PRESIDENT: AMBER WHEELER BACON
Amber Wheeler Bacon is a writer, teacher and literacy specialist. She currently works as both the reading and writing coach at Coastal Montessori Charter School, a public Montessori school in Georgetown County, and as an English instructor at Horry-Georgetown Technical College. In 2018, she earned an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. Her writing has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Epiphany, CRAFT, Ruminate, Post Road Magazine, New Ohio Review and Crazyhorse. She also regularly reviews fiction titles for Ploughshares. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and the recipient of the 2018 Breakout 8 Writers Prize sponsored by Epiphany and The Author’s Guild. She grew up in the Atlanta area, and now lives on the South Carolina coast.
VICE PRESIDENT/CONFERENCE: DR. KASIE WHITENER
Dr. Kasie Whitener is a member of the South Carolina Council on Humanities Speaker’s Bureau and a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of South Carolina. Her most recent literary conference credentials include faculty posts at Winter Wheat Literary Festival at Bowling Green State University in 2017 and the Pat Conroy Literary Center’s 2018 Lowcountry Book Club Convention. She leads Write On SC, a radio program and podcast dedicated to showcasing South Carolina authors. Dr. Whitener has published short fiction in literary journals like The Petigru Review, Spry, and Kairos, and won the Carrie McCray Award for Short Fiction in 2016 with “Cover Up.” As managing partner of Clemson Road Consulting, Dr. Whitener has directed projects in software implementation, change management, and process discovery and design. She leads 1 Million Cups Columbia, a Kaufman Foundation program promoting entrepreneurship, and co-founded the Women’s Business Center of South Carolina. Dr. Whitener is a passionate entrepreneur in which capacity she hosts Start Something, Columbia! a radio broadcast and podcast sponsored by the WBC of SC.
1st VICE PRESIDENT and SECRETARY: MIKE LEE
Mike is a retired business executive who helps people and organizations develop effectively. His professional background involved business corporate and operating roles including the HR/People and Organization Development functions. In addition to serving on volunteer boards Mike is an avid reader and a writer.
Mike is a graduate of Sir George Williams University (Concordia), Montreal, Canada. He is inspired by positive people who try to improve their lives and the lives of others.
TREASURER: STEVE GORDY
Steve is a retired industrial trainer, training manager, and technical writer. Now he’s embarked on a new career as a college instructor and a creative writer. He’s active in SCWA, which he strongly encourages you to join if you haven’t. He is also a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, the Georgia Writers Association, and the Florida Writers Association.
Steve’s work has been published in Catfish Stew, Savannah Anthology 2015 and The Petigru Review. He’s also written several books, including his new novel Faith, Hope, and Dr. Vangelis!
CO-EDITOR The Petigru Review and Quill-B: SUE CRYER
Sue Cryer is a former Newspaper Correspondent and contributor for the The State Newspaper (SC), The Newburyport Daily News (MA), The Chatham Courier (NY), and The Register Star (Hudson, NY). She currently resides in Chapin, South Carolina where she does Freelance Writing, runs her home business (Sue’s Home Solutions), serves as member and blog writer to the South Carolina Writers Association Board of Directors, and has raised her family. She also served on local PTO and HOA boards in addition to volunteering with the Chapin High School Band Boosters, and church based Grief Group Counseling, Domestic Abuse Assistance, and Bereavement events.
CO-EDITOR The Petigru Review: JAYNE BOWERS
A semi-retired educator, Jayne’s work has appeared in The Petigru Review, the Main Street Rag, the Ensign, and Guideposts. She’s the author of Musings of a Missionary Mom, Eve’s Sisters, and Crossing the Bridge: Succeeding in a Community College and Beyond. First place winner in the 2016 Carrie McCray Nonfiction Award, Jayne is also an editor and designer of the Camden Chapter’s two anthologies, Serving Up Memory and What I Wish I Could Tell You.
DIRECTOR, BOARD PLANNING: ROGER JONES
Roger Jones is founder, CEO and president of one of South Carolina’s largest independent real estate development and management firms. He also founded a South Carolina literacy organization called Book Buddies that eventually merged with a west coast literacy effort to form the national literacy association called Reading Partners. He has served on numerous non-profit boards including The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.
He has self-published a book of personal poems and is a current board member of the South Carolina Writers Association. His first fiction novel is in final revisions and he has studied writing with the authors and editors Sue Monk Kidd, Bob Meyer, C J Lyons, Nina Bruhns and Mary Alice Monroe.
