Late that same year, she married Calvin Rector, a fellow UT student
who worked at Eastman Chemical Company until his retirement in
1983. He passed away six years after his retirement.
Rector was also employed by Eastman as a secretary, starting in
1948.
Rector is a member of the ETSU President's Silver Society and the
ETSU Legacy Circle for her current and future support. In her
estate plans, she has created the Martha Butler Rector
Professorship in Finance to assist a distinguished faculty member
within the College of Business and Technology.
Most recently, Rector has directed her attention to the effort to
raise funds for a memorial to war veterans in Kingsport, where she
resides.
John E. Seward Jr.
John E. Seward Jr. attended Vanderbilt University, earning
a bachelor's degree in economics in 1970 and a Master of Management
degree in 1972.
During his graduate student days, he was a part-time assistant to
the Commissioner of the Department of Finance and Administration
for the State of Tennessee.
Seward received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S.
Army, Quartermaster Branch, through the Vanderbilt ROTC program,
and he was discharged from the reserves as a captain.
He became co-founder and senior partner of Nashville's SRG
Management Consultants, a company engaged in strategic management
consulting.
Three years later, Seward returned to East Tennessee as the
secretary-treasurer of BancTenn Corporation in Kingsport.
From 1975-1984 Seward was vice-president and then president of Paty
Lumber Company in Elizabethton, a family owned business founded by
his grandfather. He transferred to the Piney Flats Paty
headquarters, where he was chairman and chief executive officer and
then president from 1984-2000.
Seward's recognition of ETSU's critical role for the development of
this region led the Paty Company to provide support at the
President's Trust Silver Society level.
When his family sold the lumber business, Seward turned to a
childhood love of aviation. He became president of Aviation
Strategies Group, a corporate aircraft management and aviation
consultant business in Blountville.
He is also president of Johnson City's Strategic Resources Group, a
consulting firm specializing in strategic and financial management.
Seward is a member of the ETSU Foundation Board, and, with his
wife, a member of the ETSU Foundation's Distinguished President's
Trust.
P.C. Snapp
P.C. Snapp received his bachelor's degree from ETSU in
1961 and continued his education at the University of
Tennessee-Knoxville, earning a master's degree in city and regional
planning in 1967.
For 30 years, Snapp served as the Regional Director of the Upper
East Tennessee State Planning Office. He and six professional
planners provided city planning services for 10 counties covering
24 communities. Among his accomplishments is assisting Jonesborough
to become the first city in the state to adopt historic zoning and
a historic district was created and placed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
Snapp served as a Johnson City Commissioner for 12 years, and for
two of those years he was the city's mayor. His term of office saw
many improvements in sidewalk creation, the first curb-side
recycling in Tennessee, five new schools, library construction and
two parks. During his tenure, the city was recognized by the
Tennessee Municipal League for the city's pre-eminent environmental
leadership among all of the state's cities and towns.
As chairman of the Johnson City Power Board, Snapp directed the
construction of a new Power Board Building.
Snapp was Executive Director of the Johnson City, Jonesborough,
Washington County Economic Development Board (EDB) for 14 years.
During that time, the EDB was recognized as having one of the top
existing business programs in the nation.
An adjunct instructor in the ETSU city management program for seven
years, Snapp is also a member of the ETSU Foundation.
Snapp retired earlier this year after 50 years of public service.
Bryan Daniels
Bryan Daniels is a two-fold ETSU alumnus who earned both a
bachelor's degree in communications and computer science in 1995
and a master's degree in manufacturing engineering technology in
1997.
Daniels joined the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community
Development in Nashville and became involved in reform of the
Appalachian Regional Commission Grant Program and the Industrial
Training Service Program.
In 1997, Daniels accepted the position of Economic Development
Planner for the firm of Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon in
Nashville. He worked with municipalities in Tennessee and Virginia
seeking to develop their local economies through state and federal
support.
From 2001 through 2010, Daniels was Executive Vice President with
Bount Partnership. He managed Blount County, Maryville and Alcoa
Inc. economic development efforts. His responsibilities included
offices in Maryville; Isle of Wight, England; Yokahama, Japan; and
Seoul, South Korea.
With over $400 million is assets, Blount County's economic
development program is one of the largest in the state, and it is
one of four partner agencies with an aggregate annual $4.5 million
dollar partnership operational budget.
Daniels was named president and chief executive officer of Blount
Partnership in 2010. The Partnership is comprised of the Blount
County Chamber of Commerce, Blount County Economic Development
Board, Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Blount
Chamber Foundation. During his tenure, Daniels has recruited over
$1.4 billion of new capital investment from 35 new and expanding
companies.
An active alumnus, Daniels is a member of the ETSU Foundation Board
and the ETSU Alumni Association Board.
Jerry L. Pelphrey
Jerry L. Pelphrey may be most familiar to the ETSU
community for his skills on the hardwood. From 1989-1993, he was an
integral part of the East Tennessee State University men's
basketball team. While he was on the team, ETSU won 98 games,
reached a Top Ten national ranking, won three Southern Conference
tournament titles and participated in three NCAA tournaments
including a much-remembered victory over the University of Arizona.
After receiving his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in
marketing in 1994, Pelphrey remained at ETSU as a graduate
assistant coach. He went on to a career as an assistant coach at
Milligan College, Gardner-Webb University, ETSU and Eastern
Kentucky University.
In 2002, Pelphrey shifted his career to banking by joining
Kentucky's First Southern National Bank. His duties included
responsibility for all presentations of loans to loan committees
and management of past-due, problem loans and exceptions. Within a
year, he was managing a $7 million portfolio.
Pelphrey returned to the area and was hired by People's Community
Bank as a commercial loan officer in 2005, and then as a commercial
relationship manager at SunTrust Bank the following year. At
SunTrust, he increased an existing $27 million loan portfolio to
$45 million in a little over a year.
From 2009 until the present time, Pelphrey has been employed by
TruPoint Bank. Currently a commercial lender and vice president, he
has seen the average loan size increase to $700,000 over the past
year.