Ann Thornton Field is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation, Tort & Product Liability, Agricultural Chem & Pesticides, and Aviation Groups.

Ann’s practice includes representation of corporations in contract and products litigation both as plaintiff and defense counsel. She has tried numerous cases to verdict both in Philadelphia’s notorious state court system and the state and federal courts in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Georgia, to name a few. She has appeared in cases as trial counsel in numerous other matters throughout the U.S., from Oregon to Florida, and the U.K.

Ann's aviation practice has covered the full scope of the aviation industry, including aircraft and component part manufacturers, fixed base operators, airlines, municipal airport owners and operators, industrial aircraft owners and the estates of persons injured in aircraft accidents.

Ann is involved in her local community where she serves as Chair of the Board of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania; is on the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Police Foundation; on the Board of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Federal Court’s Historical Society; is Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee; and is on the Temple University Fox School of Business Board of Visitors.

Nationally, Ann is a Trustee of the National Judicial College and is on the Board of the International Aviation Woman’s Association. She is a frequent speaker on issues related to trial tactics across the country.

Prior to joining Gordon & Rees, Field was a partner at Cozen O’Connor and served on that firm’s Executive Committee and as Chair of the General Litigation Department.

Dr. Betsy Rogers (Education, ’74, M.Ed. ’98, Ed.S. ’00, Ed.D. ’02) is professor and chair of the teacher education department at Samford University. Prior to coming to Samford, Rogers served as a classroom teacher for almost 30 years, during in which she was selected as National Teacher of the Year due to her ability to reach all students regardless of family or economic situation. Recognizing all children learn differently, she utilized a variety of methods and materials to promote meaningful learning and social cooperation. After receiving the award from President George W. Bush at The White House, she embarked on a year-long national and international speaking tour representing her profession as she discussed issues of equitable education funding. Following her tour, Rogers joined the staff at the “neediest school” in Jefferson County where, under her leadership, the school began meeting its yearly progress standards. After her work there, this lifelong educator joined the faculty at Samford which enables her to give back to the profession she holds dear by training the next generation of teachers.

Beverly Poole Baker, a graduate of Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, is the chief diversity officer for Ogletree Deakins and practices alternative dispute resolution (ADR). She was previously a city prosecutor for four years and has a long list of professional accomplishments and affiliations, including: listings in Best Lawyers in America 2008 through 2010; a fellow at the Alabama Law Foundation and the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers; appointment to the Alabama State Bar Professional Support Initiative by the state’s chief justice; former member of the ABA Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession; and former co-chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee and former council member of the ABA Litigation Section.

Caroline has dedicated her life to international development and education for marginalized people. She serves presently as a development and monitoring officer in Sindh, Pakistan with an NGO dedicated to women’s empowerment and education. She is entirely dedicated to high level graduate work, and thereafter to leading effective educational programs for marginalized communities in the developing world.

As a senior Brock Scholar, Caroline’s senior research thesis was outstanding, involving experimental research and randomized controlled trials in the education sector, and was presented nationally at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (2012).

Caroline has unusual potential for high level leadership, and demonstrated incredible leadership competence through important work on our debate team, Academic Integrity Council, Amnesty International, Student Government Association, and University Ministries. These proven characteristics earned Caroline some of the very top academic and leadership honors during her time at Samford, including membership in Theta Alpha Kappa Religion honor society, Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society, a Presidential Scholarship, and inclusion in our Preministerial Scholars and Brock Scholars academic honors programs. Importantly, Caroline received the top award given to the most outstanding senior in the graduating class, the John C. Pittman Spirit Award. She was a beloved student, and many of our faculty now follow her blog and emails from Pakistan closely.

Her work with Make Way Partners (Darfur, 2009), London City Mission (London, 2010), Love the Children Orphanage (Philippines, 2010), Food for the Hungry (Washington, D.C., 2011), and her ministries in rural Alabama focused on social justice and poverty eradication (Alabama, 2011-2012) all have prepared her in important ways.

