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Furman board elects new trustees


Last updated April 21, 2015

By News administrator

Robert Hill, a 1983 Furman graduate, is chair of the Board of Trustees.

Robert Hill, a 1983 Furman graduate, is chair of the Board of Trustees.

Robert Hill, chair of the Furman University Board of Trustees, announced today that seven new trustees and one trustee emeritus have been elected to the board.

The new trustees are Kevin Bryant of Greenville, Kevin Byrne of Atlanta, Ga., Richard Cullen of Richmond, Va., Randy Eaddy of Winston-Salem, N.C., David Ellison of Greenville, James Ney of Atlanta, Ga., and Peace Sullivan of Miami Beach, Fla.  Robert Buckman of Memphis, Tenn., will be joining the board as trustee emeritus.

The new trustees will begin their terms July 1.  All have served previous terms on the board with the exception of Bryant and Byrne.

The bios for each of the trustees are below.  For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.

Kevin Bryant is Executive Vice President and Resident Managing Director of Aon Risk Service South, Inc., in Greenville.  Prior to that, he served as a principal in market sales for Mercer Health and Benefits, and was an employee benefits practice leader with Marsh and McLennan.  He graduated from Furman in 1985, and was a member of the Paladin basketball team.  He has served on the boards of the Commerce Club and Greenville International Business Center.  He has also been involved with the United Way of Greenville County and the United Way Greenville African American Leadership Council.

Robert Buckman served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Bulab Holdings, Inc., the holding company of Buckman Laboratories, from 1978 until his retirement in December 2000.  He is chairman of the board of Applied Knowledge Group, Inc., and chairman of Tioga Holdings, Inc.  He holds degrees from Purdue University, the University of Chicago and an honorary doctorate from North Carolina State University, Asbury Theological Seminary and Rhodes College.  He received Purdue University’s Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award in 2001.

Kevin Byrne is President and Chief Operating Officer of The University Financing Foundation in Atlanta.  He began his career with Arthur Andersen, and founded Byrne and Associates, a middle-market investment banking service provider.  A 1991 Furman graduate who earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, he has been a member of Furman’s Trustees Circle, Young Benefactors and the Heritage Society.  He currently serves as president of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Association of University Research Parks.

Richard Cullen is chairman of McGuireWoods LLP, a law firm with more than 900 lawyers and 18 offices in the United States and abroad.  He graduated from Furman in 1971 and earned a J.D. degree from the University of Richmond School of Law.  His public service assignments over the years include serving as counsel to the Senate Iran-Contra investigating committee in 1987.  He has served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (1991-93) and Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia (1997-98).  He has been appointed to a number of boards and commissions, including the Board of Visitors at Virginia Military Institute.

Randy Eaddy is a senior partner in the Corporate Department of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton law firm in Winston-Salem.  He graduated from Furman in 1976 and received his J. D. degree from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.  He currently serves on the boards of the Elon University School of Law, the Winston-Salem Arts Council and the Reynolda House Museum of American Art.  In 1999, he received the 1999 President’s Award from the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists in recognition of his contributions to the African American community.

David Ellison is a Wealth Management Advisor for Northwestern Mutual in Greenville and co-owner of an employee benefits firm.  He graduated from Furman in 1972 and earned a MBA degree from the Clemson-Furman program. He has been president of the Furman Alumni Association and the Paladin Club.  In 1992, he was elected to the Furman Athletic Hall of Fame.  He is a former trustee of the United Way of Greenville County, and is past chair of the YMCA Endowment Corporation.  He is currently a director of Southern First Bank, and serves on the United Way Worldwide Planned Giving Council.

James Ney is a 1964 Furman graduate and holds a J.D. degree from the University of Georgia Law School.  He is an attorney and partner with Holt, Ney, Zatcoff and Wasserman in Atlanta, a law firm he co-founded in 1984.  He was special assistant attorney general of the State of Georgia for three years, and presently serves as a special attorney general for the State of Ohio.  He has chaired the Real Estate section of the Atlanta Bar Association, and has been named one of “Best Lawyers in Atlanta” by Atlanta Magazine.  He is also the recipient of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce award for “Outstanding Community Service.”

Peace Sullivan graduated from Greenville High School and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and received her master’s degree in Social Work from Fordham University.  She practiced as a psychoanalyst in New York City, serving as director of development of the Training Institute for Mental Health, before moving to Miami Beach in 2005.  She has served on the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina as well as the Ackland Art Museum at the university.  She currently serves on the Graduate Education Advancement Board at UNC and on the board of the Fine Arts League of Asheville, N.C.

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