Thomas E. Sisson ’84 was named vice chair for The Birmingham Zoo’s 2021-22 Board of Directors. Sisson is the managing member of Warren Averett’s Birmingham office, where he serves on the firm’s executive committee, and has worked with the company for 40 years. He is a former BSC Trustee.

Tina Lilly ’87 was named the new executive director of Georgia Council for the Arts by the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Lilly has served the organization for the last 14 years, most recently as director of the $2 million grant program. A lifelong arts advocate, she will lead Georgia Council for the Arts’ mission to empower the arts industry in Georgia and artists around the state to cultivate healthy, vibrant communities that are rich in civic participation, cultural experiences, and economic prosperity.

Chris Tomlin ’91 and Alan Black ’01 were named to the Birmingham Business Journal’s Who’s Who in Nonprofits. Tomlin serves as president and CEO of Methodist Homes of North Alabama and Northwest Florida, and Black serves as president and CEO of Advancing Sight Network.

Austin Davis ’95 was named treasurer for The Birmingham Zoo’s 2021-22 Board of Directors. Davis currently serves as executive director of national accounts and loan syndications for the Wholesale Bank at Synovus. A graduate of Leadership Birmingham, he is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, the Monday Morning Quarterback Club, and the Children’s of Alabama’s Committee of the Future. He was the first president of the Birmingham Zoo’s Junior Board in 2010.

Joe Nasco ’08 is the new goalkeeper coach for the Chattanooga Red Wolves. Nasco joins the Red Wolves organization with a long resume of soccer experience, having played for the Colorado Rapids in the MLS and for Birmingham Legion FC of USL Championship.

Congratulations to the BSC alumni who received their residency matches at the UAB School of Medicine’s Match Day: Justin Bailey ’12, Pediatrics at UAB Medical Center; Andrew NeSmith ’16, Internal Medicine at Medical University of South Carolina; Amer Babi ’17, Anesthesiology at Tulane University School of Medicine; and Majd Habash ’17, Transitional Diagnostic Radiology at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center and UAB Medical Center.

JB Strauss ’14 was featured by Mercer, his law school alma mater, for his recent work in Nashville’s music industry. Strauss was credited as a co-writer on country music star Travis Tritt’s latest single, “Ghost Town Nation.” He is now working on a studio album of his own.

John Hershey ’19 is one of the Birmingham Business Journal’s NextGenBHM: Accounting honorees for 2021. Hershey serves as an accounting associate at Crawford Square Real Estate Advisors.

Rachel Barron Keeler ’19 married Zachary Keeler on July 18, 2020.

Glen Jenkins Dabney ’43 of Homewood on March 12, 2021. Dabney studied education at BSC and was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She taught for 27 years at Green Valley Elementary School, where she was named Teacher of the Year. Dabney was proud to be one of the oldest active members at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, where she enjoyed teaching Sunday School, working in the church library, and singing in the choir.

Dorothy Connors Fountain ’45 of Brunswick, Ga., on March 9, 2021. Fountain was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi during her time at BSC. She and her husband retired to Brunswick, where they were members of The Ambassador’s Club and the Shoreline Dance Club. Fountain enjoyed volunteering, shopping, and spending time with her neighbors.

Dianne English McWilliams ’61 of Montgomery on March 16, 2021. McWilliams dedicated her 50-year career to teaching English at the collegiate and high school level. She taught at Davidson High School in Mobile and at a community college in Macon, Ga., prior to her more than 30 years at Wallace Community College in Selma. While in Selma, McWilliams founded WCCS’s The Writing Place, an on-campus writing center, and the honors English program at Morgan Academy. She spent the last eight years of her career as a teaching colleague of her son John Harvey McWilliams IV at The Montgomery Academy. McWilliams was known for her tireless efforts to help her students develop their skills as writers. She was passionate about British literature and was recognized as a Joseph B. Whitehead Educator of Distinction in 2003.

James Wyndall Bell ’67 of Mobile on Jan. 20, 2021. Bell studied economics at BSC, where he also played baseball and sang in the men’s chorus. He attended seminary at Emory University and was ordained in the United Methodist Church, serving churches in Texas and Alabama as a young adult and youth minister. In 1985, Bell formed a financial services and insurance brokerage business, Branch, Bell and Associates, and worked at the firm until his retirement in 2017. He was also involved in the Mobile Inner City Mission and helped create an annual golf fundraiser for the organization. He was a compassionate and involved Christian with a passion for teaching all ages about the Bible. Bell’s daughter, Barclay Bell Smith ’95, also graduated from the College, and his granddaughter Sutton Smith is a BSC senior and Student Government Association president.

James “Jim” Porter Hannahan ’01 of Auburn on March 22, 2021. After graduating from BSC, Hannahan completed dental school and an endodontics residency at UAB. He then completed the school’s highly competitive residency program in endodontics in 2008. Guided by the lessons he learned from his endodontist father, Richard Patrick Hannahan, who preceded him in death, he served the residents of East Alabama with compassion and care.