Carolyn Maull McKinstry is an associate minister at Trinity Baptist Church in Birmingham. McKinstry’s book, While the World Watched, tells the story of her life growing up in Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement. She is an alumna of Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama. Professionally, she served as the SR Program Manager for the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative (SRBWI), a Ford and Casey funded initiative. The SRBWI spans the boundaries of the black belt in Alabama, Southwest Georgia, and the Mississippi Delta. The mission of the SRBWI is the attainment of economic and social justice for rural women. McKinstry served for 10 years as president of the board of directors of the Sixteenth Street Foundation, Inc. whose mission was the ongoing maintenance of the historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church facility. McKinstry has served as second vice president and program committee chair for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for the last six years, along with numerous other volunteer and community organizations. McKinstry is a member of the Samford University Board of Overseers and the Beeson Divinity School Advisory Board. She received her masters of divinity in 2008 and an honorary D.D. in 2013.

Dr. Catherine Henderson began her professional career as a community pharmacist at The Medicine Shoppe in Decatur, Alabama. In 2011, she moved to The Pill Box Pharmacy, also in Decatur, and started a compounded anti-aging skincare line called SimplySkin Rx. Dr. Henderson currently serves as president of SimplySkin Rx and is certified in non-sterile and sterile compounding and has been in charge of attaining PCAB accreditation for The Pill Box Pharmacy. She is currently pursuing a fellowship from the American Academy of Anti-Aging, Functional and Regenerative Medicine and she remains active in APA and the Advisory Board for McWhorter School of Pharmacy. The focus of her practice is to hold herself and the pharmacy to a standard of excellence and to empower patients to achieve better health through lifestyle changes and proper use of prescription medications. She received her Pharm.D. from Samford in 2009.

Connie Henke Yarbro, MS, RN, FAAN, is an internationally known leader and lecturer in oncology nursing and currently serves as an adjunct clinical associate professor, Sinclair School of Nursing at the University of Missouri-Columbia. One of the founders of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) in 1975, she served as the first treasurer and, later, president of the ONS. In 1981, she founded the ONS Foundation serving as president from 1982–1988. She is the past president of the International Society for Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC) and she has served on numerous boards and advisory panels, including: the board of trustees for the Association of Community Cancer Centers, the American Association for Cancer Education, the Medical Advisory Board of CancerSource.com, the Board of Directors for the Center for Biomedical Continuing Education, the Alternative and Complementary Methods of Cancer Management Committee of the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Pharmacopeia,

A prolific writer, Yarbro has published more than100 articles and a book chapter on topics related to cancer nursing and care. She is editor-in-chief of the journal, Seminars in Oncology Nursing, and she is one of the three editors of the comprehensive textbook of oncology nursing, Cancer Nursing: Principles and Practice (7th ed.), Cancer Symptom Management (3rd ed.), Oncology Nursing Review (5th ed.), Breast Cancer Certification Review, and co-editor of Oncology Nursing in the Ambulatory Setting and Cancer Pain Management (2nd ed.). She has received numerous local, national, and international awards, such as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ONS, Distinguished Merit Award from the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and membership in Sigma Theta Tau International. She received her BSN from Samford in 1979.

American soprano Elizabeth Futral has established herself as one of the world's leading sopranos. With her stunning vocalism and vast dramatic range, she has embraced a repertoire that ranges from the Baroque to world premieres.

During the 2013/2014 season Futral explores an array of diverse repertoire. She creates two world premiere roles: Vera Donovan in Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne with the San Francisco Opera, and Alice B. Toklas in Ricky Ian Gordon's 27 for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She will add a Strauss role to her repertoire with Zdenka in Strauss' Arabella with the Minnesota Opera, as well as return to a repertoire favorite, Lucia di Lammermoor with Portland Opera. American music theatre is featured in her season with a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Baroness Elsa Schraeder in The Sound of Music, and to the Houston Grand Opera as Desirée Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. With Chicago's Music of the Baroque she performs Haydn's The Creation led by Jane Glover at Chicago's Harris Theater and the La Jolla Music Society.

