Philanthropic Advisory Board

The Philanthropic Advisory Board of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine provides advice and support related to fundraising in behalf of the Institute’s programs, and public education about the Institute’s work. Members of the Board are volunteers and donors to the Institute.

John M. Vann, Chair
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development
Chiltern International, Inc.
john.vann@chiltern.com

John Vann is executive vice president, corporate development, for Chiltern, a leading global contract research organization headquartered in London, U.K., which conducts and staffs international Phase I to Phase IV clinical trials. He co-founded Clinical Trial Management Services, Inc., in 1990 and served as chief executive officer until October 2007, when the company became part of Chiltern.

Mr. Vann is an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Bristol, Tennessee. He also serves on the boards of Citizens Bank and the Wake Forest University Board of Visitors.

He is married to Karen Ottenfeld Vann. They have four children and seven grandchildren.

Phil Stevens, Vice Chair
President and Owner
Specialty Car Company
pstevensspcarco@charter.net

Phil Stevens is the owner and president of Specialty Car Company, Inc., which he founded in 1990 in Kingsport, Tennessee. In 1999, he opened a second location in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Previously, Mr. Stevens was a vice president with Lowe’s Home Improvement, where he held a variety of management positions during more than 27 years until his retirement in 2000. He is the president of Phil G. Stevens & Associates, which provides consulting services to several companies, including Lowe’s, and is a manager/member of PLS Investments and Anchor Associates.

Mr. Stevens serves on the Board of Directors of the Wilkes County Community Foundation and is president of the Watauga-Ashe-Wilkes Scholarship Foundation, which awards scholarships to deserving students from these North Carolina counties. He has served as co-chair of fundraising for the Wilkes County Heritage Museum and as co-chair of the NFL Alumni-Shriners Charity Golf Classic, which benefitted the Cincinnati Shriners Hospital for Children and Wilkes Community College. Mr. Stevens also serves on the Board of Directors for First Citizens Bank and on the endowment board for Wilkes Community College.

Mr. Stevens is the father of two grown daughters.

Gregory Cox
Senior Vice President
Bank of America Corporation
gregory.a.cox@bankofamerica.com

Gregory A. Cox is senior vice president and city executive for Bank of America Corporation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the United Way of Forsyth County, the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, and recently completed chairing the successful Second Century Capital Campaign for Family Services.

Mr. Cox is also a volunteer coach for youth sports and a volunteer in the Forsyth County public schools. He is a native of Winston-Salem and a graduate of Wake Forest University. He is married to the former Diane Nelson of Raleigh and the proud father of four children: Will, Ashley, Andrew and Katy.

John W. Davis, III
Managing Director
Deutsche Bank Alex Brown
john.w.davis@db.com

John W. Davis, III, is the managing director of Deutsche Bank Alex Brown investment bankers, headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is a graduate of Guilford College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Wake Forest University with a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies.

Mr. Davis serves on the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina, and the Board of Directors of the following organizations: Research Triangle Foundation, Reynolda House Museum of Art, New Winston Museum (chairman), Wake Forest Schools of Business, and the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. His previous Board service includes some two dozen nonprofit, educational, arts and business organizations in North Carolina and the Southeastern United States.

He resides in Winston-Salem with his wife, Terrie Allen Davis, a retired attorney. They are the parents of two grown children.

Paul Fulton, Jr.
Chairman
Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc.
paulfulton@triad.rr.com

Paul Fulton, Jr. is chairman of Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc., where he served as chairman and chief executive officer from 1997-2000. He served as dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina from 1993-1997. His path to serving as president (1988-1993) of Sara Lee Corporation began when he was a trainee at Hanes Hosiery in 1959.

Mr. Fulton is a lifetime member of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Board of Visitors and a former member of the Brenner Children’s Hospital Advisory and Amos Cottage Boards. He co-chaired a dinner in 2005 honoring the late Dr. Thomas K. Hearn to benefit the Brain Tumor Center, and he has been instrumental in Sara Lee’s previous support of the Medical Center. In 2000, he created an endowed fund for Brenner Children’s Hospital.

He has served on the Boards of Directors for Bank of America Corporation, the William Carter Company (Atlanta), Cato Corporation, Hudson’s Bay Company (Toronto), Sonoco Products Company, and Lowe’s. The Forsyth County United Way, The Crosby Scholars and Winston-Salem State University have all benefited from his leadership of their campaigns, as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his alma mater. Mr. Fulton is a member of the UNC Board of Governors, which oversees the state-wide system.

Mr. Fulton has also served on the Boards of Old Salem, Senior Services, Virginia Episcopal School, the Winston-Salem Foundation, Step One, and the Enrichment Center. In 2007, he was the honorary chairman of the Professional Golf Association Wyndham Championship.

Mr. Fulton has three grown children, one of whom is an MBA graduate of Wake Forest University. He grew up in Walnut Cove, North Carolina.

Beverly Godfrey
President and CEO
Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors
Beverly@mail.cbtriad.com

Beverly H. Godfrey is president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors, headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

As a second generation realtor growing up in a family business, Mrs. Godfrey has had hands-on experience with every facet of real estate from property management to sales and real estate development along with the day-to-day internal operations of running an eight-office company. Her true passion is technology, and she has been instrumental in researching, introducing and implementing new technologies to make her agents and her company more efficient.

Mrs. Godfrey also serves on the Boards of Directors of Southern Community Bank and the Forsyth Technical College Foundation, and is an active member of the Village of Clemmons Tree Ordinance Committee.

