Board Of Trustees

We touch the heart of the man. We see great opportunity to help fathers heal broken spirits, practice productive parenting and employment, and embrace healthy living. Diversity of our board, staff, programs, community partnerships, and fatherhood participants is essential to our success. Together, we offer respect and maximize talent, skills, perspectives, resources, energy, and financial supports to transform father's lives and contributions forever.

Tim Arnold

Tim Arnold joined the Center for Fathers and Families Board of Trustees in 2012. Tim Arnold is Senior Vice President, Chief Operations Officer at Colonial Life. In this role he oversees the company’s main operations, risk and customer service areas, including Claims, Underwriting, Policyholder Services, Account Services and Customer Acquisition Services.

Arnold joined Colonial Life from affiliate company Unum US in July 2011, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President of Integrated Underwriting. During his 25-year career with Unum, he has held positions in Underwriting, Corporate Planning, Client Services, National Accounts Sales, and Benefits and has served in leadership roles in the Chattanooga, Tenn.; Worcester, Mass.; and Portland, Maine offices.

Arnold is a past chair of the Unum United Way Campaign in Portland and served on the Unum United Way Campaign board in Chattanooga. He also served on the boards of The First Tee of Chattanooga, First Things First, the Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services Inc. and Girls Incorporated. First Things First operates a Fatherhood Program.

Brandon Bennett

Brandon Bennett was born in Taylors, South Carolina.  From 1987-1991, he attended Riverside High school in Greer, S.C.  where he played football, basketball, and track.  It was in high school where he excelled in football and was awarded an athletic scholarship for football to the University of South Carolina. From 1991-1995 Brandon played football for USC and received his BS in Small Business. After graduating he continued to pursue his football career in the NFL. 

His NFL career took him to Cleveland, Ohio to play for the Cleveland Browns; Chicago, Illinois to the Chicago Bears; Ft. Lauderdale to the Miami Dolphins; to Cincinnati, Ohio to the Bengals; to Tampa Florida to the Buccaneers; and finally his last stop was in North Carolina with the Carolina Panthers.  The bulk of his career was spent in Cincinnati, Ohio with the Bengals (1996-2003). During those seven years, he served primarily on Special Teams (kickoff returner, kickoff team, punt and punt return) and as running back.

Brandon currently resides in Greenville, SC with his wife, Shannon, and two boys Brandon  and Braydon.

Bill Bradshaw

Judge Bill Byars

William R. Byars, Jr., J.D., is the director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections and former director of South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. Not a newcomer to issues concerning fathers and families, Judge Byars formerly served as director of the Children's Law Office at the University of South Carolina School of Law and as Family Court Judge for the Fifth Judicial Circuit from 1989 to 1999. He resigned his judgeship transitioning to the Children's Law Office position where he focused full time on legal issues involving children and families. From 1994 -1998 he served as an executive committee member of South Carolinas's Families for Kids, working for child welfare reform. He served as the Chair of the Governor's Task Force on Juvenile Justice from 1995-1999 and as president of the South Carolina Conference of Family Court Judges in 1995-1996. From 1995-1999 he served on the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the U.S. Department of Justice. And, Judge Byars served as Co-Chair of the South Carolina Truancy Task Force and chaired the South Carolina Underage Drinking Task Force.

A co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Task Force of the Sisters of Charity Foundation Fatherhood Policy Project Office, Judge Byers was a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families and served as the first chairman of the Center's Board.

Chrissy Dingeldine

Chrissy Dingeldine has served on the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families since 2004.

Mrs. Dingledine serves as Principal Consultant for Policy Studies, Inc. focusing on improvements and identification of process and system innovations by full service child support offices in service delivery.  Through the evaluation of existing standard operating procedures, as well as limitations inherent in state automated systems, she assists in creating operational efficiencies through the development of complementary technologies.  Mrs. Dingeldine also works to foster community partnerships and enhance outreach by integrating her organization's workforce development experience with child support operations.

From 2001 - 2003, Mrs. Dingeldine assisted in the successful planning, development and implementation of a federally certified child support system for the state of Michigan, where she directed a 240 member division.  She also served as project manager for the Policy and Procedures Assessment of Organizational Assessment Tasks for PSI's evaluation of the State of Connecticut's child support program.  

Prior to joining PSI in 1999, Mrs. Dingeldine served as assistant director for the South Carolina Child Support Enforcement Division where she directly managed new hire reporting, license revocation and program evaluation functions.  In addition to serving on the Board of the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, she served on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association (ERICSA) from 1996 - 2006, and was awarded the Association's Felix Infausto Award in 2007.  The award is presented annually to an ERICSA member who demonstrated the highest level of outstanding leadership and contribution to the child support community.

Harold Green

Harold Green, Jr., joined the Center Board in 2010. He is a Columbia businessman, currently residing in Blythewood with his wife, Andrea, and three daughters. No stranger to community involvement, Mr. Green has participated in various local and national charities.  He has been a member of the Board of Directors for the South Carolina Children's Home and a member of the National Retail Advisory Board at the University of South Carolina's Department of Retailing. Mr. Green served for four years as the career development coordinator for the University of South Carolina Athletics Department, Student Academic Enrichment Center.  Currently, he is a business partner for Pro-Bowl Automotive Group, LLC.

