Board of Trustees

Chairperson

Dorothy is currently the Lower School Principal at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School. She has been there as assistant teacher, teacher, principal and associate head of school. A graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she later studied at Jacksonville University, Oglethorpe University and Georgia State University where she received a Masters in Educational Leadership. Her association with St. Benedict’s began in 2011 when she started serving on the Board. She returned in 2015 after a three-year absence. A strong advocate for instilling a sense of inclusive behavior in
children and promoting Episcopal identity within the school, she feels the adults around have a massive responsibility to model those behaviors for our students.

Vice-Chairperson

Tim Gould is a member of St Benedicts Episcopal Church, parent of two students at St Benedicts, and a small business owner. He chairs the Facilities Committee and is on the Finance Committee. Tim is a former Senior Warden of the church Vestry, remaining involved with church finance committee and Children’s Ministries. He and his wife, Judy
Fitzgerald, have two great children, Abbie and Jack, who both happily attend St. Benedict’s Episcopal Day School. Tim graduated from University of Buffalo with a BA in Mechanical Engineering and later earned is his professional engineering license. He obtained an MBA from Fordham University while working in New York. Tim moved to
Atlanta in 1996 and co-founded Fordham Plastics Equipment Company in 1999 and started ZAG Equipment Sales a few years later. Both companies sell manufacturing equipment in the plastics industry.

Secretary

Scott Stewart has been a member of St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church since 2011 and currently serves as treasurer.  He has two children, Ellie and Sam, who attend St. Benedict’s Episcopal School. Scott serves as a portfolio manager and financial planner with Eads & Heald Wealth Management. He is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charter holder and a member of the Atlanta Society of Finance and Investment Professionals (ASFIP). Scott is also a Certified Financial Planner™ professional and a member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA). Scott graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Finance and later completed the Executive Program for CFP® Certification through the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. Scott resides with his wife and two children in Smyrna.  

Treasurer

Lynn Strickland was the 2012 senior warden of St. Benedict's Episcopal Church and has  previously served as the chair of the Parish Events and Kitchen committees. A graduate  of both University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Georgia Institute of  Technology, Lynn worked in the emerging business and audit groups at Deloitte &  Touche, as the manager of financial reporting for a subsidiary of Bellsouth and is  currently the business manager for a local advertising agency. She and her husband  Mitch have been Smyrna residents for 20+ years. They have two daughters: Emily, a  student at a Georgia Tech, and Annie, at Holy Innocents'.

Board Member

KC George is a Director of the National Development Council (NDC), one of the nation’s oldest and most experienced not-for-profit corporations specializing in community and economic development financing and real estate development strategies. KC George provides his expertise through providing technical assistance to NDC’s clients ranging from municipalities, affordable and mixed income housing developers, nonprofit housing organizations, housing authorities and universities. KC George provides advisory client services that are directly related to real estate based financing and community economic development solutions. George serves on the East Team at NDC which delivers services in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South and Puerto Rico. NDC’s products range include the Grow America Fund, NDC’s Small Business Lending Company; NDC Corporate Equity Fund (tax credit syndication), NDC’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit Fund; Public Private Partnership (P3), HEDC New Markets - NDC’s New Market Tax Credit Program; NDC Green - NDC’s Renewable Energy Tax Credit program.

Board Member

Ann Canipe served as Sr. Warden of St. Benedict's Church in 2021 and has continued on the Board.  Ann and her husband Kent have one daughter who lives in California.  At. St. Benedict's Ann serves on the Altar Guild, Eucharistic Minister, Pastoral Care Committee, and assistant to Lynn Strickland on hospitality.  Ann serves on several diocesan committees including Finance, Budget and the Diocesan Foundation.  In a previous life Ann was active in the Atlanta Junior League, Egleston Hospital Auxiliary, Festival of Trees, and parttime bookkeeping work.

Board Member

Mother Jenna (or just Jenna, whatever you prefer) grew up a Jewish kid in NJ, and is now an Episcopal priest in GA: don't ever doubt God's sense of humor! She was called to be rector of St. Benedict’s in January 2021, from Holy Trinity, Decatur, GA where she served as Associate Rector for 8 years. As a priest, Jenna has particular gifts in teaching and preaching, small group ministries, building up the ministry of the baptized, and working with young children and their families. Jenna graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA and received her Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology at Emory University, with a focus on Anglican/Episcopal Studies and Christian Formation. She was ordained a deacon in 2012 and a priest on Baptism of Our Lord in 2013. Before ordination, Jenna worked as a hospice chaplain and college admissions counselor. She enjoys cooking, playing with her godchildren, and singing Sacred Harp music.

Board Member

Derek grew up in Cobb County and is a graduate of Sprayberry High School.  After graduating from the University of Georgia, Derek went to work as a congressional staffer in Washington, D.C. as a legislative aide, where he spent six years working to help Georgians in Cobb County and across the state.  He has worked in the government relations space for over 20 years, most recently as the Director of Government Relations for the Medical Association of Georgia, where he represented Georgia physicians and patients.  In 2021, Derek formed and currently serves as the CEO of Topspin Strategies, Inc., a governmental affairs firm representing multiple clients at the State Capitol.

