Board of Directors

    Charles E. Gearing graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Georgia
    Institute of Technology and then went on to earn master's and doctorate degrees from Purdue
    University.  Gearing pursued a career in higher education, serving in various academic and
    administrative roles at Auburn University, Purdue University, University of North Carolina, Middle
    East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey), Dartmouth University, State University of New York,
    Binghamton, before returning to Georgia Tech, where he served as Dean of the College of
    Management and Associate Vice-president for Development.  In his latter role, Gearing
    supervised a 45-member fund-raising staff during a highly successful $200 million capital
    campaign.  He retired from Georgia Tech as Professor Emeritus in 1991.

    After his retirement from Georgia Tech, Gearing served four years as director of stewardship
    development with The Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta.  Since 1991, he has served as a
    stewardship consultant with the Episcopal Church Center, and as a field representative of the
    Episcopal Church Foundation.  In 1999 he was appointed as Director of Diocesan Programs
    for the Episcopal Church Foundation, and in that capacity he assists dioceses across the
    country in developing their planned giving programs.  He is a co-author of the Foundation's
    manual, Funding Future Ministry: A comprehensive guide for church leaders to encourage
    planned gifts in support of Christian ministries, and has recently completed a companion
    manual, A Diocesan Gift Planning Program: Guidelines for Success. Outside the Episcopal
    Church, Gearing has served in leadership and development roles in several non-profit
    organizations, such as Nicholas House, Jerusalem House, Memorial Society of Georgia, and the
    Alzheimer’s Association (where he currently serves as Chairman of the
    Endowment Fund).

    Greg Gryska graduated from the University of Alabama with a major in Insurance.  He has
    worked for the past 22 years in various areas of the employee benefits and is currently the
    President of AddOnBenefits, Inc., an Atlanta-based employee benefits and plan design group.  
    His company specializes in helping companies communicate the value of employee benefit
    plans to current and prospective employees.

    Jeff Shields is a Principal at Offit Hall Capital Management, LLC and manages the Marketing
    and Investor Relations Group.

    Shields was formerly a vice president and senior relationship manager in the endowment
    and foundation group at U.S. Trust Institutional. He was responsible for the administration and
    asset management of charitable organizations' planned giving programs, and for overseeing
    other investment management mandates for foundations and endowments throughout the
    western United States.

    Before joining U.S. Trust, Sheilds was a consultant with the San Francisco financial
    planning firm, Planning & Financial Advisors. The firm specializes in developing wealth transfer
    strategies for wealthy individuals and families. Prior to that (at the Council on Foundations, The
    San Francisco Foundation, and the Peninsula Community Foundation), he worked in
    the community foundation field, marketing to professional advisors and their clients various
    philanthropic planning options.

    Shields is a member of the National Committee on Planned Giving’s Investment
    Committee, and a member of the Community Foundation for the Napa Valley's finance
    committee. He is also co-chair of the professional advisory council at the Peninsula
    Community Foundation, and a member of the professional advisory councils of the East Bay
    Community Foundation, Asian Pacific Fund and Community Foundation Silicon Valley, and a
    member of the Community Foundation for the Napa Valley's finance committee.  He was a
    former board member of the National Committee on Planned Giving and the Northern
    California Planned Giving Council.  

    Shields graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

    Joseph W. Tombs has 18 years of experience in various aspects of law and financial
    planning.  He started his career as a tax and estate planning attorney with the law firm of
    Shannon, Porter, Johnson & Pfluger in San Angelo, Texas.  He has served as a financial
    planning and insurance professor at four universities:  University of Georgia, University of
    Louisiana at Lafayette, Georgia State University and Texas Tech University.  Tombs also has
    served as an Associate Vice President of First Colony Life Insurance Company and Director of
    Advanced Marketing at GE Financial Assurance.  He has developed a specialty in financial
    planning for the recipients of tort settlements and is a founding partner in Amicus Financial
    Advisors, LLP.

    Tombs' education includes JD and MBA degrees from Texas Tech University.  He also holds the
    CFP, ARM, CLU and ChFC designations.  He is a member of the Society of Settlement
    Planners, the American Bar Association, the Financial Planning Association and the State Bar
    of Texas.


    Past Board Members

    Anne Paul Josey graduated from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia with a bachelor's
    of Arts degree in French and Political Science.  She also studied at the Institute of European
    Studies in Paris and the Williamsburg Development Institute in Virginia.  Josey has worked in
    various positions in the non-profit sector including the American Heart Association, United Way
    of Metropolitan Atlanta and the Atlanta Ballet.  She is currently the Executive Director of CLICK, a
    literacy program in Newnan, Georgia.

    Mark A. Newton graduated from the University of Georgia where he majored in Risk
    Management and Insurance and a concentration in Estate Management.  After graduation, Newton
    worked for one year with an insurance planning firm based in Atlanta.  The following year, he
    founded Asbury Newton, Inc.

    Before entering the structured settlement profession, Newton assisted affluent families and
    senior executives of leading public and private corporations with critical estate, insurance and
    cash flow planning.  He has been quoted in national publications and has co-authored a study
    on annuities that was published nationally.
Dechomai  Foundation,  Inc.