Mr. Green attended the University of South Carolina, where he starred as a running back for the football team.   After college, he played nine NFL seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals, St. Louis Rams and Atlanta Falcons.

Thomas C. Keith

Tom Keith is the president of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina, a position he has held since March of 1996. The Sisters of Charity Foundation, a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System, has awarded more than $42 million through over 1,400 grants across South Carolina since its inception.

Mr. Keith serves on Winthrop University Foundation and South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families Boards of Trustees. He is a member of Grantmakers in Health and has been an active member of the Southeastern Council of Foundations since 2002, including serving on the board from 2004 to 2010. He is a founding member and former chairman of the South Carolina Grantmakers Network, a group of 40 grantmaking foundations from across the state. Currently, Mr. Keith also serves as an adjunct instructor on leadership and ethics at Winthrop University School of Business.

In 2007, Mr. Keith was appointed to serve on the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission. He was inducted into the Winthrop University College of Business Pinnacle Society in 2008 and earned the Clemson University Institute for Family and Neighborhood Life Leadership Award in 2009. In 2004 he received the Healthy Learners "In All Things Charity" award.

With over 30 years experience in non-profit management in five states, Mr. Keith's credentials include a BA in Communications from Marshall University and a MBA from Winthrop University.

Susana H. Krey

Prior to building an impressive career in hospital and health care administration, Ms. Krey was a nationally recognized nutritional expert working in clinical research and administration in Cleveland and in her hometown of Boston, Massachusetts.  She has published numerous articles and co-edited two textbooks on nutritional health.

Since 1997, Ms. Krey has served on the Boards of the Sisters of Charity Foundations of Canton, Cleveland and South Carolina.  She also serves on several other advisory boards associated with nonprofit work.

A summa cum laude graduate of Simmons College, Ms. Krey holds a master's from Tufts University.  She has completed post-graduate studies in health care, marketing and planning at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, the Wharton School of Management at the University of Pennsylvania and Baldwin-Wallace College.

Rick Mendoza

Rick Mendoza joined the Center for Fathers and Families Board of Trustees in 2010. Mr. Mendoza earned a Bachelor of Science, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina and a Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he later served as an adjunct professor.

Mr. Mendoza is a member of Nexsen Pruet LLC law firm specializing in the areas of creditors' rights and bankruptcy law. He is a certified Bankruptcy and Debtor-Creditor Law Specialist in the state of South Carolina.  Mr. Mendoza received the William E.S. Robinson Public Service Award of the South Carolina Bankruptcy Law Association and was selected for The Best Lawyers in America for bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law.

Chris Myers

Chris Myers has served on the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families Board since 2002.

Mrs. Myers is a native of Columbia, SC, and is the youngest of Lilla and Herbert "Pete" Hoefer's five children.  After graduating from Sweet Briar College, she embarked on a career in public broadcasting with the South Carolina Educational Television Network.  Fifteen years later, Mrs. Myers changed career direction transitioning into higher education as a development officer.  Today, she is the Senior Director of Development for Principal Gifts for the University of South Carolina.

Mrs. Myers also serves as a Trustee on the Buckley Board of Public Speaking. She is a lifelong member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church where she is a lector and has served on Parish Council, the 50th Anniversary Campaign, Parish Choir and St. Joseph School Board.  Mrs. Myers is a Lady Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a Catholic Order of Knighthood under the protection of the Holy See.  In 2008, Mrs. Myers was honored by Pope Benedict XVI with the Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

She is married to Dr. James T. Myers, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of South Carolina and founder of the Center for Asian Studies.  They have four children and reside in Columbia, South Carolina.

Omar Shalabi

John C.B. Smith

John C.B. Smith, Jr., is the owner of John C.B. Smith Real Estate and Of Counsel for Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP. Mr. Smith earned a BA in Mathematics from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA.  And, he received a Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1970. From 1970-1974 Mr. Smith served in the United States Army as a Captain of the Judge Advocate General's Corps.

Mr. Smith is a former managing partner of Nexsen Pruet Jacobs & Pollard Law Firm. He is a former Chairman of the Board for The South Financial Group (TSFG), a 14.4 billion dollar financial services company that owned banks in South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida. A former Executive Committee member and Chairman of Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, Mr. Smith's five years of service as Chairman of the South Carolina Lottery Commission was recognized by the South Carolina House and Senate through passage of a joint resolution. Currently, Mr. Smith serves as Chairman of the University of South Carolina School of Law Partnership Board and is President Emeritus of the University of South Carolina Educational Foundation.

The South Carolina Fatherhood Initiative began and flourished under Mr. Smith's leadership as a member and past chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sisters of Charity Foundation.  Having also having served as chairman of the Board's Program Committee, Mr. Smith championed direct oversight for the Foundation's 1997 launch and implementation of the "Reducing Poverty through Father Engagement" initiative.

Previous Board Members

Sister Nancy Hendershot, CSA: 2002 - 2011

Clarence Red Hermann: 2005 -2011

Dr. Karry Guillory: 2003-2010

Dr. Andrew Billingsley: 2008 - 2010

Nick LeGrand: 2008 - 2010

Roy Tucker: 2008 -2010

John Boudreaux: 2006 - 2007

Rick Wade: 2002-2006