Futral sang Marian Paroo in The Music Man at Glimmerglass Opera and the title role of Saariaho’s Émilie for the Lincoln Center Festival during the summer of 2012, both receiving wide critical acclaim. She traveled with Glimmerglass to the Royal Opera House in Muscat, and returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Musetta in La bohème, to the New York Philharmonic for their CONTACT! Series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Symphony Space, performed Stephen Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn with the Grand Rapids Symphony, performed Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen, BWV 51 and Non sa che sia dolore, BWV 209 with the Washington Bach Consort, and more Bach with Music@Menlo.

A native of Louisiana, Futral studied with Virginia Zeani at Indiana University. She joined the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, won the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions in 1991 and was catapulted to stardom with critically acclaimed performances of Delibes' Lakmé at the New York City Opera in 1994. Career milestones soon followed, cementing her star status: a win in Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition, the title role in Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran in Pesaro, her debut at the San Francisco Opera as Stella in the world premiere of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, and her Metropolitan Opera debut in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Since that time she has returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Princess Eudoxie in a new production of La Juive, Princess Yeuyang in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor, Elvira in I Puritani, and additional performances of Lucia. With the Lyric Opera of Chicago she has sung a vast range of roles including Cunegonde in Candide, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Handel’s Partenope, La Traviata, and The Merry Widow. She has notable relationships with the Washington, Houston, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, New York City, Vancouver, and Minnesota opera companies. Internationally, she has been heard at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Theater an der Wien, the Grand Theatre de Genève, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Hamburg Staatsoper.

Futral debuted with the New York Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 under Zubin Mehta and has returned there for Handel’s Messiah with Sir Neville Marriner and Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with Sir Colin Davis. Other orchestral highlights include Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony, To Be Certain of the Dawnwith Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra, the Brahms Requiem with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, arias and duets with Placido Domingo and the Chicago Symphony led by Daniel Barenboim, and a New Year’s Eve Gala with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic.

In demand for contemporary repertoire, Futral has sung the world premieres of Andre Previn’s Brief Encounter at the Houston Grand Opera, Philip Glass’s Orphée for the American Repertory Theatre, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice for Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Dominic Argento’s Evensong: Of Love and Angels at the National Cathedral, and Stephen Paulus’ Three Poems of Dylan Thomas with the Tucson Symphony. Other notable performances include concerts and recording of Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn with the Minnesota Orchestra and Osma Vänskä, Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall and Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men at the Houston Grand Opera.

Futral’s most recent recording release is Colors of Feeling—Music of Philip Lasser, which followed Previn’s Brief Encounter on Deutsche Grammophon. Other operatic recordings include A Streetcar Named Desire and Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges for Deutsche Grammophon, Rossini's Otello and Zelmira, Pacini's Carlo di Borgogna for Opera Rara, Lucia di Lammermoor for Chandos as part of their “Opera in English” series, Of Mice and Men on Albany Records, Six Characters in Search of An Author on New World Records, and Philip Glass's chamber opera Hydrogen Jukebox for Euphorbia Records.

Additional recordings include a solo aria recital for Chandos’s Opera in English series, Mozart The Supreme Decorator, a collection of arias by Mozart and CPE Bach on Opera Rara, Sweethearts, a collection of operetta favorites on Newport Classics, Solo Bach Cantatas with the Washington Bach Consort for Lyrichord Discs, Argento’s Evensong with the Cathedral Choral Society for Gothic Records, Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn on BIS records, and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice.

Futral appears as Elvira in Kasper Holten’s film Juan a modern retelling of Don Giovanni. Other DVD releases include Tan Dun’s The First Emperor on EMI and A Streetcar Named Desire on Image Entertainment.

Gayla J. Delly has been chief executive officer of Benchmark Electronics Inc. since January 1, 2012, and has been its President since December 21, 2006.  Delly served as the principal accounting officer and treasurer of Benchmark Electronics Inc., until December 21, 2006, chief financial officer from May 2001 to December 21, 2006, executive vice president from September 16, 2004 to December 21, 2006, vice president of finance from November 2000 to September 2004.

