David Ray Mitchell (’88, finance) has founded
a number of businesses since graduation, including AuburnSouvenirs.com, and serves as vice president of small business marketing for Harvard Risk Management. His wife, Tonya [’91], serves as the forensic toxicology lab director in Knoxville. Their oldest son, David, will graduate from Ole Miss this year with a business economics degree, while son Tanner will enroll at Auburn next year. “Alaina, my four-year-old, will be attending Auburn in 2028,” David promises.
Nelson Murdoch (’81, accounting) serves as
strategic national account manager for HP in Atlanta. He credits his educational background and the power of the Auburn networking brand for helping to lay the groundwork for his 30-plus-year career in information technology sales. “My first interview when getting into this space, after
year in business in August, as well as his son’s enrollment as a business major at Auburn.
Cynthia Poole Sumners (’84, business adminis-
James Thompson (’89, economics) serves as
Karl Rayborn (’87, accounting) serves as
Larry Sellers (’80, business) has been at Auburn University for the last 30 years and currently serves as assistant director for engineering continuing education in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. He serves as the college’s liaison with the Federal Highway Administration and the Alabama Department of Transportation for technical training.
John Robinson (’82, finance) is owner and
Annette Winters Stinson (’81, accounting) earned her PhD two years ago and now serves as a biblical counselor. She enjoys spending time with her three-year-old grandson.
several years of accounting work, allowed me to win the position because I graduated from Auburn.” He has been married to his college sweetheart for 31 years and they have three grown sons.
Julie Arnold Pinnix (’84, accounting) serves
as director of business and finance for St. Luke’s Episcopal School in Mobile. Her daughter, Molly, is a sophomore at Auburn.
senior vice president and CFO for the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives. He enjoys playing tennis in his free time. president of Property Valuation & Consulting, Inc. and Property Investment Specialists, Inc. He celebrated his 20th
James “Rod” Stroud (’82, marketing) is product manager for Turnils in Atlanta.
FedEx managing director reveals keys to seamless supply chains How do you navigate the modern logistics data stream? Just ask Harbert College graduate DAVE POLLARD (’85 finance). As managing director for FedEx Customer Solutions, Pollard asserts that collaboration, innovation and connectivity are the keys to operation in today’s complex retail environment. Collaboration: “You’re not just collaborating with the people you directly do business with—you have to also collaborate with your customers, your customers’ customers, your suppliers, and your suppliers’ supplier,” he explains. “You have to collaborate with your competitors—not to give them the keys to the kingdom, but instead really come together and say ‘hey, we’re in the same industry.’ Figure out what they are doing really well, what you’re doing really well, how can you collaborate and make the overall industry better and the overall business environment within that industry better.” “You also have to collaborate not just upstream to your immediate tier one supplier, but all the way back to the point of origin. You need to understand how the entire flow works.”
48 HarbertMagazine, Spring 2014
Innovation: Pollard notes that former ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky often skated to where he believed the puck was going to be. He moved toward the future. “Innovation is a critical component because if you are not forward-thinking, everybody is going to overtake you and you are going to lose to the competition,” he says. Connectivity: What’s happening along the supply chain from the store to the point of origin? The successful logistics professional must be connected from the beginning to end. “You have to have the connectivity all the way back to the point of where they’re digging the raw materials out of the ground,” Pollard says. “From a risk mitigation standpoint, you have to understand all the way back to the origin point and downstream to the end customer and their customer’s customer, to figure out where some of the constraints are in the supply chain and how that is going to affect you in the future.” What happens to companies that do not evolve? “In today’s digital age there are devices available for people to have instant information and instant gratification through those devices,” Pollard answers. “If companies don’t adapt and innovate, they will be left behind, their market will shrink, or they will become a niche player.”
tration) is “having fun in Florida” as a retiree who enjoys Zumba and water volleyball.
assistant athletic director and director of student activities at Brookstone School in Columbus, Georgia. He enjoys attending Auburn sporting events and spending time at Lake Martin.
