Tirbod Fattahi, MD, DDS, FACS is Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Florida College of Medicine, Chief of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery division, and Program Director of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency. A graduate of Howard University College of Dentistry, Washington, DC, Dr. Fattahi earned a medical degree from University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, where he also completed his residency training in oral and maxillofacial surgery. He then completed his fellowship in facial cosmetic surgery and maxillofacial and facial aesthetic surgery in Columbus, OH.

Greg Gryska graduated from the University of Alabama with a major in Insurance. He has worked for the past 23 years in various areas of employee benefits and is currently the President of AddOnBenefits, Inc., an Atlanta-based employee benefits and plan design group. His company specializes in helping companies communicate the value of employee benefit plans to current and prospective employees.

Jeff Shields is an executive director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where he is responsible for advising endowments, foundations and other institutional investors on a wide range of strategic and tactical investment opportunities, challenges and solutions.  He joined the firm in June 2013 from Watershed Asset Management, where he managed the investor relations effort since 2009.

Prior to joining Watershed, Jeff was a principal at Hall Capital Partners focusing on marketing the firm’s co-mingled alternative investment funds to private and institutional investors and their advisors and consultants.  He joined Hall Capital Partners in 2005 from U.S Trust Company where he was a member of the endowment and foundation group and responsible for the administration and investments for a wide range of planned gift management programs and multi-asset class mandates.  Before joining U.S. Trust in 2000, Jeff worked in the community foundation field at the Council on Foundations, The San Francisco Foundation, and the Peninsula Community Foundation. Previously, Jeff was a board member of the National Committee on Planned Giving and the Northern California Planned Giving Council (including board chair).  His other volunteer activities have included:  a member of the National Committee on Planned Giving’s Investment Committee; a member of the Community Foundation for the Napa Valley’s finance committee, co-chair of the professional advisory council at the Peninsula Community Foundation, and a member of the professional advisory councils of the East Bay Community Foundation, Asian Pacific Fund and Community Foundation Silicon Valley.

Jeff graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Joseph W. Tombs has 19 years of experience in various aspects of law and financial planning. He started his career as a tax and estate planning attorney with the law firm of Shannon, Porter, Johnson & Pfluger in San Angelo, Texas. He has served as a financial planning and insurance professor at four universities: University of Georgia, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Georgia State University and Texas Tech University. Tombs also has served as an Associate Vice President of First Colony Life Insurance Company and Director of Advanced Marketing at GE Financial Assurance. He has developed a specialty in financial planning for the recipients of tort settlements and is a founding partner in Amicus Financial Advisors, LLP.

Tombs’ education includes JD and MBA degrees from Texas Tech University. He also holds the CFP, ARM, CLU and ChFC designations. He is a member of the Society of Settlement Planners, the American Bar Association, the Financial Planning Association and the State Bar of Texas.

Charles E. Gearing graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and then went on to earn master’s and doctorate degrees from Purdue University. Gearing pursued a career in higher education, serving in various academic and administrative roles at Auburn University, Purdue University, University of North Carolina, Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey), Dartmouth University, State University of New York, Binghamton, before returning to Georgia Tech, where he served as Dean of the College of Management and Associate Vice-president for Development. In his latter role, Gearing supervised a 45-member fund-raising staff during a highly successful $200 million capital campaign. He retired from Georgia Tech as Professor Emeritus in 1991.

After his retirement from Georgia Tech, Gearing served four years as director of stewardship development with The Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. Since 1991, he has served as a stewardship consultant with the Episcopal Church Center, and as a field representative of the Episcopal Church Foundation. In 1999 he was appointed as Director of Diocesan Programs for the Episcopal Church Foundation, and in that capacity he assists dioceses across the country in developing their planned giving programs. He is a co-author of the Foundation’s manual, Funding Future Ministry: A comprehensive guide for church leaders to encourage planned gifts in support of Christian ministries, and has recently completed a companion manual, A Diocesan Gift Planning Program: Guidelines for Success. Outside the Episcopal Church, Gearing has served in leadership and development roles in several non-profit organizations, such as Nicholas House, Jerusalem House, Memorial Society of Georgia, and the Alzheimer’s Association (where he currently serves as Chairman of the Endowment Fund).

Anne Paul Josey graduated from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia with a bachelor’s of Arts degree in French and Political Science. She also studied at the Institute of European Studies in Paris and the Williamsburg Development Institute in Virginia. Josey has worked in various positions in the non-profit sector including the American Heart Association, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta and the Atlanta Ballet. She is currently the Executive Director of CLICK, a literacy program in Newnan, Georgia.

Mark A. Newton graduated from the University of Georgia where he majored in Risk Management and Insurance and a concentration in Estate Management. After graduation, Newton worked for one year with an insurance planning firm based in Atlanta. The following year, he founded Asbury Newton, Inc.

Before entering the structured settlement profession, Newton assisted affluent families and senior executives of leading public and private corporations with critical estate, insurance and cash flow planning. He has been quoted in national publications and has co-authored a study on annuities that was published nationally.