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Board Member Bios Chairman Ernest A. Taylor is President of Beech Hill Group, Inc. an executive search firm. Taylor is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, earned his MBA at Georgia State University and attended Harvard’s Seminar for Directors. Following his early banking career, Taylor became an entrepreneur, starting his own executive search firm. Over the next twenty years, he was involved in the sale of the company four times, most recently in 1999.
Taylor serves on the Advisory Board to the Business School at the University of Tennessee and is a past member of the Board of Trustees of Georgia State University Foundation. He is also on the Board of Honduras Outreach and continues strong ties to Georgia Family Council.
In 1995, Ernest co-founded Awakening, an annual weekend gathering to promote conservative thought and principles through discussion and fellowship. In 2005, Awakening will celebrate its tenth anniversary with hundreds of participants from across the country gathering to discuss the issues of the day.
Ernest and his wife, Jan, have four children and three grandchildren. They reside in Newnan, Georgia.
Kenneth A. Cutshaw serves as the Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of Cajun Operating Company, a private company based in Atlanta, Georgia. He manages the legal affairs and is responsible for global expansion of the brand.
He was formerly a partner with Holland & Knight, LLP where his practice focused on global business transactions. Mr. Cutshaw also serves as Honorary Consul for India in the U.S. and also lectures and publishes extensively on U.S. and global business and legal issues.
Cutshaw serves or has served on numerous civic and professional organizations including: Council on Foreign Relations; World Trade Center Atlanta; U.S. North African Business Council; and the China Research Center. He also represented Vietnam at the 1996 Olympics.
Mr. Cutshaw received a Master of Laws international studies degree from American University, a J.D. in business law from The University of Tennessee, and a B.A. in public administration from The University of Tennessee.
Mr. Cutshaw and his wife, Diane Dracos Cutshaw, have three children and reside in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Whit Ayres is the President of Ayres, McHenry, & Associates, Inc., a national public opinion and public affairs research firm located in Alexandria, Virginia, that provides research and strategic advice for corporations, associations, and Republican candidates for public office. Roll Call, a widely-read newspaper on Capitol Hill, called the firm "one of the best in the nation," and the company was selected by the Republican National Committee to conduct its post-election national survey in 2000.
The firm provided polling for Georgia Senator Paul Coverdell's upset of Wyche Fowler in 1992 and Tennessee Senator Bill Frist's upset of Jim Sasser in 1994. Other political clients include U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Governor Bob Riley of Alabama, former Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, former South Carolina Governors David Beasley and Carroll Campbell, and the 1996 Lamar Alexander for President campaign. Corporate clients include the Boy Scouts of America, the American Council of Life Insurers, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Home Depot, America's Health Insurance Plans, AT&T, the Business Council of Alabama, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Ayres' comments and analysis appear periodically in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ABC Nightly News, NBC News, the Today show, CNN's Inside Politics and Crossfire, National Public Radio, C-SPAN, and numerous regional newspapers. Before establishing the firm, Ayres served as Senior Executive Assistant for Budget and Policy to Governor Carroll Campbell in South Carolina. He has also served as a tenured member of the political science faculty at the University of South Carolina. Ayres graduated cum laude from Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, with a major in political science. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He is an active private pilot, flying his Beechcraft Baron throughout the southeast, and he is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He is married to Rebecca I. Ayres, M.D., a pediatric radiologist. They have one eleven-year-old daughter, Catherine.
Ann C. Dorsey has been in the
corporate communications and external affairs consulting business since 1991. Ann is a resident of Atlanta, Georgia.
R. Todd Gardenhire is a Senior Vice President - Wealth Management with Smith Barney, Inc. in Chattanooga, Tennessee and has been in the investment and financial consulting business since 1976.
Gardenhire was recently appointed by President Bush to Chair the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation's Advisory Council until February, 2010. He was appointed for a full three year term representing the Employer. He is one of only two persons to serve on both the Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council and the PBGC's Advisory Council and the only person to Chair both.
Gardenhire has previously served as a member of the ERISA Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Labor where he served as Chair in 2005. He served as a representative of the Investment Counseling industry from 1985-1988 and served as the representative of Employers from 2002-2005. For his work as Chair of the Working Group in 2003, for which the Default Option in 401(k) resulted, he was nominated by the readers of 'Defined Contribution News' as Washington Impact Player of the Year.
Todd has three children and he lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Mr. Gardenhire's service as a member of the Board of Directors of Awakening is a personal activity and is not part of his business duties.
Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., is a director in the public sector practice of Deloitte Consulting, LLP, focusing on helping state governments develop and implement effective and efficient health and human services. Previously, Dr. Horn served for six years as the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this position, Dr. Horn oversaw an annual budget of over $46 billion and 68 federal programs aimed at improving the well-being of children and helping families achieve self-sufficiency.