Delly also served as its treasurer and controller from January 1996 to January 2002. From 1984 to 1995, she served as Senior Audit Manager of KPMG LLP. Delly has been a director of Benchmark Electronics Inc., since November 8, 2011.

She has served as a director of Flowserve Corp. since January 1, 2008. Delly served as an independent director of Power-One Inc. from March 24, 2005, to November 14, 2008. Delly is a certified public accountant. She holds degree in accounting from Samford University Birmingham Alabama.

She lives in the Houston, Texas area with her spouse, Patrick and 2 daughters – a sophomore in high school and a senior at Auburn University!

Ida Vines Moffett was one of the most beloved and influential Alabamians in the health profession. As a nurse for more than 70 years, she was a gifted healer whose touch could transform a patient's health. She spent most of that time at the executive level of the Baptist Hospital system based in Birmingham. She blended roles as clinical nurse administrator with her leadership in nurse education. But she never gave up her passions: comforting desperately sick people and raising the standard of their care.

After graduating from high school and encouraged by public health nurses in her rural community of Jefferson County, she enrolled in the Birmingham Baptist Hospital School of Nursing. As part of her training, Ida immediately began work as a bedside nurse. After completing the required 1,095 days of hands-on training, Ida passed the state examination and became registered nurse number 1830 in Alabama on June 3, 1926. She worked in a physician's office and served as a private duty nurse at Baptist Hospital. Local physicians arranged for her to go away for a year's post-graduate study. She trained in orthopedic nursing at the University of Iowa Hospital and then studied surgical nursing at the University of Cincinnati. Back in Birmingham in June of 1928, she became operating room supervisor for Birmingham Baptist Hospital, serving until her marriage to Howard D. Moffett on June 29, 1929. She returned to Birmingham in 1934 as head nurse of the second branch of Baptist Hospital, the Highland Avenue Baptist Hospital.

Moffett dedicated her life to providing quality care and creating standardized nursing education. A pioneer in setting standards for healthcare, she became the first woman involved in achieving school accreditation in Alabama. Halfway through her career, the Baptist Hospital nursing school was named The Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing in recognition or her contributions to Alabama's healthcare profession.

Having presided over the graduation and licensing of more than 4,000 nurses, and having led the major health care professional organizations of the state, she made an indelible mark on an industry. Her character, wit, common sense, and passionate love for sick people captured the hearts of patients and professionals. So persuasive and pervasive was she that nurses everywhere continue to promote her ideals. She died at Montclair Baptist Hospital November 17, 1996 from heart failure.

The Rev. Jennifer Danielle Crumpton (JMC ’96) is vice president of strategic partnerships for the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD), a non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. ICRD utilizes religious reconciliation in international diplomatic efforts to prevent and resolve identity-based and ethnic/tribal violent extremism and conflict. She created Femmevangelical.com, a forum for professional women to nurture spiritual growth while examining the effects of religion, politics, economics and culture on the everyday lives of women and the push for full equality. She is a contributing author to the recent book A New Evangelical Manifesto and the Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith. She contributes a bi-monthly religion and politics radio segment on Fairness Radio and writes Femmevangelical columns for Patheos and the Huffington Post. Her latest book, Femmevangelical: The Modern Girl's Guide to Good News, will be released this summer/fall. Crumpton, who is based in New York City, is an ordained minister and pastoral associate of Park Avenue Christian Church. And as a media commentator on faith and politics, she has been seen on Fox News Live, CNN’s Headline News, and Fox and Friends.

Julia Barron is the founding mother of Howard College. Julia Tarrant Barron played an important role in Alabama Baptist history. She was born in South Carolina but moved with her family to the Alabama Territory at a young age. In 1828 she married William Barron, a prosperous businessman in Perry County. About a year later, Barron gave birth to their only son, John Thomas Barron. William died in 1832, leaving Barron with a large estate.

