Advisory Council

The primary purpose of the Advisory Council of the truist Center for Ethical Leadership at the University of North Georgia (UNG) Mike Cottrell College of Business is to function in a consultative capacity and actively support the truist Center’s vision and mission. 

Advisory Board Next Meeting

  • October 3, 2023

Board Members

Latasha Brinson

Chair of the Advisory Council, Site Lead and Senior Manager, Ethics and Business Conduct, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company

Latasha Brinson is the Site Lead and Senior Manager, Ethics and Business Conduct for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company facility in Marietta, Georgia. She is responsible for site-level leadership of the Ethics and Business Conduct function, as well as providing guidance and advice, and overseeing ethics-related investigations, training and administrative proceedings for the nearly 5,000-member workforce. Ms. Brinson has been a Lockheed Martin employee for 18 years.

Sharon Head

Superintendent, Lumpkin County Schools

Mrs. Head has been getting up every morning for most of her life and walking through the doors of Lumpkin County Schools. She attended Lumpkin County Schools as a student from grades K-12, and some of her fondest memories are riding her grandpa's bus to school each day in elementary school. After graduating from North Georgia College (now University of North Georgia) with her bachelor's and master's degrees, she went on to obtain her specialist degree in leadership and administration from Lincoln Memorial University. She spent twenty years at Long Branch Elementary School as a classroom teacher, instructional lead teacher, assistant principal and principal. Mrs. Head has spent the last nine years at the central office working in human resources and serving as the Associate Superintendent of Schools. Lumpkin County Schools holds a special place in her heart, and she loves being a part of this school system and community.

Dan Carey

Senior Vice President/Market President, BB&T Corporation

Dan Carey leads BB&T's, now truist’s, Community Banking efforts in Northeast Georgia with additional oversight of the Northwest and East Georgia markets. Dan has over 34 years in banking, serving for 25 years with a large regional bank prior to joining BB&T in 2010. Dan graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1985, and attended the University of North Georgia from 1982-1983.

He is a 1992 Graduate of the Graduate School of Bank Management at the University of Virginia / McIntire School of Commerce. Dan, a native of Gainesville, GA, has deep roots in the local community and has served in various volunteer and board positions over the course of his career. Dan and his wife Amy have two children and reside in North Hall County.

Joy Griffin

Joy Griffin, Director of Marketing, Communications, & Public Relations, Gainesville City Schools

JJoy Griffin is the Director of Marketing, Communications, & Public Relations at Gainesville City Schools. Previously, she was the Chief Administrator for Carroll Daniel Construction Company and prior to joining Carroll Daniel, Joy was the President and CPO of United Way of Hall County from 2016-2019 and Vice President of Resource Development from 2010-2016.

Joy also worked with NCR as a marketing specialist and the American Cancer Society as a Community Manager in Hall County and other north Georgia counties including Habersham, Lumpkin, Towns, and Union. She served as Community Manager for the Gwinnett County chapter of the American Cancer Society - staffing the world’s largest Relay For Life before returning home to Gainesville.

Melissa Tymchuk

Chief of Staff and Strategy Officer at Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS)

Melissa began her career at NGHS in the Public Relations & Marketing Department, rising to the role of Executive Director of Strategic Marketing before moving into the Chief of Staff position in 2017 and assuming the Chief Strategy Officer position in 2023.  In this role, she assists the CEO in managing and executing strategy across the health system, which serves more than 1 million people in a 19-county region in Northeast Georgia. 

In the community, Melissa serves as chair of the WomenSource Board of Directors, as a board member for Gateway Domestic Violence Center and Brenau University and as a member of the Gainesville Economic Development Authority.  She is former board chair of Vision 2030 and United Way of Hall County and a longtime board member of the Edmondson Telford Child Advocacy Center.  Statewide, Melissa serves on the Georgia Center for Civic Engagement Board of Directors and on the Georgia Commission on Women, an appointment she originally received from Governor Nathan Deal in 2016.  Melissa is a graduate of Leadership Hall County and Leadership Georgia.  She was named the Gainesville Jaycees’ Woman of the Year in 2014 and previously appeared on Georgia Trend magazine’s 40 under 40 list.

Melissa holds an ABJ in Public Relations from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and an MBA from Brenau University.  She lives in Gainesville with her husband, Danny, and their two children.

Wendy Walker, Ph.D.

Associate Dean and Assistant Professor

Dr. Walker serves as the Associate Dean for the Mike Cottrell College of Business as well as an assistant professor of management at the University of North Georgia. She has served in her current position at UNG since 2009. Prior to entering the field of education, Dr. Walker worked as manager of consumer and market knowledge at Procter & Gamble.

Ex Officio Members

  • Dr. Michael P. Shannon, President, University of North Georgia
  • Dr. Mary Gowan, Dean, Mike Cottrell College of Business
  • Dr. Rose Procter, Director, truist Center for Ethical Leadership
  • Kim Vickers, Development Officer, Mike Cottrell College of Business