Our Board of Directors
Lady Bird
retired in 2009 from the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation where she was the first president hired by Governor Phil Bredesen to implement Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library statewide. During her presidency the program, which provides a free book by mail every month to children from birth to five, was expanded to all 95 counties in Tennessee resulting in well over 200,000 participating children (56% of the state’s under-five population). She has held numerous management positions including vice president of American General Life and Accident Insurance company and executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development (under then Mayor Bredesen). She has served on many boards and has been chair of the American Heart Association board, the Homework Hotline board and the Tennessee State University Foundation board. She is a past president of the Nashville Rotary Club, the state’s largest civic club and one of the largest Rotary Clubs in the world. She currently serves on the Leadership Nashville Alumni Board, the Mary Baldwin College Board of Trustees, is chair of The Nashville Food Project board and president of the Tennessee Women’s Forum. She was inducted into the YWCA’s Academy for Women of Achievement in 1999 and has received numerous honors in recognition of her volunteer leadership. She and her husband, Billy Bird, have three married children and four grandchildren. They enjoy spending time with family, travelling, and doing volunteer work.
Rev. Clay Stauffer
was born and raised in Memphis, TN and is the oldest of four children. He is a fourth generation Disciples minister, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. On October 21st, 2007, he was installed as the sixth and youngest Senior Minister to ever serve at Woodmont Christian Church (at the age of 27). He earned his undergraduate degree in Religion and Sociology from Texas Christian University in 2002 and his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2005. While at Princeton, Clay’s research was concentrated in the area of pastoral care and counseling. Before being called to Woodmont, Clay served three other churches: The Riverside Church in New York City (2003-2005), Christ Church in Lausanne, Switzerland (summer of 2004), and Lindenwood Christian Church in Memphis, TN (2005-2007). He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Ministry in Homiletics at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. In 2010, Clay was named one of Nashville’s “Top Forty Under 40″ by the Nashville Business Journal, honoring the top young leaders in the city. He is married to Megan Partridge of Waynesboro, VA. Clay and Megan have one beautiful daughter, Montgomery Mae, who was born on July 7th, 2010.
Thomas Williams
is a Nashville Realtor and food and restaurant consultant who brings his passion for Southern, locally-grown food to all aspects of his life. A native Nashville and an alumnus of Belmont University, Thomas is a real estate broker with Pilkerton Realtors. He is a principal in Cornbread Consulting,a consulting firm specializing in public relations,brand strategy,and event planning for the culinary and hospitality industries. Thomas is a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and Slowfood.
Sara Finley
serves as Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs for CVS Caremark Corporation, a Fortune 20 pharmaceutical services company based in Rhode Island. In March 2011, she retired as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for CVS Caremark and now works with the company in a legal advisory role. She has been with CVS Caremark and its predecessor companies for over 15 years and has been based in Nashville since 2003. Previously, she was an associate and partner at Kutak Rock in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Alabama in 1982 and received her law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1985. She is a member of the Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee bar associations, American Bar Association, American Corporate Counsel Association and American Health Lawyers Association. She is also a member of the Vanderbilt Law School Board of Advisors, a board member of The Land Trust For Tennessee, a board member of The Nashville Food Project, a member of the Nashville Rotary Club and a compliance committee member of Alive Hospice.
Kevin Doherty
serves as an equity partner at Nelson Mullins. His practice focuses on insurance regulatory law, with particular emphasis on captives, risk retention groups, self-insurance funds, and other alternative insurance vehicles. Kevin also practices entertainment law and represents recording artists, publishers, songwriters, and music-related companies in connection with all types of music industry agreements and transactions. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and has been recognized numerous times as one of the Nashville Business Journal ‘s “Best of the Bar”, both for his work in Insurance Regulation. Kevin is a graduate of Princeton University and Vanderbilt University Law School. Kevin is admitted to practice in Tennessee, Georgia, and New York. Kevin also serves on the Board of Directors of Operation Stand Down Nashville, the Arthritis Foundation, and Catholic Charities, and he is a past Chairman of the Board of the Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee. He lives in Green Hills with his wife Hilary and their two sons, Steve and Jack, and he spends most of his free time chasing the boys to various sports and other activities.