Barron became one of the wealthiest women in Marion. She was well respected among the community and a prominent member of Siloam Baptist Church. Although little is actually known of Barron's specific church work, in 1840 Hosea Holcomb, a Baptist Historian, described the women of Siloam Baptist Church as, “precious ones of the earth—such as an Apostle would commend: they follow Jesus, ministering unto him—and ‘have been succourers of many, and of myself also. ‘”

In 1838 Barron invited General E. D. King and other Baptist leaders to her home to discuss organizing a Baptist school for young ladies. That year, she rented a building for the school and invited the newly elected school president Dr. Milo P. Jewett and his wife to stay with her free of charge. The school opened as the Judson Female Institute in 1839 with Barron’s son, John Thomas, enrolled as one of the “young ladies.”

1n 1841, James H. DeVotie, the pastor at Siloam Baptist Church, is believed to have discussed the idea of starting a college for men with Barron and other Baptist leaders. Although the specifics of her role in the founding of Howard College is not known, she is believed to have taken part in recruiting Samuel Sterling Sherman as the college’s first president and is credited with being at the head of the donors list. The Alabama Baptist, a newspaper she co-founded, credits her as being the first donor to the new school.

Chief Judge Karon Bowdre began her tenure as Chief Judge on November 18, 2013, having served on the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Alabama since November, 2001. Since her appointment, Judge Bowdre has presided over several high-profile trials, including ones involving public corruption and securities fraud. She currently presides over the Northern District of Alabama’s Court Assisted Reentry Program, which is designed to help criminal defendants succeed as they return to the community.

Prior to her appointment, she was Professor of Law and Director of Legal Research and Writing at Cumberland School of Law. She also practiced civil litigation with Rives & Peterson after a federal judicial clerkship with Judge Foy Guin, Northern District of Alabama. She graduated from Cumberland cum laude and received her bachelor’s degree from Samford University cum laude.

Dr. Kristin Begley (Pharm.D., ’00) is a founding member and the VP Strategic Initiatives and Sales at Truveris Inc. She is responsible for sales and strategic initiatives utilizing cloud based technology to facilitate transparency in pharmacy benefit management. Truveris simplifies the complexities of pharmacy financial management and has the only independent (non-PBM owned) pharmacy claims adjudication engine in the U.S. Truveris was named by Lazard Capital Markets as “2013's most disruptive private company in managed care and healthcare IT." Prior to Truveris, Dr. Begley led Hewitt's National Pharmacy Practice where she designed key strategic initiatives in pharmacy benefit management for FORTUNE 500 employers. She consulted on a wide variety of pharmacy benefits issues with particular emphasis on financial management, evidence based benefit strategy and design, biotech/pharmacogenomics, and vendor evaluation. Dr. Begley's experiences include clinical and analytical roles in inpatient and outpatient settings, managed care areas, and consulting. She also completed a residency in managed care at McWhorter School of Pharmacy affording her the opportunity to work with Alabama Medicaid and The Oath Health Plan (HMO). Prior to that, Dr. Begley researched, summarized and wrote Web postings on current events in managed care with a strong health economics and drug therapy management focus for drugfacts.com. These roles allowed her to identify areas of opportunity for cost containment and improved member services. Dr. Begley earned her Doctorate in Pharmacy from McWhorter School of Pharmacy at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

Laura Gessner Kelly is chief product officer at D&B. She is also a member of D&B's global leadership team. In her role, Kelly is responsible for the company’s global product portfolios including the development and execution of D&B’s future product strategy.

Prior to joining D&B in 2013, Kelly was senior vice president and general manager of the Americas at American Express, as well as served as their leader for global new product development. In that role, she managed a large P&L and led the company into new markets and expanded geographic and product depth by launching 14 products globally within eight months. She is also the architect and led the launch of “Bluebird,” a partnership with Walmart, to deliver a checking and debit alternative for Walmart customers. Kelly’s innovations have resulted in a number of industry accolades, the most recent of which was her 2013 selection as one of the most influential women in payments.