From 1994 to 2001, Dr. Horn was President of the National Fatherhood Initiative and from 1989-1993, Dr. Horn was the Commissioner for Children, Youth and Families, and Chief of the Children's Bureau within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Horn also served as a Presidential appointee to the National Commission on Children from 1990-1993, a member of the National Commission on Childhood Disability from 1994-1995, a member of the U.S. Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators from 1996-1997, and a member of the U.S. Advisory Board on Kinship Care from 1998-1999.
Dr. Horn has written numerous articles relevant to children and family issues, and is the co-author of several books. He is also the lead editor of The Fatherhood Movement: A Call To Action. Dr. Horn has also frequently been featured on television and radio as a child development expert and commentator.
Dr. Horn received his Ph.D. in clinical child psychology from Southern Illinois University in 1981. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters.
General Charles C. KrulaK - served 35 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. His last position was as the 31st Commandant of the Marin Corps and as a member of the Joints Chiefs of Staff. He complete two tours of duty in Vietnam and then held a variety of command and staff positions. These included deputy director of the White House Military Office, Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Commanding General, 6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade during Desert Storm, and Commanding General of Marine Forces Pacific.
During his military service, General Krulak was awarded numerous medals and decorations including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star Medal, the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V” and two gold stars, and the Purple Heart with gold star.
Upon his retirement from the Marine Corps, General Krulak joined MBNA America Bank as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MBNA Europe Bank, Ltd. After four years in this position, he returned to the U.S. and served as Vice Chairman, MBNA America Bank, as Head of Corporate Development, Mergers and Acquisitions. General Krulak retired from MBNA in June, 2005.
General Krulak currently sits on the Board of Directors for Conoco Phillips, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, Union Pacific Railroad, and Director, Aston Villa Football Club, United Kingdom. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Naval Academy.
General Krulak is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has a Master’s Degree in labor relations from George Washington University.
Robert
E. Moffit Ph.D.
joined the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. in 1991 as the Director
of Domestic Policy.
Rusty Paul is President and CEO of iSquared Communications, an
Atlanta-based public relations/advertising/marketing firm. Among the
firm's clients are JP Morgan/Chase, Pfizer, EMC, the Coca-Cola Company,
Schaller-Anderson, UST Public Affairs, Westminster Ceramics,
Wakefield-Beasley, the Long-Term Care Pharmacy Alliance and other top
organizations.
A former Georgia State Senator representing the northern metropolitan
suburbs of Atlanta, Paul worked as the Bush Administration's assistant
secretary for congressional & intergovernmental relations and acting
assistant secretary of community planning and development under HUD
Secretary Jack Kemp.
Rusty is the father of five children and he and his wife, Jan, reside in the Sandy Springs suburb of Atlanta.
The Honorable Marshall “Mark” C. Sanford was elected South Carolina’s 115th governor in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, becoming only the third two-term governor in state history.
Prior to being elected governor, Sanford served in the U.S. Congress for six years before voluntarily stepping down to honor a personal commitment to limit his time in office.
As governor, Sanford has pursued an agenda of competitiveness. He has been unrelenting in his efforts to limit the growth of government. In 2003, South Carolina was in an almost $1 billion financial hole in addition to a $155 million unconstitutional deficit. After years of engaging in a tug-of-war with the Legislature over the issue of spending, the Sanford administration has begun to see signs of progress – the 2007 budget process started in the black for the first time in 16 years.
Sanford has also succeeded in cutting taxes. In 2007, Sanford’s advocacy resulted in the largest recurring tax cut in state history – totaling $221 million per year.
During his first five years as Governor, Sanford has advocated greater transparency in state government. He has put his office’s Executive Budget online; opened budget hearings and cabinet meetings to the public; signed a Campaign Finance Reform bill that imposes more stringent reporting and disclosure laws; and most recently he has signed an Executive Order requiring executive agencies to make their budgets available to the public.
Sanford received a B.A. in Business from Furman University. He later received an
MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and went on to
work in real estate finance and investment.
Jan Price Taylor earned her Bachelor of Science degree cum laude with a major in education from the University of Tennessee. Upon completion of her degree she followed two generations of women who pursued the teaching profession and taught in the Dekalb County, Georgia gifted program.
Leaving education to help parent a family of four children, Jan immersed herself in family, church and community projects, including serving as president of the Junior League and the Historic Park Commission of Newnan, Georgia.
Jan was instrumental in the reorganization of the Georgia M Day Christmas program, which benefits the mentally handicapped and played a major role in the development of the Newnan Crisis Pregnancy Center, where she also served as an emergency counselor for three years.
Jan has lobbied on the behalf of children and family at United Nations and is committee co-chair for Christian evangelism for Honduras Outreach Incorporated, an organization that aids the Honduran people in all aspects of life. She is currently a Vice-President with Beech Hill Group, Incorporated.
Jan and her husband, Ernest, have four children and three granddaughters, and reside in Newnan, Georgia.
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