Francis Hospital. His hobbies include trav- Brittney Blue (’96, management information eling and watching Auburn athletics. systems) is director of quality control and regulatory affairs for PRIDE Industries in Roseville, California. Her hobbies include exercising, hiking, and completing home improvement projects.
1990s
James Tierney (’85, accounting) is owner/ broker for Gulfsands Rentals, LLC in Gray Absher (’91, finance) works as a senior Gulf Shores, Alabama. His hobbies include financial analyst with DataScan Technolmodern muscle cars and the restoration of ogies, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based classic vehicles. company. Among his proudest accomplishments is having “converted my wife, Gretchen Van Valkenburg (’86, management) Kimberly, to an Auburn football fan from recently celebrated her 15-year annivera Georgia Bulldog.” The couple recently sary with the University of West Florida, celebrated its fifth anniversary. where she serves as executive director of development and alumni engagement. Gretchen earned an Honorary Alumnus Award from the Pensacola, Florida-based university. R. Lee Walters (’86, industrial operations)
serves as an investigator for Morgan and Morgan P.A. in Northern Virginia. He retired from the FBI in October 2012 as a supervisory special agent. He currently conducts nationwide qui tam/False Claim Act investigations on behalf of Morgan and Morgan clients. He stays busy in his free time, playing volleyball, riding his bike, and watching his children play sports. A recent highlight for the family included a summer 2013 trip to Northern Ireland, where they attended a Van Morrison concert near Dunluce Castle. “Perfect night and perfect company,” Lee says.
Jason Anderson (’98, management informa-
tion systems) works for OnX Enterprise Solutions in Houston as a senior solution architect.
Rob Bouton (’99, international business) has been living all over the world while acting in numerous film and television productions. He has appeared in a recurring role on the BET television series Second Generation Wayans and is starring in the movie Crackerjack by Jeff Foxworthy. He also has an upcoming role in Captive, starring Kate Mara. Keep up with Bouton’s appearances by viewing his IMDB profile page at: http://www.imdb.com/name/ nm4363025/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Kevin Braswell (’94, management informa-
tion systems) owns Smart Solutions, a Birmingham-based company specializing in assistive technology and home automation. Kevin’s firm has been awarded an Accessible Housing and Smart Home Technology grant.
Mike Arndt (’96, economics) started law school at Denver University Strum College of Law. When he’s not studying, Mike Phillip Cantilo (’94, marketing) is senior vice enjoys cycling and playing hockey. president and group account director for BBDO in Atlanta. BBDO is a US-based Chris Bailey (’95, finance) global advertising agency and a division serves as president and CEO of Omnicom Corp. Phillip is in his third of Liberty Bank in Geraldine, year of helping lead his industry’s enAlabama, where he lives with gagement with AT&T. “We manage all of Edgar Fort (Bo) Ward III (’80, transportation) his wife, Amy (’95) and their AT&T’s advertising across their business is truck fleet sales manager for Alligator three children. units, representing over $1.5 billion in North America in Concord, North Caroliad spending annually.” He’s married with na. He looks forward to Auburn basketball. Berne Barton (’92, operations management) three children, including a 10-year-old son is a partner and agent with Arnold & and twin 8-year-old girls. David Winters (’85, MBA) specializes in Burton Insurance Group in Naples, facility design as an engineer for the City Florida. He enjoys tailgating with his Cynthia Fanning Chamberlayne (’92, finance) is of Atlanta. He also does volunteer work at family at Auburn football games. a national director portfolio specialist with the Georgia Aquarium. Davis Advisors in New York City. Jim Zacharias (’87, finance) serves as senior administrative director for physician groups at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. He helped guide a successful merger of the Columbus Clinic into St.
Bill Davis (’95, finance) is a partner with A&R Super Markets, Inc. Leslie Patterson DiMaggio (’90, business administration) is vice president of HarbertMagazine, Spring 2014 49