Welcome Aboard!

Joining us as we begin our 2023-24 school year are four new board members whose connections to our school and varied backgrounds will enhance our Board of Trustees.

Blair Cannon is a Senior Staff Attorney with Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., handling insurance defense litigation in Tennessee. She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a BA in Theatre and American Studies. In 2001, she earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Cannon was a GPS Trustee 2012–19 and served as Board Secretary 2017–19. In addition to her work on the Board, she has volunteered in various other roles at GPS, including as Chair of the 2006 Career Mentor Committee, 2007 Alumnae Advisory Council, and 2013–14 Annual Fund Chair. She is married to Eddie Cannon (McCallie ’92). They have two daughters who attend GPS, Grace ’24 and Addie ’28.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, with an MA in secondary education/ mathematics from UTC, Carolyn Chandler taught English and French at Lookout Valley Middle/High School before pivoting to full-time motherhood when sons Dan and Richard came along. Later, she returned to the workforce to teach Upper School mathematics at GPS for 19 years, working in administration for the last five years of her tenure. In 2003, she left GPS to assume the position of Assistant Head of School at Metairie Park Country Day School in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she later became Head of School before retiring in 2017. Chandler has served on the boards of two New Orleans charter schools, ISAS, NAIS, and The Heads’ Network faculty and board, and she served as a field instructor for the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University. She presently serves on the Center’s Advisory Committee and on the board of Madison Country Day School, Madison, Wisconsin. Chandler is a partner in Strategic School Leadership LLC, a consultancy serving boards and heads of school.

HAMP JOHNSTON JR.

Hamp Johnston helped found and is President and CEO of RockPointBank, NA. He grew up in Chattanooga and graduated from McCallie in 1989. After earning a BA from Washington and Lee University, he began his banking career in Memphis and subsequently moved back home. Johnston has been engaged in the Chattanooga community since returning in 1994 and has served as President of the McCallie Alumni Council, President of the Board at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club, and President of the Board of Bridge Scholars. Current community activities include serving as an executive committee member of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, board member of Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, and member of the Downtown Chattanooga Rotary. He and his wife, Jenny, are proud parents of recent GPS alumna Frances ’23.

Austin Watson is a managing partner of Mountain View Auto Group and a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He serves on the Chattanooga Young Life Committee and formerly served on the board of trustees at Brainerd Baptist School. Watson is a proud supporter of many local nonprofits and causes, including Young Life, Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer, and United Way of Greater Chattanooga. Watson and his wife, Lara, have three daughters who are GPS students: Carly ’24, Avery ’26, and Liza Blake ’28.