A native of Weldon, Arkansas, Ann Florie received a BA in Political Science from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She is the Executive Director of Leadership Birmingham, a program that yearly brings together 45 civic and business leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the Birmingham area. Ms. Florie was previously the founding Executive Director of Region 2020, Inc., that led efforts to promote regional cooperation and citizen involvement in the areas of affordable housing, education, arts and culture, transportation and land use in a twelve-county area in Central Alabama.

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Chief A.C. Roper was born in Birmingham, Alabama where he is a graduate of the Birmingham public school system. He has over 24 years of law enforcement experience. He began his career with the Montgomery Police Department in 1985 where he was promoted to Corporal and served as a Patrol Officer, Academy Instructor and Recruiter. After more than three years away from home, he returned to live in Birmingham when he was hired by the Hoover Police Department. In Hoover, he was promoted through the ranks, culminating with his promotion to Assistant Chief of Police. In November 2007, Mayor Larry Langford appointed him as Birmingham’s thirty-third Chief of Police.

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Michael E. Fleenor, MD, MPH, FACP has served Health Officer (chief executive officer) of Jefferson County (AL) Department of Health since December 2001.

His present responsibilities at the Department include managing a $55 million dollar annual budget and administration of 7 primary care centers, 20 school health programs in addition to essential public health programs in disease control, environmental health and health promotion. In 2006 under his oversight, the Department of Health completed the first comprehensive community health needs assessment in its history and is using that “Road Map to Health” to forge a closer relationship in strategic health planning with the community.

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Dr. Neal Berte serves as President Emeritus of Birmingham-Southern College after serving as President for 28-1/2 years. Prior to his work with Birmingham-Southern, he was Dean of the New College and Vice President for Educational Development at the University of Alabama and also served as a Director in the Midwest Office of the College Entrance Examination Board, among other career experiences.

Dr. Berte holds designation as a Ford Foundation Scholar, Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, and Omicron Delta Kappa National Scholarship winner. He was named to the Alabama Academy of Honor as one of the youngest inductees ever.

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Drayton Nabers is a Shareholder of Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama in June 2004 by Governor Bob Riley.

Justice Nabers was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1962 and a law degree from Yale School of Law in 1965. After graduating from Yale, Justice Nabers served as a Law Clerk for U. S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He joined the law firm of Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas, and O'Neal in 1967 as an associate before becoming a partner in the firm in 1971.

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Drew Langloh has dedicated his career to the mission of serving the underserved through the United Way movement. This Arlington, Virginia native believes United Way is a ministry of service to others—its work is not only to help those in need but to help volunteers and donors fulfill their service needs by helping others.

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James McManus is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Energen Corporation. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Energen is a diversified energy company with two lines of business.

McManus has been with Energen since 1986 and has held numerous senior-level positions within the company. In 1997 he became President and COO of Energen Resources and, over the next decade, led the growth of the E&P company from a small niche player in coalbed methane development in Alabama to one of the top 20 independent oil and gas producers in the United States. Prior to joining Energen, he worked with Price Waterhouse Coopers.

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Kate Nielsen is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. She joined the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham as its first Development Officer in 1995 and has been its President since 2000.

Within the community foundation field, Nielsen has provided leadership that made the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham among the first to be certified in compliance with national standards.

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Thomas H. Brigham (Tommy) has been in real estate sales and development since his graduation from Emory & Henry College in 1974. He founded Brigham-Williams in 1982 and it quickly grew to be the third largest real estate company in Alabama. He merged Brigham-Williams with Johnson-Rast & Hays in 1998 to form Alabama largest real estate services company (including RealtySouth, TitleSouth, MortgageSouth and InsuranceSouth) and served as President and COO from 1998 to 2002. RealtySouth was sold in 2002 to HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and Mr. Brigham served as Chairman and CEO of RealtySouth from 2002 to 2007.

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Thomas Wilder is Alagasco’s Manager of Employee Development. In this role, he is responsible to developing, implementing, and managing Energen’s performance management process, tuition reimbursement program, diversity/organization development initiatives, nontechnical training programs for all employees, and the Department’s formal communication and activities tracking program.

Active in a number of civic and professional organizations, Thomas has served on the boards of the United Way of Central Alabama, the Shelby County Department of Human Resources, Girls Inc., the Birmingham Construction Industry Authority and United Cerebral Palsy.

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