Emory elects French, Reilly, Morris to board

By Deb Hammacher

Emory has elected three new members to its Board of Trustees: Russell French and Wendell Reilly have been chosen for three-year terms as alumni trustees, and Methodist bishop William Wesley Morris was selected as an eight-year term trustee.

When their initial appointments expire, both French and Reilly will be eligible to have their terms renewed for another three years.

Russell French is a partner with the venture capital firm of Noro-Moseley Partners (NMP). He practiced law with the firm of King & Spalding for 15 years prior to joining NMP in 1985. While at King & Spalding, French specialized in corporate and securities law, negotiating a number of acquisitions, mergers and public offerings.

At NMP French lends his legal expertise to a management team of partners that has created four limited partnership funds totaling some $262 million in capital and has invested in more than 100 companies since the firm’s founding in 1983.

A 1967 graduate of Emory, French earned his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. As an Emory undergraduate, he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He served on Emory’s Board of Visitors from 1989–93.

He has been a director of Post Properties since 1993, is a board member of The Lovett School and is a former director of Healthdyne.

A 1980 graduate of Emory, Wendell Reilly earned his MBA in finance from Vanderbilt University in 1983. He is CEO of Grapevine Communications, which he founded in 1997 with several venture capital firms. Grapevine owns a number of independent television stations in small and mid-sized markets.

Prior to his current position, Reilly began working in investment banking, was vice president for corporate development for Lamar Advertising Company (1992–94), chief financial officer for Haas Publishing (1989–92) and Lamar Corporation (1985–89), and was an account executive with Lamar Outdoor Advertising (1980–81). He served with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic from 1983–85.

As an Emory student, Reilly was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

Reilly serves on the board of directors for the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and the Lamar Advertising Company. He is chairman of the legislative committee of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia and former chairman of economic development for the Washington cluster of The Atlanta Project.

William Wesley Morris is one of five United Methodist bishops serving on Emory’s board. Elected to the episcopate in 1992, Morris served as bishop to the Alabama-West Florida area until last year, when he was assigned to the Nashville, Tenn., area.

An ordained elder of the church’s Tennessee Annual Conference, Morris’s ministry has included pastorates in Chattanooga, Nashville and Gallatin. He also has served as the associate council director of the Tennessee conference, as Clarkville district superintendent, conference council director and Murfreesboro district superintendent.

Morris has served as a trustee of several other United Methodist institutions, including Asbury Seminary, Lambuth University, Martin Methodist College, Rust College, Holston Home for Children and Methodist Healthcare. In the church’s Southeastern Jurisdic-tion (SEJ), Morris has served as a conference delegate and as president of the SEJ administrative council. At Emory, Morris has been a member of the Candler School of Theology advisory committee.

A native of Baltimore, Morris holds an undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, a bachelor of divinity from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, a master’s from Scarritt College for Christian Workers, a doctorate of ministry from Vanderbilt and several honorary doctorates. His areas of emphasis in ministry are evangelism, missions and Christian stewardship.