She and her husband, Brant, are the parents of two grown sons, Brant, Jr. and John-Lewis. She and her husband reside in Clemmons, North Carolina.

W. K. “Ike” Keener, Jr.
President and CEO
Allegacy Federal Credit Union
ikeener@allegacyfcu.org

W. K. “Ike” Keener, Jr. is president and chief executive officer of Allegacy Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and known for its support of breast cancer research. In 2006, Allegacy was awarded the Jill Ireland Award for Voluntarism as a Corporation by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure. The company’s Winston-Salem location features a public park for breast and ovarian cancer survivors and their loved ones.

In 1998, Allegacy started the annual Don’t Wait (DW) Golf Tournament, which has directly benefited Cancer Services, Inc. Allegacy has been a local presenting sponsor for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for the past seven years.

Active elsewhere in his community, Mr. Keener was appointed to the North Carolina Business and Office Advisory Board and served as chairman for three years. In 2007, he was the City Walk chairman for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and he currently serves on the local Hospice board. In 2002, he was awarded the North Carolina Credit Union Mark of Excellence award by the North Carolina Credit Union League.

Mr. Keener is a graduate of East Carolina University and the College of Financial Planning. He is a Certified Financial Planner and a graduate of the Certified Credit Union Executive Program.

A Winston-Salem native, he is married to Elaine Keener, and they have one daughter, Amanda.

James Morgan
President, The Morgan Company
Chairman, The Morgan Foundation
tcbmorganco@alltel.net

Jim Morgan, a 1975 graduate of Wake Forest University, is an ordained Presbyterian minister, having served churches in Atlanta for several years before returning home to Laurinburg, North Carolina, to assist in managing businesses established by his family. After 10 years as vice president, he became president of The Morgan Company in 2003. He is also the chairman of The Morgan Foundation, which supports higher education, religious endeavors and community charities.

Mr. Morgan has served on the Boards of St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Scotia Village Retirement Community and the Montreat Conference Center, a national conference center for the Presbyterian Church USA. He is also an avid jazz pianist and pop musician.

Mr. Morgan is a strong supporter of Wake Forest University athletics. He is married to Annette Morgan, who teaches psychology at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. They are the parents of three grown children: Melody, Mindy and Matthew. The Morgans reside in Laurinburg.

Elias H. Pegram, Jr.
Vice President and Senior Financial Advisor
Merrill Lynch
butch_pegram@ml.com

Elias H. “Butch” Pegram is a native of Winston-Salem and has worked in financial services since 1983. After completing service in the United States Air Force, he earned an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a MAEd from East Carolina University.

Prior to entering the financial services field, Mr. Pegram worked at the university in Wilmington and at Cape Fear Technical and Community College. While living in Wilmington, he served as president of the New Hanover County Heart Association for four years.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Old Hickory Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In his spare time, he enjoys supporting various athletic programs at Wake Forest University.

Billy Prim
Chairman and CEO
Primo Water Corporation
bprim@primowater.com

Billy D. Prim is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Primo Water Corporation. Primo, a privately held company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has re-invented bottled water for the home in order to eliminate single-use plastic bottles from landfills. By transforming the outdated office water cooler into a desirable Energy Star-rated home appliance, and making great-tasting bulk water available at retail, Primo has created and leads a rapidly expanding category at retail. Primo’s water bottle exchange program encourages consumers to recycle, re-use and reduce by using their zero-waste, 3- and 5-gallon bottles. To date, Primo has helped prevent over 303 million bottles from entering landfills.

Prior to Primo, Mr. Prim was founder and chief executive officer of Blue Rhino Corporation, the nation’s leading provider of branded propane cylinder exchange and complementary propane-fueled appliances. In 2004, Mr. Prim sold Blue Rhino to Ferrellgas.

Prior to founding Blue Rhino in 1994, Mr. Prim was chairman and chief executive officer of American Oil & Gas Company, a regional petroleum marketer.

Mr. Prim is chairman of the Dean Prim Foundation, which provides scholarships for students to attend four-year colleges and universities, as well as the opportunity to participate in a China travel and study program. The Foundation was created in memory of Mr. Prim’s father, who was an active member of the Yadkin County Board of Education.

In 2003, Mr. Prim was named a recipient of The Carolinas’ Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. This program honors entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, hard work and perseverance have created and sustained successful, growing business ventures.

Mr. Prim is the owner of the Winston-Salem Dash minor-league baseball team, which is a Class A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.

Mr. Prim is a member of the World Presidents’ Organization and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Forest University Schools of Business.

He and his wife, Deborah, reside in Winston-Salem.

David Shelton
Principal
R & D Properties
dshelsrt10@embarqmail.com

Until his retirement from Lowe’s Home Improvement in March 2007, David Shelton was responsible for Lowe’s real estate expansion activities. He joined the company in 1970 as a part-time warehouse associate and went on to serve as a store manager, corporate operations analyst, vice president of training, vice president of sales operations, and vice president of store operations. He assumed the role of senior vice president of real estate, engineering and construction in 1997.

A native of Stokes County, North Carolina, Mr. Shelton earned a bachelor’s degree from Berea College in Kentucky, and holds master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

Mr. Shelton has served as a member of the American Management Association, American Society for Training and Development, Home Center Leadership Council, and the President’s Advisory Council at Berea College. He has also served on the Board of Directors for the Excellence Foundation at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

He currently serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees for Berea College, and as a member of the Audit, Buildings and Grounds, and the Executive Committees. He is also a member of the Association for Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges in the U.S. and serves on the Board of Directors for the Wilkes County, North Carolina, Chamber of Commerce.