Willis Potts Elected Vice-Chair of Board of Regents
Atlanta — June 10, 2009
Willis J. Potts Jr.
The Board of Regents, the 18-member governing body for the University System of Georgia, today elected Regent Willis J. Potts Jr. to a one-year term as the Board’s Vice-Chair.
Potts, who was appointed in March 2006 to the Board of Regents by Gov. Sonny Perdue to represent the eleventh Congressional district, will serve as Board Vice-Chair from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010.
“I am proud to serve as a leader of Georgia’s public higher education system,” Potts said. “I look forward to working with my fellow Regents in carrying out the Board’s Strategic Plan and managing growth in the System during these challenging economic times.”
Potts retired in June 2004 as the Vice President and General Manager of Temple-Inland Corporation, based in Rome, following a 35-year career in the international pulp and paper industry. He began his career as an engineer at the Union Camp Corporation’s Savannah pulp and paper mill in 1969.
Over the course of his career, Potts served as Chairman of the Paper Industry Management Association and Chairman of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry, both international in scope.
Potts also is active with Floyd County March of Dimes, the Open Door Children’s Home of Northwest Georgia; Mercy Senior Care in Rome, Georgia; Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce; and, the mentoring program Communities in Schools (Rome-Floyd).
Potts earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology and completed the University of Virginia’s Executive Program. In 2008, he was named to Georgia Tech’s Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.
Potts and his wife, Glenda, are the parents of three adult children.
Regent Benjamin Tarbutton III chaired the committee that developed nominations for board officers for the coming year. Committee members were Regents Kessel Stelling and Felton Jenkins.
The Board of Regents is a constitutional body that governs and manages the University System of Georgia, comprised of 35 public colleges and universities, more than 283,000 students, and approximately 40,000 faculty and staff.
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