Lebanon, Tenn. – In a special called meeting Thursday, Cumberland University’s Board of Trust welcomed a half-dozen new members to its ranks, electing prominent business leaders and a pair of CU grads to serve as Board members.
“Cumberland University is proud to welcome these outstanding men and women to the Board of Trust,” Dr. Edward L. Thackston, Chairman of the CU Board of Trust, said. “These six people have been highly successful in their respective fields. They bring a great deal of knowledge and expertise to the Board, and they’re enthusiastic about Cumberland University’s prospects for the future.”
The newly elected Cumberland University Board of Trust members are:
• Vince Cherry, Chief Executive Officer, University Medical Center (Lebanon)
• Jacqueline West Cowden (A.A., Cumberland College of Tennessee, 1975; M.S., Cumberland University, 1995), Chief Executive Officer, Custom Packaging Inc. (Lebanon)
• Trent McCracken (B.B.A., Cumberland University, 1995), President and Co-Owner, Spectrum Inc. (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• N.B. Forrest Shoaf, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, CBRL Group Inc. (Lebanon)
• Bill Vallett Jr., President, Lochinvar Corporation (Lebanon)
• Robert N. Vero, Ed.D, Chief Operating Officer, Centerstone (Nashville). Centerstone is the seventh-largest behavioral health services organization in the country and the largest in Tennessee.
Bob McDonald, President of Lebanon-based CedarStone Bank and chair of the Board of Trust’s Membership Committee, said the new members are eager to begin working with the University and have already begun familiarizing themselves with the responsibilities associated with Board membership.
“We are honored to have such terrific leaders and visionaries as members of the Cumberland University Board of Trust,” McDonald remarked. “It is our firm belief that the interests of the University and its students are well served by their election.”
Ultimately, according to Cumberland University President Dr. Harvill C. Eaton, the new board members represent a tremendous addition to the University as it seeks to meet and exceed the needs of a new generation of college students.
“These new Trustees will undoubtedly help us continue to move toward becoming the institution of choice for Generation Y,” Eaton said. “We chose these men and women, not only because of their professional accomplishments, but because they strategically diversify the Board and enable us to address the demands of a totally new generation of students, Generation Y. Students who graduate today must be prepared for a new kind of workplace, one that is global and driven by technology that connects and informs instantly.”
“At a pace that is very difficult to achieve at most universities, Cumberland is undergoing a transformational change necessary to be a part of this new world,” Eaton concluded. “We led in 1842 when visionary leaders saw a very new world, and we are leading today in an even more fundamental way. I welcome the new Trustees to a great University.”
