FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- AUGUST 6, 2007

Two New Members Elected To SMC Board of Trustees
2007-2008 Officers Also Elected, Calvert Named Chairperson

Jerry Calvert

Bill Painter

Dr. Phinnize Fisher

Marianna Habisreutinger

SPARTANBURG, SC – The South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church recently re-elected six members and replaced two outgoing members on Spartanburg Methodist College’s Board of Trustees whose terms expired in 2007.

The Board of Trustees has also elected its officers for 2007-2008. Those include Jerry Calvert, Chairperson, and Bill Painter, Vice Chairperson.

Outgoing trustee Rev. Jim Gilliam was replaced with Dr. Phinnize Fisher, of Spartanburg; trustee Anne Irwin was replaced with Marianna Habisreutinger, of Spartanburg.

Trustees John Gramling, Rev.Jean Osborne, Liz Patterson, and Andy Westbrook were each re-elected to a second three-year term.

Trustee Rev. Ken Timmerman was re-elected to a third three-year term; trustee Dr. Bruce Yandle was re-elected to a fourth three-year term.

“Spartanburg Methodist College is fortunate to have persons like Mrs. Anne Irwin and the Rev. Jim Gilliam on our Board. When such great Trustees rotate off the Board, we look for persons whose community involvement and civic service include the support of higher education. I am convinced that both Dr. Phinnize Fisher and Mrs. Marianna Habisreutinger will be outstanding Trustees in every way. Their vision of what Spartanburg Methodist College can become will position them for leadership roles on our board in the coming years,” says SMC President Dr. Charles Teague.

Dr. Phinnize Fisher has served as the Superintendent of Greenville County Schools since 2004. She is a native of Virginia and has a Master’s and Doctoral degree from Rutgers University. She also serves on the boards of directors of several local organizations, including the Greater Greenville United Way, Success by Six, Alliance for Quality Education, Graduate Greenville, along with the Greenville Technical College Board of Commissioners.

Dr. Fisher is active in a number of other community groups, including the Pleasantburg Rotary, American Association of School Administrators, Greenville Professional Women’s Forum, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and is a NAACP lifetime member. Awards and honors she has received include the Order of the Jessamine, Women Making History Award, Greenville Magazine Administrator of the Year, and an Honorary State FFA Award. Dr. Fisher and her husband Tony live in Spartanburg and have two children. Her interests include reading, golf, and flower and vegetable gardening.

Marianna Habisreutinger is the founder of the Charles Lea Center Foundation and currently serves on its board. She serves on numerous other boards of directors within the community, including those of the Cancer Association of Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties, Inc., the Urban League of the Upstate, Upstate Forever, Ellen Hines Smith Girls’ Home, and the Storm Eye Institute of the Medical University of South Carolina. She is also a member of the Converse College Board of Visitors, Wofford College President’s Advisory Board, the Health Education Complex of the University of South Carolina - Upstate, and the $300,000,000 fundraising committee of the Medical University of South Carolina.

Mrs. Habisreutinger is a member of Spartanburg First Presbyterian Church and is a past president of the Junior League of Spartanburg. She is the 1994 recipient of the David W. Reid Award for Achievement in the Arts and the 1997 Piedmont Area Girl Scouts “Women of Achievement Award.” Mrs. Habisreutinger and her husband Roger live in Spartanburg and have three children. Her interests and hobbies include familiy activities and trips, home entertainment, volunteer service to non-profits, snow skiing, and bird hunting.

The Spartanburg Methodist College Board of Trustees is comprised of 24 members, with five clergy members and 19 laity. Terms are staggered on a three-year basis.

Other members of the Board include immediate past chairperson Dan Foster, recording Secretary Mellnee Buchheit, Charles Atchison, John Bell, Justin Converse, Phyllis DeLapp, Ralph Driggers, Dr. Edgar Ellis, Jamie Fulmer, John Gramling, Rev. Larry Hays, Rev. John Hipp, Patrick Henry, Rev. Jean Osborne, Liz Patterson, Patsy Simmons, Howard Suitt, Rev. Ken Timmerman, Andy Westbrook, and Dr. Bruce Yandle.

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 96th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.

For more information, please contact Brian Fulkerson, Director of Public Information, at (864) 587-4254.

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