Bill Peerman
With over 27 years of experience in financial consulting, Bill started Peerman Capital Management in 2009. As the owner of Peerman Capital Management, Bill reviews client investment history, analyzes needs and situations, and makes investment decisions. He helps clients articulate a financial objective, personal investment style, and risk tolerance. Bill received an undergraduate degree in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Virginia’s Colgate Darden School. Bill is motivated by the idea of helping people and was a founding board member of Mobile Loaves & Fishes Nashville in 2007. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Y-CAP YMCA of Middle Tennessee. Bill has been married to Lisa, for 24 years; they have two Labrador retrievers, Mr. Lucky and Midnight Sally. Bill and Lisa love music of all types and spend time at their beach place on the Redneck Riviera in Panama City Beach, Florida.
Amanda Dixon
Amanda Dixon is the admissions coordinator for the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, a high school research program. Originally from Northern California, she received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Miami and a master’s in organizational leadership from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. She has taught Spanish at Linden Waldorf School, ESL at St. Luke’s Community House, and, prior to moving to Nashville, was an AmeriCorps volunteer in Asheville, North Carolina where she taught underprivileged and immigrant students. During her time in AmeriCorps, she served on the North Carolina AmeriCorps annual summit planning committee. Amanda has worked with many organizations as they developed successfully from the start-up phase into maturity. Amanda lives in Nashville with her husband and son. She enjoys volunteering, which is how she became involved with The Nashville Food Project, as well as cooking, reading, and traveling.
Judy Wright
Judy Wright has been feeding and caring for people since she was a young girl growing up in a small coastal town in Massachusetts, the sole sister of six brothers and granddaughter of four Sicilian immigrants. Her love of comfort food was sparked by big family dinners after church every Sunday, and nurtured in her mother Mary’s kitchen. Professionally she was called to nursing, drawn to Skidmore College’s nursing program and Manhattan campus. While working as a pediatric surgical nurse at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, she met surgery intern Kelly Wright. They married, and in 1990 when Dr. Wright accepted a position at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the couple and their two young boys moved to Nashville; their third son was born here. Judy immersed herself in the Nashville community, combining her nursing background, organizational skills and love for cooking and gardening into a full time vocation of volunteering that has spanned two decades. She has held several leadership positions at Christ Church Cathedral, including the Vestry, Outreach, Youth Advisory and Stewardship committees. She was the garden coordinator for Nashville’s annual Antiques & Garden Show; served multiple years on the board of the Montgomery Bell Academy Mothers Club; is on the Parents Council of Sewanee; and is a volunteer Disaster Nurse for the Red Cross and at Siloam Family Health Center where she cares for the refugees and immigrants who come to Nashville. She started her neighborhood’s Neighborhood Watch Group and continues as its director and president of the Neighborhood Association. She was introduced to Mobile Loaves & Fishes after the disastrous May 2010 flooding in Nashville when with friends, she harvested and washed 30 one-gallon bags of lettuce and spinach from her backyard garden and brought them to then ML&F headquarters. There she found a program that spoke to her heart, and she has been passionately committed to its mission since. She helps cook hot meals on Fridays, and in the long term, intends to help create some of the new cooking, nutrition and urban gardening projects envisioned by The Nashville Food Project team.
Berry Holt
Berry Holt is a partner at Bradley, Arant, Boult and Cummings and focuses his law practice primarily on the health care industry. He has handled a wide range of health care provider and other business matters over the past 35+ years. He acts as a general advisor to his clients on a broad scale and is currently frequently on site at St. Thomas Health Services as general counsel. Berry’s practice ranges from general corporate advice to specific health care advice regarding transactional, regulatory or operational matters. Berry was a founding board member of Mobile Loaves & Fishes and now serves on the board of The Nashville Food Project.
Rob Barrick
Rob Barrick has served as CEO of Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. (SSR) since 1986 and has been Chairman and CEO since 1995. During his tenure as CEO, SSR has grown from 103 people in two offices with $5 million in revenue to 500 people in 14 offices with $70 million in revenue. Rob holds a Bachelors of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. Rob began his career with Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. in 1974. He held the positions of mechanical engineer, project manager and mechanical department head before moving to Houston in 1983, where he started and managed the Houston office before returning to the Nashville office in 1986. Rob served as an Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University from 2008 through 2011. Rob was a founding partner of Mobile Loaves & Fishes Nashville, which provides food and clothing to the homeless and working poor. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Nashville and has been a board member of Students Taking a Right Stand (STARS) since 1988. Past contributions include Chairman Alumni Board at Montgomery Bell Academy; Leadership Nashville; Chairman of the Regional Board of STARS; and Chairman of the Fire and Building Code Appeals Board of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. Rob is a native of Nashville, Tennessee. He and his wife, Kim, have twin sons, Luke and Ryan. They are members of Christ Church Episcopal in Nashville.
