Category: Past Speakers

Rev. W. Bry Shields is President of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, a position he has occupied since 1989. The school is currently engaged in a major building project, which will include a new Student Center on Lafayette Street. This project is the culmination of a Master Plan which has resulted in substantial additions and improvements to the campus over the last decade.
Fr. Shields is also Pastor of St. Ignatius Parish, and a Past President of the downtown Mobile Rotary Club. After graduating from Murphy High School in 1969, he completed his undergraduate education at Vanderbilt University, before going to Yale University for a degree in Theology. He also holds a Masters in Secondary Education and Administration from the University of South Alabama. He is married to Dr. Ruth Shields, and they have five grown children, and two grandsons.
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Nick Holmes III (Nick 3) was born in Mobile, Alabama and has lived here since birth. He graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science, Forestry in 1976 and then in 1978 with two additional degrees; a Bachelor of Science of Environment Design and a Bachelor of Architecture.
He has followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father. “The family Holmes has achieved a unique distinction. They are the only set of grandfather-father-son architects to have delineated drawings for the Historic American Building Survey (HABS)” (Labine, C., Traditional Buildings, 1990 Traditional Buildings July/August 1990 – Architecture In Their Genes). He has continued his grandfather and father’s interest in Historic Preservation, having served as Chairman, Historic Resources Committee, Alabama Council AIA, and as a member of the National AIA’s Committee on Historic Resources. He currently serves on the Architectural Review Board of the City of Mobile. In 2015 he received an Institutional Preservation Award from the Mobile Historic Development Commission for his work on Barton Academy.
He began working for his father in late 1978. In 1982 they formed the present partnership of Holmes & Holmes Architects. He obtained registration by National Council Registration Board examination in 1981 and is registered in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
He has two daughters, Kate Garrett and Clara Little. He is married to Virginia Howell Holmes, and actively participates in the lives of six grandchildren.
He is a member of the Rotary Club of Mobile.

Michael A. Finan, M.D.
BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Finan is the Cancer Center Director of the University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute. He served as the Residency Program Director for the Ochsner Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in New Orleans, until 2005 when he was recruited to Mobile, Alabama. Dr. Finan has been named one of the top Gynecologic Oncologists in the United States by U.S. News and World Report for several years. He is a co-investigator on a 1.3 million dollar NCI funded grant to study a new screening test for ovarian cancer, he is a co-inventor on 6 patents related to this ovarian cancer screening technology.

John S. Sledge is senior architectural historian for the Mobile Historic Development Commission and a member of the National Book Critics Circle. He holds a bachelor’s in history and Spanish from Auburn University and a master’s in historic preservation from Middle Tennessee State University. Sledge is the author of three books on Mobile’s historic architecture, as well as a collection of literary criticism, Southern Bound: A Gulf Coast Journalist on Books, Writers, and Literary Pilgrimages of the Heart, published by the University of South Carolina Press. He and his wife, Lynn, live in Fairhope, Alabama, half a mile from Mobile Bay.

Michael Chambers currently serves as District Governor. He has previously served as president of the Rotary Club of Mobile, Assistant Governor and District Chair of Global Grants. He has been awarded the Certificate of Meritorious Service by the Rotary Foundation, the Service Above Self Award by Rotary International and is a Paul Harris Fellow and Major Donor.
In 2000 he co-founded and served as CEO of InnoRx, an ocular drug delivery company that he sold in 2005 to SurModics (NASDAQ:SRDX). He previously served as chairman of the board of ProUroCare, a public company based in Minneapolis. In 2010 he founded Swift Biotech, a company developing screens for ovarian cancer.
In 2012 he founded the Gulf Coast Angel Network and co-founded in 2014 the entrepreneurship program known as 1702. He served in 2014 as the Chairman of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and was named that year as Alabama’s Start-Up Executive of the Year by Alabama LaunchPad. He serves on various corporate boards, as well as the EDPA and BioAlabama.
He received a B.A. and law degree from the University of Alabama, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship for studies in France and a Swiss Confederation Scholarship that led to a Ph.D. at the University of Geneva. He has been recognized as one of the Best Attorneys in the United States in Commercial Law, Arbitration and Mediation and as a Top Lawyer in health care.
He is married to Circuit Judge Rosemary Chambers. They have two daughters, Carmen and Camille, who both attended Yale University and are now in law school at Georgetown.
He was recently named to a newly created position at the University of South Alabama: Assistant Vice President for Research Innovation.

