Atlanta — November 12, 2014

The Board of Regents, the 19-member governing body for the University System of Georgia, today elected new officers for 2015 and made an appointment. The positions include Chair, Vice-Chair and Interim Secretary.

Regent Neil L. Pruitt Jr. was elected to a one-year term as the Board’s Chair. Pruitt currently serves as Vice-Chair.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve our state and continue our efforts to make the public higher education system in Georgia more student centered and student focused,” said Pruitt. “We are committed to building on our momentum with our Complete College Georgia initiative to better serve our students and help them achieve their degrees.”

Pruitt is Chairman and CEO of PruittHealth Inc., an integrated health care company offering independent and assisted living, skilled nursing services, rehabilitation services, home health and hospice care as well as pharmacy services, community-based services, medical supplies and care management. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of the South in Tennessee. Pruitt was awarded a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Health Administration from Georgia State University in 2000.

Pruitt is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Governors of the American Health Care Association and a previous Chair of the Georgia Health Care Association. In February 2013, he was a Congressional appointee to the Commission for Long Term Care–a 15-member panel charged with developing plans for a comprehensive, coordinated and high-quality system ensuring long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities.

Pruitt previously served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University System of Georgia Foundation Inc. and currently serves as a board member and Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee for Georgia Regents Health Systems.

He is an active member of the Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. And he and his wife, Mebane, have three children.

Regent Kessel Stelling Jr. was elected to a one-year term as the Board’s Vice-Chair.

“I am looking forward to working with Neil and our colleagues in the year ahead,” said Stelling. “Our state’s future will be determined by our success in enabling and empowering more people to complete college. I am truly excited to be part of this journey that will result in a stronger Georgia.”

Stelling is the Chairman and CEO of Synovus, a financial services company based in Columbus, Georgia with approximately $27 billion in assets. Synovus provides commercial and retail banking, investment, and mortgage services to customers in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee.

A Georgia native, Stelling is the Chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the University of Georgia Terry College of Business, and serves on the board of directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Financial Services Roundtable. He also served as Chairman in 2008 of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce section.

Regent Stelling earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in banking and finance from the University of Georgia and completed the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.

He and his wife, Carol, have two sons.

The Board also appointed Daryl Griswold as Interim Secretary to fill the role formerly held by Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs J. Burns Newsome who accepted a position at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Griswold currently serves as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and Assistant Secretary to the Board of Regents.

Regent Rogers Wade chaired the committee that developed nominations for board officers for the coming year. Committee members were Regents Lori Durden and Don Leebern.

The University System of Georgia is comprised of 31 public colleges and universities, Georgia Archives and the Georgia Public Library Service; enrolling more than 312,000 students.

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