Kelly has spent over 20 years in senior leadership roles, enabling business growth through senior strategy, financial, product development and marketing positions. Previously, Kelly was executive vice president, Global Prepaid Product Solutions at MasterCard Worldwide where she architected and executed its successful global prepaid strategy resulting in earning MasterCard seven of the world’s largest prepaid opportunities. Earlier roles included senior vice president and chief operating officer at Southwest Business Corporation, Consultancy Practice Leader—Strategy, Process Re-engineering and Performance Management at The Concours’ Group, and vice president, Alliance Management and Product Development at USAA.

Early in her career, Kelly served the United States as an active duty and later reserve officer in the Air Force, where she also held progressively responsible financial leadership positions. She holds a bachelor's degree from Samford University and an MBA from Auburn University as well as a C.P.A license and a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designation.

Leigh Ann Pusey is the president and CEO of the American Insurance Association (AIA). She oversees the organization’s operations and works directly with AIA’s Board of Directors to develop and guide the strategic mission of the association. AIA is the leading property-casualty insurance trade organization, representing 350 insurers that write more than $123 billion in premiums each year.

A veteran of the insurance industry, Pusey joined AIA in December 1996 and was elevated to president and CEO in February 2009. Previously she served as chief operating officer and senior vice president of government affairs where she was responsible for the association’s government affairs department and AIA’s interests before Congress and state legislatures on all matters of importance to the property-casualty industry. She began her tenure with the association as senior vice president for public affairs.

Recognizing her prominence and leadership within the industry, Business Insurance Magazine has listed Pusey among their “Women to Watch” and Treasury and Risk Management Magazine named her to its “100 Most Influential People in Finance.” In addition, Pusey is consistently recognized by The Hill publication as one of the top lobbyists in Washington, D.C. and in 2012 she was named by National Journal as one of the 25 “Most Influential Women in Washington.” She is frequently quoted in the news media and consulted by policy makers and Wall Street for her views on issues facing the property-casualty industry.

In addition to her role as CEO, Pusey also serves in various capacities for a number of organizations, including as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Committee of 100, and board member of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Business Industry Political Action Committee’s (BIPAC) Prosperity Fund, and the Bryce Harlow Foundation.

Prior to AIA, Pusey held a number of influential positions in Washington D.C. She was the deputy assistant to President George H.W. Bush for the White House Office of Public Liaison; communications coordinator for U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), and deputy director of communications for the Republican National Committee. Pusey is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and their two children.

Linda Whitlow Knight is a member of Gullett Sanford Robinson & Martin PLLC, where her practice areas include bankruptcy law, commercial law and litigation, and general business law. Knight has experience in business and consumer bankruptcies, representing secured and unsecured creditors, committees, business debtors, trustees, defendants in avoidance actions and other bankruptcy litigation, and purchasers of assets. She is experienced in non-bankruptcy workouts. Knight also defends title insurance claims.

She has produced and spoken at numerous continuing legal education programs. Knight was a law clerk to Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Frank F. Drowota. She is a member of the American (Section on Litigation), Tennessee (Bankruptcy Section) and Nashville (past Secretary; Bankruptcy Court Committee, Appellate Practice and Federal Court Committees; member and past chair, Continuing Legal Education Committee and recipient of CLE Excellence Award in 2005) and Federal Bar Associations, a fellow of the American, Tennessee (Board Member; IOLTA Grant Committee) and Nashville Bar Foundations, and a special member of the Alabama State Bar. She is a member and past chair of the Bench-Bar Relations Committee of the Tennessee Judicial Conference, director and newsletter editor of the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society, and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and Turnaround Management Association. Knight is also a member of the Nashville Lawyers' Association for Women and past President and current treasurer of the Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women. She is a past hearing panel member for the Board of Professional Responsibility. From 2006 through 2010, she was a founding member of the Tennessee Ethics Commission, appointed by the Speaker of the House. From 1998 to 2004, she served on the Tennessee Economic Council on Women, appointed by the governor, and was secretary during her entire tenure.

Knight earned her B.A., cum laude, from Vanderbilt University and J.D., magna cum laude, from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law.

