Our Board of Directors & Other Members

Our Current Board

Shannon Cofield

Shannon Cofield is President of MercyOne Des Moines Foundation and collaborates on all philanthropic initiatives for MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, Mercy College of Health Sciences and House of Mercy. She is also Vice President, Philanthropy for the MercyOne Iowa system.

Previously, Shannon served as Chief of Staff to the President of Drake University and was also Senior Advisor of External Affairs, providing leadership to Drake's mission through the development of external facing activities in the central Iowa business community.

Before joining Drake, Shannon was the President and CEO of the United Way of Central Iowa. She had a 22-year career in the United Way system serving in three different communities.

Shannon was named one of the Top 12 "Dreamers and Doers" of the Decade from 2004-2014 by dsm magazine, and was also honored as a Woman of Influence in 2011. She serves on numerous community?boards.? Shannon earned her MBA from the University of Iowa in 2007.

Greg Dyer

Greg Dyer has worked in various aspects of the real estate industry for over 16 years. He is currently president of TenantTag, a Jacksonville-based company that focuses on property management software development. Greg graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in Economics and earned his MBA at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.

Anne Josey

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.

Jeff Shields

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.

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

Joseph W. Tombs has over 30 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 the University of Georgia, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Georgia State University, and Texas Tech University. Tombs also served for a time as an Associate Vice President of First Colony Life Insurance Company. He has developed a specialty in financial planning for the recipients of tort settlements and is a founding partner in Amicus Financial Advisors, LLP, and Tombs Maxwell, LLP. Tombs' education includes JD and MBA degrees from Texas Tech University. He also holds the CFP, ARM, RSP, CLU, and ChFC designations. He has served as President of the Society of Settlement Planners, Registry of Settlement Planners Board, and the South Plains Trial Lawyers Association.

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.

Steve Vansandt

Steve Vansandt has been a commercial and residential investor for more 50 years. A third-generation real estate investor, he currently owns over 20 residential and commercial properties throughout Jacksonville. Steve earned a bachelor's degree in business and minor in real estate from the University of North Florida, Jacksonville.

Brian M. Sagrestano (in memoriam)

https://www.snyderfuneralhome.com/obituary/brian-m-sagrestano-jd/

Past Board Members

Tirbod Fattahi

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 the 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.

Charles E. Gearing

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).

Greg Gryska

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.

Anne Paul Josey

Mark A. Newton

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.