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Council and Foundation Executive Committee

Representative Janis Sontany, Chair, represents the 53rd House District in the Tennessee State Legislature. She is a former Member of the Metro Council, Nashville - Davidson County's governing body. She retired from the Du- Pont Corporation after 21 years of service in 2004. Representative Sontany currently serves as the Secretary for the House Judiciary Committee and the Vice-Chair of the of the House Criminal Practice and Procedure Subcommittee. She is also a Member of the Finance, Ways & Means Committee and the Joint Select Committee on Children and Youth. An active citizen, Representative Sontany is a past president of the Nashville Women's Political Caucus, a member of Women in Numbers, Democratic Women of Davidson County, Victims of Crime Counsel and she serves on the Boards of Progress, the Boys & Girls Club and the YMCA Camp Widjiwagan. Representative Sontany is a past recipient of the Council of Mental Retardation Association Public Leader of the Year, Legislator of the Year for Nashville Humane Association and she was an Athena Award nominee in 2002 and 2006. She is the proud mother of two daughters.

Dr. Carol Danehower, of Memphis, serves as the Vice-Chair of the Council and Foundation. She is Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at The University of Memphis. She received her doctorate in Management from the University of Kentucky. As Associate Dean, Dr. Danehower is responsible for all academic programs (undergraduate, masters, and Ph.D.) in the College, including recruiting, admissions, advising, curriculum, and scheduling. Dr. Danehower represents the Tennessee Board of Regents on the Economic Council for Women.

Shawn Francisco represents the Northwest Tennessee Development District on the Council and is the West Tennessee Representative on the Executive Committee. She was appointed in 2001 to serve as the Weakley County Director of Finance. The last four years, she has received the nationallyrecognized Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, making Weakley County one of only five Tennessee counties to receive this award. She also serves on the Everett-Stewart Regional Airport Board as Secretary/Treasurer, the Weakley County E-911 Communications Board, and the First State Bank advisory board of Dresden. Ms. Francisco is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association, Tennessee Government Finance Officers Association, National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP), and the Tennessee Association of Government Accountants. She is an alumni member of Leadership Weakley County and the State of Tennessee Local Government Leadership Program.

Dr. Tommie Morton-Young, Middle Tennessee Representative on the Executive Committee, currently owns and operates Afr-Agenda Literary Management and Publishing and Authentic Tours of Historic Nashville and Middle Tennessee and serves as Chair of the Education Committee for the NAACP. Dr. Morton-Young has previously been a professor and administrator, worked for the Library of Congress and for the YWCA. She has served on the National Institute of Health Advisory Council, as Chair of the North Carolina Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission, as President of Davidson County Democratic Women and on the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. Dr. Morton-Young has broad service experience, is a Past-president of the Southeast branch of the Association of American University Women and has worked with the Commission on the Status of Women. She is a representative of At Large Women’s Groups on the Council.

Elliott Moore, East Tennessee Representative on the Executive Committee, is the Assistant Vice President of Community and Government Relations at Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA), a 13 hospital healthcare system with headquarters in Johnson City, Tennessee. In this role she has responsibility for advocating MSHA’s position on public policy issues to local, state and federal government officials and for coordinating grassroots efforts to gain community support for the hospital system’s services and initiatives. Ms. Moore is the past President of the Hospital Alliance of Tennessee and previously served as the executive director of the National Association of Social Workers – Tennessee Chapter. Ms. Moore is the past President of both the Nashville and the Tennessee Women’s Political Caucus. She was a recipient of the 2006 Bristol YWCA Tribute to Women award in the business and professional category and in 2006 she was awarded Premier’s James L. Scott Excellence in Advocacy Award. Ms. Moore represents the First Tennessee Development District on the Economic Council.

Ellen Bronaugh Vergos, of Memphis, serves as the Secretary for the Foundation and Council. She is a member of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP, Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights Practice Group and concentrates her practice in the areas of business bankruptcy and commercial litigation. Ms. Vergos is a Certified Specialist in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification Specialization and Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education. Her career includes public service in the U.S. Department of Justice as United States Trustee for Region 8 (Tennessee and Kentucky) pursuant to the appointment of former Attorney General Janet Reno, from 1995 to 2003; private law practice in Memphis and Nashville, and a judicial clerkship in the U.S. District Court for the Honorable Harry W. Wellford (retired Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judge.) Her professional memberships include American Bar Association; Tennessee Bar Association, Ethics and Professionalism Committee; Memphis Bar Association; Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women (past president); Association for Women Attorneys (past president); American Bankruptcy Institute; Mid South Commercial Law Institute ( past board member); Tennessee Bar Foundation and the Memphis Bar Foundation. She is the Economic Council’s Representative for the Memphis Area Governments Development District.

