Alumni Notes
family, friends, and life. As of May 31, I joined the ‘repurposed’ group. I don’t expect ‘retired’ to describe what I plan.” His degree was called “personnel and industrial relations. That was clearly the purpose for my life because God provided a path to (and through!) some very interest- ing situations and organizations. “Through it all, the basics that I learned at Auburn, in and out of the classroom have supported me through the years. And, of course, best of all was the young woman I met at Auburn, Cheryl Stewart, (’78), my wife of almost 43 years.” Wayne Dillingham (’75, management) has been fully retired since 2018, residing in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and said “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of that retirement.” After graduation from Auburn’s Navy- Marine ROTC in 1975, he was commis- sioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. After flying in the Marine Corps as an A-6 Intruder bombardier/navigator, he left active duty in 1980 to attend law school at the University of Tennessee. “I found my business studies at Auburn extremely helpful as a foundation in law school — especially in courses such as contracts, corporations, etc. After law school and two years as an attorney in a large Texas law firm, I returned to active duty in 1985 to serve 20 years as an Air Force attorney, retiring as an Air Force colonel.” He subsequently served five years as an attorney for the FBI, practicing national security law — primarily related to coun- terterrorism — in Washington, D.C. “No matter where I went or what I did, my Auburn degree in management always served me well.” Rhett Donaldson (’76, accounting) retired at 52 after a three-decade career with Southern Company subsidiaries in Pensacola, Florida, Birmingham, Alabama, Savannah, Georgia, and Atlanta. He was the company’s manager of securities and exchange commission reporting and now manages his own investments. He says his retirement started at Chestatee, Georgia,
on Lake Lanier, followed by a decade in Hobe Sound, Florida, and he is now enjoy- ing being closer to family. He splits his time between homes in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, and Anderson, South Carolina. His three decades at Southern Company included accounting positions at Gulf Power and Alabama Power before he joined the Southern Company tax department, where he spent the majority of his career. After a transfer to Savannah Electric to handle tax accounting there, he returned to Georgia Power to handle balance-sheet account- ing. From there he went into Securities and Exchange Commission reporting work, first at Southern Power, then for the parent company. In 1986, while in the tax depart- ment, he completed his MBA in finance at Mercer University. Julian K. (Butch) Fuller (’73, industrial management) recently retired after 28 years with Sherwin-Williams Automotive and six years as vice president of operations with HT Window Fashions. He and his wife, Deb, reside in Scottsdale, Arizona, but he said he will be spending much of his retirement fishing in North Georgia, Arizona and New Mexico and traveling with his family. Steve Goodson (’72, business administra- tion) is the “president and resident vision- ary of Saxgourmet Products, LLC in New Orleans. My four years at Auburn gave me a strong foundation in accounting, busi- ness law and economics. I could not have succeeded without this great education. “Due to persistent supply chain prob- lems, my company has returned all mouth- piece manufacturing to the United States from Asia. This move has been made as we switched to a high-tech polymer that is acoustically superior to the previously used hard rubber rod. We are very pleased with the results and will be returning the manu- facturing of most of our extensive line of saxophone accessories to the U.S.A.” Joe Hardage (’74, accounting) retired from real estate development and is now living in Auburn.
Randy Pittman (’76, accounting) retired June 30 as vice president for university advancement at Samford University after serving 14 years in the position. He came to Samford following a 32-year career in corporate finance, including eight years as a member of the Samford Board of Trustees before joining the university administra- tion. He and his wife, Daina, have spent their entire 45-year marriage living in Birmingham. Thomas Wadham (’75, MBA) retired from the U.S. Army in 1990. He spent 15 years in mall and retail property management, then another 18 years in multifamily and residen- tial property management before selling the properties in 2021. “I regret to inform you my lovely wife, Sandra Wadham, of almost 62 years passed away unexpectedly on April 29, 2022. She also worked at the school of business during my enrollment and prior to my 30-year assignment as assistant professor of U.S. Army military science.” Stevan Williams (’79, accounting) has retired after 29 years as CFO of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. 1980s Brian T. Casey (’84, accounting) is a part- ner at Locke Lord, LLP. He co-leads the firm’s regulatory and transactional insur- ance practice group and is a member of the firm’s corporate, capital markets and health care practice groups. Casey focuses on corporate, merger and acquisition, corporate and structured finance, and other transactional and regu- latory matters for corporate clients in the insurance, financial services and health care industries. In April 2022 he was awarded the Innovator Award by the Georgia State University Risk Management Foundation.
Harbert Business, Fall 2022 49
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