Abrams Joins Agnes Scott Board

, minority leader in the Georgia House, is one of five new members to join the Board of Trustees

Abrams represents Georgia House District 84, which will become House District 89 when redistricting becomes effective Jan. 1. District 84 now includes part of Oakhurst.

The other new members of the board of trustees are Gail S. Glover, Jake B. Schrum, The Reverend Elizabeth “Lib” Simmons  and Bernie Todd Smith. Tawana K. Ware has joined the board as the newly elected president of the Alumnae Association.

Here's what Agnes Scott had to say about the new members of the board of trustees.

Abrams is the House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly and State Representative for the 84th House District. She is the first woman to lead either party in the Georgia General Assembly and is the first African American to lead in the House of Representatives. She co-founded and acts as senior vice president and chief administrative officer of NOWaccount Network Corp., a financial services firm, and also co-founded Nourish Inc., a beverage company with a focus on infants and toddlers.

Abrams received her J.D. from the Yale Law School. She graduated from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin with an M.P.Aff. in public policy. She earned a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies (political science, economics and sociology) from Spelman College. She currently serves on the board of trustees for St. Joseph’s Health System, the board of directors for the Gateway Center for the Homeless and the advisory boards of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, Literacy Action and others.

Glover is president and owner of Glover & Associates Inc., a financial consulting firm to businesses on valuations, mergers and acquisitions. She received her B.A. in mathematics from Agnes Scott College in 1966 and her M.S. in mathematics from the University of North Carolina in 1969.

She earned a certificate in Certified Financial Planning in 1985. Glover also is a trustee of the Columbia Theological Seminary.

Schrum is a native Texan who is an alum of Southwestern University and now serves as its president. He has been a college and university administrator for more than 39 years at two major research universities and three liberal arts colleges. He is widely recognized as an author and speaker in the field of educational advancement and moral leadership in higher education.

Schrum received his B.A. in psychology in 1968 from Southwestern University. He graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1973 with a Master of Divinity degree.

Rev. Simmons currently serves as the senior pastor at the Davidson College Presbyterian Church in Davidson, N.C. She previously was pastor of the University Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Texas, and Richmond Heights Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. She serves on the boards of the Davidson-Cornelius Child Development Center and The Pines at Davidson.

She earned her B.A. in sociology from Agnes Scott and her M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary.

Smith is an educational ethics consultant and has also served as a health information consultant for Rochester General Hospital, Rochester Regional Library Council and Unity Health. She serves on the Harley School planning panel for Center for Mindfulness and Empathy Education and on Highland Hospital’s patient advisory panel for oncology services.

Smith has a Ph.D. in education with concentration in leadership, thought and policy from the University of Rochester; a master of library science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and a B.A. in philosophy from North Carolina State University. She attended Agnes Scott for three years.

Ware is an assistant professor of pediatric dentistry at Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry. Before teaching, she was a pediatric dentist in Missouri. She’s a board member of the 15th Judicial District Children Advocacy Center and serves on Agnes Scott’s Alumnae Board.

She has a master of science in dentistry from Indiana University, a doctor of dentistry from Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry and a B.A. in biology from Agnes Scott.

Eight members of Agnes Scott’s Board of Trustees reached the end of their terms June 30 — Robert L. Brown Jr.; J. Walter Drake; Vice Chair Suzanne C. Feese ’84; Linda Kay Hudson McGowan ’65; B. Clayton Rolader; O. Benjamin Sparks; David L. Warren; and Robert C. Williams.