Marcella Auerbach is a managing partner at Nolan Auerbach & White. She is a former federal prosecutor who spent more than twenty-five years at the United States Department of Justice. Auerbach has extensive experience prosecuting corporate providers for healthcare fraud, Anti-kickback and Stark Law violations, FDA violations, and Medicare fraud. She has won multi-million dollar recoveries under the False Claims Act and has successfully represented employees in whistleblower protection and other whistleblower-related actions against their employers.

Auerbach is an experienced litigator who served in a wide variety of leadership roles at the United States Department of Justice. She spent eight years in the Civil Division where she represented the federal government in healthcare fraud qui tam cases in the Southern District of Florida. As First Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Auerbach managed, directed, and supervised 210 attorneys in the criminal and civil divisions, worked directly with every federal agency, and was involved in all stages of criminal and civil prosecutions and forfeitures. Auerbach also supervised and spearheaded a large number of prosecutions as Chief of Narcotics, Special Counsel to the United States Attorney, and a Special Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice. Auerbach received numerous awards during her tenure at the United States Department of Justice, including the John Marshall Award for outstanding litigation work, the Law Enforcement Woman of the Year Award and numerous special commendations from Attorney Generals of the United States.

Auerbach is a sought after speaker who has led numerous panel discussions and training conferences for attorneys, federal and state prosecutors, and federal agents on topics such as healthcare fraud, investigative techniques, and federal court and trial advocacy. She has lectured at the Department of Justice Advocacy Institute and University of Miami Law School and has moderated and appeared on numerous panels and at Taxpayers Against Fraud conferences as well as the Southern Health Care Fraud Institute.

Auerbach has worked pro bono on many domestic violence and abuse cases, including the “Put Something Back” and “Lawyers Care” programs. She also has worked on the Florida Bar Hurricane Disaster Project on a pro bono basis.

Auerbach earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Miami, a juris doctor degree from Samford Law School, and a master of laws degree from New York University.

Taxpayers Against Fraud, an organization devoted to combating fraud against the Federal Government, has named Marcella Auerbach and her partner Ken Nolan as Lawyers of the Year for 2011. Auerbach was also selected for inclusion in the 2012 Top Rated Lawyers Guide to Health Care Law. Auerbach has a Martindale-Hubbell attorney rating of “AV,” and is included in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.

Rep. Martha Roby (ROH-bee) is currently in her second term serving the people of Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to being elected to Congress, Roby worked as an attorney and served as a city councilman in her hometown of Montgomery.

In the House, Roby has been a forceful advocate for cutting wasteful spending to balance the budget, reducing the national debt, and eliminating bureaucratic red tape that limits the private sector’s ability to get Americans back to work. In December of 2013, Roby was honored to receive a spot on the prestigious House Committee on Appropriations which has oversight on the whole range of government spending. Roby is the first representative from the 2nd District to serve on the key congressional committee.

Her distinction as a leader was apparent early upon going to Capitol Hill, as Republican leaders selected Roby as one of only four freshman Members to serve on the Majority Transition Team. Prior to her move to the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Roby served as chairman of a subcommittee on military oversight and investigations, a rare honor for a second term Member of Congress.

Roby obtained a Bachelor of Music degree from New York University in 1998 and her law degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in 2001. Prior to her entry into public service, she practiced law at Copeland, Franco, Screws & Gill, P.A. and remains a member in good standing with the Alabama and Mississippi bar associations.

Roby is married to Riley Roby and they have two children, Margaret and George. The Robys are members of Trinity Presbyterian Church, where they are involved in various ministries.

Roby graduated from Cumberland School of Law ’01, and was elected as a Member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Alabama in 2010.

Nina Miglionico (’33) served as president of the national Association of Women Lawyers and served on the U.S. president’s Commission on the Status of Women. She was the first woman elected to the Birmigham City Council and served for 22 years, through some of the key years of the civil rights era. A longtime champion of civil rights for women and minorities, she defied the Ku Klux Klan on many occasions, including in her vote to desegregate Birmingham’s city parks.

