Advisory Council

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.

Rob Brown

Superintendent, Lumpkin County Schools

Rob Brown is currently the superintendent for Lumpkin County Schools and has served in public education for 23 years, holding many different positions. He attended Carson-Newman College where he received a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education & Health and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He later earned a Master’s and a Specialist degree from Jacksonville State University before earning a Doctorate in Education from the University of Alabama.

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.

Dave Phillips

Former Human Resources Manager, Kings Hawaiian

Dave is the former Human Resources Manager at Kings Hawaiian in Oakwood, GA. His background includes many years in Human Resources with Sports Authority, as well as experience in operations and customer service. His areas of expertise include recruiting and staffing, training and development, employee engagement, employee relations, community outreach, and much more.

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.

Tracy Michael Vardeman

Chief Strategy Executive, Northeast Georgia Health System

Tracy Michael Vardeman is Chief Strategy Executive with Northeast Georgia Health System, a regional healthcare system serving a population base of over one million people across 19 counties of northeast Georgia.
A marketing strategist with over 30 years in the healthcare field, Ms. Vardeman is responsible for guiding the strategic direction and marketing efforts for the Health System in conjunction with the organization’s operating boards and senior leadership.

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.