Rev. Viki Matson
Viki Matson has been the Director of Field Education at Vanderbilt Divinity School since 1996. In this position she serves as something of a “bridge” between Divinity students and various ministry sites around the city. The heart of her work is helping students gain the capacity for theological reflection on the practice of religious leadership in all the various forms that takes in our time.
She received the Bachelor of Science in Religion and Sociology from Phillips University (Enid, OK) in 1977 and the Master of Divinity from Phillips University Theological Seminary in 1982. She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Prior to coming to Vanderbilt she served as Chaplain at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville for 11 years.
Viki has served on the boards of several Nashville ministries including Penuel Ridge, Interfaith Alliance, Prison/Community Partnership, Nashville CARES, The Pastoral Center for Healing and the Ryan White Foundation. In addition to serving as a board member at The Nashville Food Project, she also participates on the St. Thomas CPE partnership Professional Advisory Group and the Veteran’s Administration CPE Professional Advisory group.
Viki lives in Nashville with her partner, Dr. Emily Askew, her mother, Geri Ordway and their cat. She enjoys quilting, cooking, being creative, and being home. She is currently engaged in a project of reading her way through the list of Pulitzer Prize winning fiction.
Sarah Lodge Tally
Sarah Lodge Tally is an attorney at Butler Snow and focuses her practice on the health care industry. She represents health care providers, primarily not-for-profit hospitals, in front of various state agencies. Sarah received an undergraduate degree in European History at Sewanee and a J.D. at the University of Tennessee. She was born and raised in Nashville and is a life-long member of Christ Church Cathedral. She is married to Trey Tally; they have one daughter, Virginia.
Steven J. Greil
Steven J. Greil graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1973 and immediately began a thirty two year career in music, entertainment and the performing arts. Griel guided the careers of Bobby Bare, Pam Tillis, Suzy Bogguss, and produced the award winning television series, “Bobby Bare and Friends” for The Nashville Network. In late 1988, Greil became the Executive Director of The Nashville Symphony and was later recruited to become President and CEO of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in 1994.
Greil received the 2002 Nonprofit CEO of the year presented by the Center for Nonprofit Managment and Bank of America. He has served on numerous community Boards of Directors, including the the Country Music Association, the Downtown Nashville Rotary Club, the Greater Nashville Chamber of Commerce, The Temple – Congregation Ohabai Shalom, Tennessee Special Olympics, and the Nashville Convention Center Commission. He served as a National Trustee of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences (NARAS). Currently, Greil serves on the Boards of the W.O. Smith School of Music and The Nashville Food Project.
Ian Navarro
A graduate of The University of Mississippi, Ian currently serves as Director of Gourmet Foods for Creation Gardens, a produce and specialty foods distributor servicing Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. Here Ian works closely with Chefs and foodservice manufactures to help with their daily and longterm menus. A native of Houston, Texas, Ian also is a partner in Red Umbrella Event Planning which specializes in offsite gameday events. Ian first got involved with Nashville Food Project as a member of Woodmont Christian Church.
Charles Sueing
Charles Sueing, a native Memphian, earned his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and has resided in the Nashville area since 1994. He is the principal agent and President of Sueing Insurance Agency, Inc., which is a full service insurance and financial services agency with Nationwide Insurance & Financial Services. Having begun his career with Nationwide 20 years ago, he moved through the ranks of corporate management before branching out to start his own agency here in Nashville 15 years ago. This full services insurance agency offers insurance solutions and financial services including coverage for auto, homeowners, business and life as well as a variety of retirement and investment vehicles. In this most competitive environment, Charles still believes that Customers Service Matters and he and his staff have dedicated themselves to providing the very best in quality and service available. He was recognized by Nationwide Insurance Co as the 2007 Regional Community Service Award winner and 2009 District Community Service Award winner for his outstanding community and customer service work. He also received the 2008-2009 Spirit of the Chamber Award from the Nashville Chamber for his efforts in leading Small Business Initiatives. His firm was recognized as a 2012 Honoree for being a Top 300 Small Business of the South. Charles is also very active in various business and community organizations and has served at the Board level on many of them. Charles is a member of the Downtown Rotary Club of Nashville where he has served in several capacities including the Board of Directors, Membership Committee, Program Committee, Second Harvest Feed the Need program and the Watkins’s Park Community Center. He is an alumnus of the 2010 Class of Leadership Nashville and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is married to Marie, his wife of 19 years and they have 3 children. They are members of Lake Providence Baptist Church, where he serves as a deacon. When not busy pursuing business opportunities or being involved in community service, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, enjoying good food and good music and loves to golf.