Sylvia Rayfield, MN, RN, CNS, is an internationally known nurse educator, entrepreneur, and business leader who currently serves as a consultant to many universities and community colleges nationwide. She is well known for providing positive direction and motivation to nursing programs seeking to improve NCLEX outcomes. Rayfield’s expertise includes nursing practice, education, management, and faculty development. Known for her ability to motivate individuals to achieve personal greatness, she is a frequent speaker at nursing conventions and on college campuses. The founder of Sylvia Rayfield & Associates, Inc., she continues to serve as the Chairwoman of the Board. Rayfield is the retired executive director and principal of ICAN Publishing, Inc. and president of Pathways, Inc. Her experience includes, developing, marketing, and distributing books. She has authored or coauthored a number of books, including: Pathways of Teaching Nursing: Keeping it Real, Nursing Made Insanely Easy, Pharmacology Made Insanely Easy, NCLEX-RN^® 101: How to Pass! and NCLEX-PN 101 How to Pass!. She has held tenured appointments at Northwestern State University in Shreveport, Louisiana, and The University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia. Other professional activities include consultation for the National Endowment of Humanities, an accreditation visitor for the National League for Nursing and a National League of Nursing Board Member. A 1959 graduate of Samford University, Rayfield currently serves as a member on the Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing Advisory Board. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Ida V. Moffett Living Legacy Award and the School of Nursing’s Courage to Care Award.

Sylvia Young, a 27-year veteran of hospital administration, was appointed president and chief executive officer of HCA Continental Division and HCA-HealthONE LLC in June 2012. Before her appointment to the Denver-based Division headquarters, Young had been President of HCA’s Sunrise Health System, which includes Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Sunrise Children’s Hospital, MountainView Hospital and Southern Hills Hospital in addition to four ambulatory surgery centers in Las Vegas.

From 1998 until 2007, Young served as chief executive officer of The Medical Center of Aurora and Centennial Medical Plaza, a three-campus hospital that includes a Level II trauma center, two emergency departments, four outpatient imaging centers and 20 operating suites. From 1995 to 1998, Young served as chief operating officer of HealthONE’s The Medical Center of Aurora, a two-campus hospital. Young began her career in hospital administration in 1985. In 2009, she was recognized nationally by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the “Top 25 Women in Healthcare in the U.S.” Young was named one of the 10 “Power Women of Nevada” by Nevada Business Magazine in 2012. Young currently serves on the board of Colorado Concern, Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. She has a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Alabama, Birmingham and a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Samford University in Birmingham. She and her husband, Dr. David Young, have two daughters.

Dr. Wanda Seay Lee, DPS, RN, is the executive director for Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), the premier woman’s missionary support organization in America. Having served as the president of WMU prior to her appointment as the CEO, she is the first woman in WMU history to hold both positions. Described as a servant leader, Dr. Lee has served as a missionary nurse and worked to support missions education as well as efforts to engage people in a missions lifestyle to future generations. During Dr. Lee’s tenure as WMU’s executive director a number of initiatives have taken place: launched MissionsFEST and FamilyFEST, a hands-on missions opportunities that resulted in over 5,000 volunteers providing community service; Children’s Ministry Day, an opportunity for children to serve and witness in their communities; expanded Pure Water, Pure Love, a ministry providing water filters to missionaries that now provides for drilling wells in villages around the world; extended Christian Women’s Job Corps to include Christian Men’s Job Corps as a ministry to equip men and women, in a Christian context, for life and employment and empowered the growth of WorldCrafts, a fair trade ministry, to more than 350 products crafted by over 70 artisan groups providing sustainable income for impoverished people throughout the world. In recognition of Dr. Lee’s leadership, the WMU Joy Fund was renamed the Wanda Lee Joy Fund in honor of her 10th anniversary as executive director of national WMU in 2010. Dr. Lee has written two books; Live the Call: Embrace God’s Design for Your Life, published in 2006 and most recently, The Story Lives On: God’s Power Throughout Generations, providing stories of past and present individuals and groups who have had an impact for Christ in places of human hopelessness. Described as a leader “for such a time as this,” Dr. Lee has modeled leadership and service with humility, grace, courage, and joy. She is a 1969 graduate of Samford University.