Yvonne Wood, Treasurer, is owner of Wood Consultants, a conference and event planning company. She earned a degree in political science from the University of Tennessee and a master's degree in public policy from Vanderbilt. Her professional career spans many experiences, including executive assistant to Governor Buford Ellington to becoming Director of Government Relations for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. She was also the Director of the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation. Her last position with Tennessee state government prior to forming her own company was as director of Program Integrity of the Medicaid-TennCare Program, where she won two national awards for detecting Medicaid fraud and abuse. Ms. Wood works for the career, leadership, educational and political advancement of women locally; nationally and internationally through her own leadership positions with the Tennessee Economic Council on Women, ATHENA International, Tennessee Women’s Political Caucus, Nashville Women's Political Caucus, CABLE, and Women's International Forum. Ms. Wood was recognized by the Tennessee General Assembly and by Nashville Metro Government with resolutions honoring her for "Championing Issues for Women." She received the 2005 Nashville ATHENA award, the 2004 Nashville Business Owner of the Year award and was a member of the 2005-2006 class of Leadership Nashville.

Dr. Carol Berz, LCSW, JD, PhD, Immediate Past Chair of the Economic Council on Women and the Foundation, is the CEO of Private Dispute Resolution Services, LLC, a mediation and strategic planning services and training organization headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Dr. Berz is listed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee as a Rule 31 Neutral and Trainer in General Civil and Family Mediation, with specialization in Domestic Violence. She is a Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work and teaches mediation law and ethics and strategic planning extensively in both the private and public sectors, as well as the design of internal conflict management systems. Dr. Berz is the recipient of the 2004 Chattanooga ATHENA Award and was recognized by the City of Chattanooga in 2007 and 2008 for her unique contributions toward advancing equality of opportunity among the citizens of the City. Dr. Berz serves as a Councilwoman for the City of Chattanooga and is a certified Instructor and Trainer in Aquatics for the YMCA/USA, where she specializes in aquatic kick-boxing and HydroFit aquatic sports training.

Margaret Jane Powers, Past Chair, Upper Cumberland Development District Rep

Foundation Members

Rosemary Frank, MBA, CDFA,^™ is an Independent Financial Planner with an office in Brentwood, TN. Her personal financial services practice is focused on helping individuals and families understand how money really works and overcome obstacles to building personal wealth. Rosemary previously held a number of management and executive positions, over a period of 30 years, in the corporate environment. She received her B.S. degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and was awarded an MBA by the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She is a Registered Representative, licensed in five states, by the National Association of Securities Dealers and is an Investment Advisory Agent. She has earned the designation of Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA^™) and she is licensed by the State of Tennessee Insurance Commissioner as a property, casualty, life, health and variable products agent. Rosemary currently chairs the Women on Boards initiative for Nashville CABLE and serves as the Financial Chair for the Economic Summit for Women.

Christi Granstaff, MSW is the President of the Tennessee Women's Political Caucus and the Health Policy Director at the Tennessee Primary Care Association. She directs the Association's government relations, public relations, and health policy activities and has successfully advocated for millions of dollars in appropriations for the care of the uninsured at community health centers & has improved state health policy for community health centers and their patients. Ms. Granstaff is the Chair of the Political Action for Candidate Election Committees for both the National Association and the Tennessee Chapter of Social Workers, a Board member of the Nashville Women's Political Caucus, and is a member of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women Foundation. She worked on Congressman Jim Cooper's successful campaign for Tennessee's 5th Congressional Seat and worked on his legislative staff in Washington, D.C. during his first several months in office.

Deborah Reed is currently employed at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis as Assistant Director of Corporate Training and Continuing Education. Through her work in Continuing Education, Ms. Reed consistently seeks to offer programs that help women prepare to enter the workforce and expand their career opportunities. She is very instrumental in organizing the annual West Tennessee Regional Women Business Owners Opportunities Conference (WBOOC). The conference provides workshops and panel expertise to enhance economic empowerment through business ownership. Ms. Reed fully understands that the level of education attained and earnings potential are undeniably linked. She participates in a variety of leadership capacities. She is an alumnus of WestStar, a regional program which develops and challenges leaders to accept assertive and dynamic roles to help communities solve problems and make West Tennessee a better place. She is the regional director for the Tennessee Alliance for Continuing Higher Education. Ms. Reed is a distinguished Maxine Smith Fellow and was recently appointed by Governor Phil Bredesen to the State Workforce Development Board. She was elected to serve on the Board of the Women's Economic Council Foundation in 2007.

Faith Tapp

Council Members

Sandra Bennett, At-Large Women's Group Representative
Shawn Francisco, Northwest Development District Representative
Arlene Garrison, University of Tennessee Representative
Rep. Sherry Jones, State House of Representatives
Linda Manning, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Representatives
Elliott Moore, Northeastern Development District Representative
Tommie Morton-Young, At-Large Women's Group Representative
Rep. Mary Pruitt, Women's Legislative Caucus Representative
Wendy Pitts Reeves, East Development District Representative
Sandra Silverstein, Southwest Development District Tennessee Representative
Senator Mike Williams, Senate Representative
Senator Jamie Woodson, Senate Representative

Council Staff

Jennifer Rawls, Executive Director
Julia Reynolds, Research Analyst
Tracey Roberts, Secretary