Keri Renee Coumanis is currently employed as an Assistant City Attorney with the City of Mobile, Alabama. Keri began her career in historic preservation and obtained a Master’s Degree in preservation from the Tulane School of Architecture. Upon graduation in 2001, she worked for two preservation-oriented non-profits in New Orleans (Preservation Resource Center and Felicity Street Redevelopment), and, subsequently, for the Alabama Historical Commission, the State of Alabama historic preservation office. Recognizing the strong correlation between successful historic preservation efforts, land use regulations and public policy, Keri began law school at the University of Alabama. Upon graduation in 2008, she began her career with the City of Mobile. There, she advises on legal matters related to urban planning, historic preservation and neighborhood revitalization. Keri drafts ordinance changes or statutory amendments necessary to implement policies that alleviate blight and encourage neighborhood revitalization.
Additionally, Keri undertakes all legal work necessary to attain marketable and clear title for properties held in the City’s land bank, as well as manages the selection, acquisition and disposition of the properties. Keri has also served as a staff attorney for the Mobile Historic Development Commission, Mobile Tree Commission, Downtown Development District, Architectural Review Board and HUD entitlement programs. Keri is a member of the Mayor’s Innovation Team, a Bloomberg Philanthropy Project, and the Mayor’s Deepwater Horizon settlement advisory team.

William Hanes and Kellie Hope – and the entire Downtown Parks Conservancy team – are passionate about serving their community, which includes a vibrant downtown parks system. Mobile is full of beautiful, well designed parks that simply need attention and buy-in from the community at large. The Downtown Parks Conservancy works with stakeholders to ensure that our parks are places create and foster community amongst guests and residents alike.”

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The Midtown Mobile Movement, Mobile, AL
Founding Member, July 2015–Present
Our mission is to create a more livable, walkable Midtown Mobile. We are dedicated to improving pedestrian friendly infrastructure, commercial amenities, and visual appeal.
Mobile Streets Alive, Mobile, AL
Coordinator, Aug 2014–Present
In 2014, successfully planned and executed Mobile’s first Open Streets event within eight weeks with over 1,000 participants in attendance by closing a portion of Downtown’s streets to automobile traffic and providing activities from yoga to kid’s bike races, live music, and local vendors for citizens to enjoy.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Ashley Dukes LLC, Mobile, AL
Owner, July 2012–Present
Provides small businesses with accounting services including financial statement compilations, payroll processing, bookkeeping, and payroll and sales tax returns.
Warner J. Gale, CPA, Mobile, AL
Manager, Sept 2009–June 2012
Deloitte & Touche LLP, Jacksonville, FL
Senior Audit Associate, Sept 2007–Sept 2009
EDUCATION
Master of Accountancy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS, Jan 2007
Bachelor of Accountancy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS, Aug 2001–Jan 2006
PERSONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Dauphin Way United Methodist Church, Finance and Budget Committee, 2015
Raise the Roof, Planning Committee, 2012
Young Leaders of United Way, Board Member and Volunteer Committee Chair, 2011

Danny White is a native of Alabama. He was raised in Millry, Alabama.
He got his Degree from the University of South Alabama 2001. He began working with youths right out of college. He was an At-risk educator/coordinator for a local Non-Profit program in town for 10 years before joining the Team Focus family. In 2004 he joined Team Focus as their Education Director, and in 2011 he became the Regional Director for the Mobile chapter of Team Focus. Mr. White has been married to Mrs. Jennifer White for 14 years and they have three beautiful children together: Dallas White, Andrew White, and Virginia Grace White.

Dr. Christopher Puto ’64 was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2003. He is a well-known leader in business education and has held management positions in the private sector. He most recently was the Dean and Opus Distinguished Chair of the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas. Prior to that, he served as Dean of the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Puto’s academic specialties are marketing strategy, consumer and managerial decision-making and advertising. He was the first person to receive a Ph.D. in business administration from Duke University. Puto has an M.B.A. from the University of Miami (Fla.) and a B.S. in economics from Spring Hill College. He has won several research and teaching awards, including the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Consumer Research Award for significant long-term contributions to consumer research, and the Anderson Consulting Professor of the Year at the University of Arizona.