Derek was elected Mayor of the City of Smyrna in 2019.  He previously served four years as the Ward 1 representative on the Smyrna City Council.  He has served on several local boards and committees in the City including the Board of Directors for Keep Smyrna Beautiful and the Smyrna Business Association, the Executive Committee for the Smyrna Vision initiative, and served three terms as president of his neighborhood homeowners association.  Derek is very involved in local Smyrna schools and sponsors various student groups and teams across the city annually.

Derek and his wife Laura are members of Smyrna First United Methodist Church.  They have two children, Samantha and Jack.

​

Board Member

Judge Kellie Hill grew up in New Jersey and attended the University of Pennsylvania where she obtained her Bachelors of Art degree in International Relations with a concentration in International Business. She earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the Rutgers University School of Law. Judge Hill moved to Georgia after law school and began her professional career. Prior to her appointment as a judge in the Cobb County Magistrate Court in 2016, she practiced as a trial attorney in the public and private sectors. Judge Hill began The Kellie Hill Legal Group, a private criminal defense and legal consulting firm in Atlanta, after serving as managing attorney for a plaintiffs’ personal injury firm in Atlanta.

Judge Hill served the citizens of Georgia as a prosecuting attorney in Fulton and Dekalb counties. Before retiring from prosecution, Judge Hill served as the Chief Trial Assistant District Attorney, Director of the Public Integrity Unit and as the lead trial attorney on many of the most notable cases in the state of Georgia, to include the Fulton County Courthouse shootings. Judge Hill and her work have been featured on national and international media outlets such as live “Gavel to Gavel” coverage on the network formerly known as Court TV and NBC’s “48 Hours”, to name a few. She has also appeared as a legal expert on nationally and locally aired programs and news segments. 

Judge Hill and her husband have two young adult children. They have made Cobb County, Georgia their home for more than thirty years.​

Board Member

Ryan was the food and beverage manager at East Lake Golf Club for 4 years prior to opening Unsukay Restaurants first concept,  Muss & Turner’s in February of 2005. In 2014, he was named the Business Person of the Year by the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Ryan is a founding member and board chair of the Giving Kitchen and currently serves on the board.

Ryan was on the board of the Georgia Restaurant Association (2012-2015) and served as board chair in 2015. In that same year, the Unsukay partners were awarded the National Restaurant Association’s highest honor, the Cornerstone Humanitarian Award, in recognition for their role in founding Giving Kitchen. In 2019 Giving Kitchen was named the James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of The Year and Ryan had the distinct honor to represent the organization and share his thoughts with a national audience. Unsukay currently owns and operates Muss & Turner’s, Eleanors, Local Three Kitchen & Bar, Warhorse Investments, MTH Pizza and just recently opened their sixth concept called Roshambo located in the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center. 

Originally from Maine, he graduated from the University of Vermont in 1994 and did a term of service with Americorps in Arizona along the border of Mexico. He moved to Atlanta in 1995 and soon met his wonderful wife of 24 years, Shelley, née Standard (UGA 1993). They reside in Smyrna with their two teenage children and dog Baxter. In his free time, he loves to learn, write, cook for his family and play golf.

Board Member

Prior to joining St. Benedict’s Board of Trustees in 2022, Ferrell was associated with the school in 2016-2017 as an independent school consultant, assisting the administration and faculty during a period of leadership change when Father Brian Sullivan transitioned from Rector of St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church to full-time Head of St. Benedict’s Episcopal School. No stranger to independent schools in Georgia, including Atlanta, Ferrell was the first Middle School Director of The Lovett School,  and more recently the Interim Head of School at The Schenck School.   

Ferrell began his career as a teacher and administrator at Christ Episcopal School in Greenville, S.C., then on to The Lovett School.  Head of School experience includes 10 years at Valwood School, Valdosta, Ga., where he was the founding Headmaster,  and 26 years as President and Headmaster, Lakeview Academy, Gainesville, Ga.  After retiring from Lakeview, he started his own business, H. Ferrell Singleton Independent School Consulting, focusing on strategic planning, board development, and leadership coaching.  Most recently he served one-year stints as Interim Head of School at four Georgia schools: Oak Mountain Academy, Carrolton;  The Heritage School, Newnan; Augusta Preparatory Day School, Augusta; and The Schenck School, Atlanta. Ferrell and his wife, Linda, live in Gainesville, Ga.  

Board Member

Josh Clark is the Head of School at Landmark School in Beverly, Mass. He previously served as head of The Schenck School in Atlanta, Ga. and the Bodine School in Memphis, Tenn. Josh began his career in education at Lausanne Collegiate School, an International Baccalaureate World School in Memphis, Tenn., where he served as assistant head of the Middle School and a middle and high school English teacher for seven years. He's involved with several professional organizations and currently serves as the chair of the International Dyslexia Association and is an expert contributor to Made by Dyslexia, an awareness-raising, educational, and advocacy group. Josh is very interested in promoting the science of reading as a vehicle for education reform and social good. Josh and his wife, Melanie, also an educator, have two children, Rigby and Dalloway. When not working to further the cause of reading challenges, Josh loves to run, read, and travel.

Board Member

Saralee is an active member of St. Benedict's Episcopal Church.  She is a former Senior Warden, the current Altar Guild chair, and coordinates several ministries.  Saralee and her husband Daniel have two great kids, Garrett and Haley, who have also been raised at St. Benedict's Church.  Saralee has been in education her entire professional career.  She graduated from SMU and began teaching.  In 1998 she moved to Atlanta and began her career in ed tech.  Saralee is employed as a Regional Sales Director for McGraw Hill.