Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) has established the Foundation for the College System of Tennessee to support its 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology through advocacy, marketing and fundraising.
The foundation’s board will guide the foundation in its mission, vision and growth. The board’s inaugural members are leaders in business, education and nonprofits who have a keen interest in the public colleges and their students as key to Tennessee’s future.
The board convened for the first time last week and will meet again in February and June of 2020.
“The foundation board members see the value in the critical work being done to educate our more than 120,000 students every year and prepare them for immediate entry into the workforce or for transfer on to universities to continue their studies. We’re grateful to the members for lending their time, expertise and compassion to support this work,” said TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings.
“Our system is both Tennessee’s primary workforce provider and where most of the students who transfer to Tennessee’s universities start. The work being done every day on our campuses is transformational for the students and their families, and the state, and our new foundation will support our mission of Student Success and Workforce Development,” Tydings said.
The new foundation serving all of the College System’s institutions replaces an earlier, smaller foundation that served only the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, or TCATs, which do not have their own individual foundations or advancement and development officers as the community colleges do.
“The new foundation will focus its work and build relationship with state-, national- and international-level businesses, organizations, foundations and donors who want to support, advocate and contribute on a systemwide level. It will help support our TCATs as well as help supplement and support the outstanding work of the colleges’ foundations,” said Cris Perkins, TBR assistant vice chancellor for strategic advancement and executive director of the foundation.
A systemwide foundation has been discussed for more than three years and Tydings made it a priority after her arrival as chancellor in early 2017.
The foundation board launched with 17 members, including three ex-officio members from the system’s senior staff.
Inaugural members of the foundation board are:
Dan Caldwell
Senior Manager, Training
Nissan North America
Erik Clinite
Partner
Orcutt-Winslow
Dr. Tracy Hall
President
Southwest Tennessee Community College
Alphonso Harvey
CEO
Music City Med, Inc.
Wendell Moore
Partner
MNA Government Relations, LLC
Vice President, Aircraft Maintenance
FedEx Express
Daniel Parent
Senior Manager
Labor Planning & Business Analysis
Aircraft Maintenance
FedEx Express
Susan Rhodes
Director
The Ayers Foundation
Dr. Jeff Sisk
President
Tennessee College of Applied Technology Jackson
Tim Smith
Industrial Business Manager
Snap-on Industrial
Wes Stowers
President
Stowers Machinery Corporation
Kristi Turner
VP/GM Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana
AT&T Mobility
Regent Danni B. Varlan
2nd Congressional District Member, Board of Regents
Major Gifts, Grants and Legacy Giving Director
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital
President/Co-Founder
Independent Healthcare Properties, LLC
Morning Pointe Senior Living
Ex-Officio Members
Dr. Flora W. Tydings
Chancellor
Tennessee Board of Regents
Dr. Kim McCormick
Vice Chancellor, External Affairs
Tennessee Board of Regents
Cris Perkins
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Strategic Advancement
Executive Director, Foundation for the College System of Tennessee