DIRECTOR, CHAPTER LIAISON: ANN WILLIAMS
Ann Williams is passionate about the literary arts. Being a literary artist that published her own work, she is aware of many in our community that take on this task. Being an independent publisher of one’s own work does not mean going it alone. Sharing knowledge is the cornerstone of the Indie spirit that Ann is imbued with. Publishing using Professional Industry Standards should be the goal of all literary artists. The setting of realistic goals and having fact-based expectations is of great importance.
DIRECTOR, MEMBERSHIP: PATRICK MCMILLAN
Patrick is the Emmy Award-winning host, co-creator and writer of the popular ETV nature program Expeditions with Patrick McMillan. For over 20 years, Patrick has worked as a professional naturalist, biologist and educator. His range of experience has concentrated on botany, though he is also well-respected through his work in ichthyology, herpetology and mammalogy. Patrick is a professional naturalist, the Glenn and Heather Hilliard Professor of Environmental Sustainability at Clemson University, where he is also a faculty member in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, the director of the South Carolina Botanical Garden, the Bob Campbell Geology Museum and the Clemson Experimental Forest and an honorary member of the Clemson University Class of 1939.
Patrick received his BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and his PhD in Biological Sciences from Clemson University. His research has been featured in both National Wildlife and South Carolina Wildlife magazines, as well as in numerous articles in The State, the Greenville News and other local and regional newspapers. He is a contributor to the book Life at the Water’s Edge, which won the 2005 Renewable Natural Resources Foundation’s Outstanding Achievement Award and has been selected to receive one of 10 South Carolina Notable State Document Awards for 2005.
Patrick’s intense interest in natural history began at a very young age. He attributes his memorization of thousands of scientific names to his grandmother, who would read him Animal Kingdom and wildflower books as a young child, including the Latin names—quite a contrast to Dr. Seuss! He spent his early childhood in the Fakahatchee Strand and Big Cypress Swamp with his father and grandfather. From there, his research has taken him around the world in pursuit of new species of plants, and his areas of expertise are in sedge and Begonia taxonomy, natural community ecology and conservation biology.
DIRECTOR, PUBLICITY & SOCIAL MEDIA: MARY STURGILL
Mary Sturgill is an award-winning journalist who is an anchor/reporter for News 19 WLTX in Columbia, SC. As a journalist she’s lived all over the country covering stories on every topic. Originally from North Carolina, she graduated from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with a degree in English literature. She attended graduate school at Arizona State University to receive her masters degree in Journalism and Mass Communications at the Walter Cronkite School. Whether it’s with her blogs, her talks, or the stories she tells everyday, her motivation is; to shed light, to empower and to make a difference.
DIRECTOR, CONFERENCE: ANN CHANEY
Ann Chaney was born and raised in rural southeastern North Carolina. As a young girl, she read every Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames Series book she could get her hands on which led to a lifelong obsession with reading series! She waits impatiently for her favorite authors’ next book to be available on Amazon.
The first of her family to attend college, she attended University of North Carolina at Greensboro, majoring in European and Russian History. She was also the first woman in her family to serve in the military.
Married to her hero, after 8 household moves in 34 years, they have returned to her roots in North Carolina. She spends her days and nights writing compelling stories set against the backdrop of Regency England and the Peninsular Wars.
DIRECTOR: ADRIENNE MATHUES
Adrienne Mathues can’t remember a time she wasn’t surrounded by books or making up stories. She has worked as a librarian in public, academic, and corporate settings before joining a small medical device company in the upstate of South Carolina.
She has been a member of SCWA since graduate school, and attended meetings at the Aiken and Greenville chapters. In 2016 she joined the staff of The Petigru Review, and took over its production in 2017.
PRESIDENT, EX-OFFICIO: CAROL-ANN RUDY
Originally from British Columbia, Canada, Carol-Ann serves as president of SCWA, bringing the experience of serving on three non-profit boards.. She was formerly the writer for The Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald Newspaper-In-Education chapter. Following that, she created a series of thirty-nine Character Education stories for middle-grade students with supporting materials featured in a number of newspapers across the country. She was also a Technical Writer for three national corporations as well as a columnist for two online newspapers. Currently, she is submitting a Middle-Grade and a New Adult novel to two agents upon request. Her work has been published in two issues of The Petigru Review. In addition, she is an artist focusing on illustrating one of her children’s manuscripts.
