Presidential Selection Committee

Kathelen Amos joined Aflac in 1985 as a staff attorney in the company's newly formed legal department and was named deputy counsel in 1989. In 1990 she became responsible for the company's media relations. Subsequently, she was asked to form the corporate communications department, which was responsible for the company's public relations, sponsorships, donations, and national advertising. The company's first female executive vice president, she held that position for the duration of her career at Aflac. Under her leadership, Aflac developed its award-winning duck advertising campaign and in 1995 began its sponsorship relationship with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Aflac Cancer Center.

After retiring from the company in 2005, Amos retained her role as president of the Aflac Foundation, continuing to chart the philanthropic endeavors of the company and serving as the relationship adviser to the Aflac Cancer Center. She works with her husband, Dan, on his personal philanthropic endeavors and also serves as president of the Paul S. Amos Educational Foundation. Amos was appointed by successive Democratic and Republican governors to the board of trustees of the Georgia Cancer Coalition, which she currently chairs, and serves on the University of Georgia School of Law Board of Visitors.

Amos is a member of the board of trustees of Brookstone School, the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, and Columbus Bank and Trust. In 2007, she received the Volunteer of the Year award from the Georgia Department of Adult and Technical Education for her efforts with the $25 million building campaign for Columbus Technical College.

A graduate of Emory University (BA, political science) and the University of Georgia School of Law (JD), she is a member of the state bars of Georgia and Texas. She was elected trustee in 2009.

Susan Cahoon joined Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP after graduating from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 1971. She has spent her entire professional career as a litigator, becoming her firm's first female partner in 1977. She currently concentrates on patent and complex commercial litigation, is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and has received numerous other peer recognitions in her profession.

Cahoon graduated from Emory summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa (economics) in 1968. At Emory, she was a highly successful debater with the Barkley Forum and active in many campus organizations. She continued her involvement with Emory as an alumna, including service as president of the Atlanta-area Emory Club, a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Emory Alumni, and of the Emory Board of Visitors, and was recognized by the Emory College of Arts and Sciences with its Alumni Award of Distinction. She was elected as trustee in 2009 and as trustee emerita in 2018.

She is active in a variety of leadership roles in civic and charitable organizations and has served as a member of the Personnel Board of Georgia and as chair of the board of directors for Georgia's Stone Mountain Park.

Joseph Crespino is the Jimmy Carter Professor of History at Emory University. He is an expert in the political and cultural history of the twentieth-century United States and of the history of the American South since Reconstruction. His research has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Academy of Education.

In 2014, he served as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies at the University of Tubingen, and he has been named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians.

Crespino has published three books, has co-edited a collection of essays, and has written for academic journals as well as for popular forums such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, and the Wall Street Journal. His most recent book, “Atticus Finch: The Biography–Harper Lee, Her Father, and the Making of an American Icon,” was published in 2018 by Basic Books.

Jonathan Layne is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP’s Century City office. He joined the firm in 1979 and has served as co-chair of the Global Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group and as a member of the firm’s Executive and Management committees. Layne focuses on mergers and acquisitions, public offerings of equity (including IPOs) and debt, corporate finance and securities law, and has extensive experience in board of directors, special board committee, and corporate governance representations.

Layne is a graduate of the College of William & Mary, where he earned a BA in economics, and of both the School of Law and Goizueta Business School at Emory University, where he received a joint JD/MBA degree. He graduated from law school with distinction and was a member of the Order of the Coif and managing editor of the Emory Law Journal. He graduated from business school as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the business honor society. He was elected a trustee in 2009.

Layne is a member of the Business Law Sections of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of California, and of the Business and Corporations Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is also a member of the board of directors of the California Chamber of Commerce and past chair of the board and past president of the John Thomas Dye School, an independent elementary school.

Nancy J. Newman, MD, was appointed LeoDelle Jolley Chair of Ophthalmology by the Emory School of Medicine in February 2002. She also holds the positions of professor of ophthalmology and neurology and instructor in neurological surgery at Emory's School of Medicine. She is director of the section of neuro-ophthalmology for the Emory Eye Center.

Newman has authored more than 450 publications, including scientific articles, book chapters, and books, including the primary textbook in neuro-ophthalmology, Walsh & Hoyt’s Clinical Neuro-Ophthalmology, 5th and 6th editions. She is co-author, with Valérie Biousse, of the textbook Neuro-Ophthalmology Illustrated, the first edition published in 2009 and the second edition in 2016. She has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, the Journal of the Neurological Sciences, Seminars in Neurology, and the Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology.

Newman has lectured widely throughout the world and is known for her innovative teaching style. She sees both adults and children with neuro-ophthalmologic problems, such as optic nerve disorders, visual field defects, and disorders of ocular motility. Her main research interests include disorders of the optic nerve and mitochondrial diseases.

Jill Perry-Smith is Goizueta Foundation Term Chair and professor of organization & management at Emory. Perry-Smith also currently serves as the Organization & Management area coordinator. She joined the Goizueta Business School faculty after receiving her PhD in organizational behavior from the College of Management at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Perry-Smith’s research investigates how social networks and relationships impact creativity and innovation. In another stream of research, she explores how family influences work engagement and the role of company policies that help employees integrate life and work. Her research has appeared in leading management journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, and the Journal of Applied Psychology; she also has contributed to several books including "Encyclopedia of Creativity" and the "Oxford Handbook of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship." She has served as an associate editor of Academy of Management Journal.

Prior to her academic career, Perry-Smith worked in the oil and gas industry overseeing large refinery expansion projects across the United States. She brings her unique vantage point as a former civil engineer to her approach to teaching. She teaches courses in the areas of groups and teams, and creativity and innovation. She also teaches organizational behavior seminars in the PhD program.

John Rice retired as vice chair of General Electric Company in April 2018 and returned as chair of the Gas Power business in December 2018. Rice began his GE career in 1978 and has held several leadership positions in the United States, Canada, and Singapore. Beginning in 2010, he led the company’s global operations based in Hong Kong. Immediately prior to that role, he served as vice chair of GE and president and CEO of GE Technology Infrastructure; from 2005 to 2007 as vice chair of GE’s industrial and infrastructure businesses; from 2000 to 2005 as president and CEO of GE Energy; and from 1997 to 2000 as president and CEO of GE Transportation.

Rice holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and is a life trustee there. He was elected a trustee of Emory University in 2006. He serves on several other boards including Li and Fung Limited; Baker Hughes, a GE Company; and the Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Rice also serves as a senior adviser for the G-100 companies and is a senior professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Cindy Sanborn is vice president of network planning and operations for Union Pacific Railroad. One of America’s most recognized companies, Union Pacific connects 23 states in the western two-thirds of the country by rail, providing a critical global supply chain link. Sanborn is responsible for all aspects of safe, reliable rail operations over 10,000 miles of track. Recognized as Fortune’s Most Admired among trucking, transportation, and logistics companies for eight consecutive years, Union Pacific operates from all major West Coast and Gulf Coast ports to eastern gateways, connects with Canada’s rail systems, and is the only railroad serving all six major Mexico gateways.

Prior to joining Union Pacific in 2018, Sanborn was the first woman to hold an executive operating leadership role at a Class I railroad, serving as executive vice president and chief operations officer at CSX. She held various leadership positions throughout her 30 years of service, including executive vice president of operations, vice president and chief transportation officer, and vice president–northern region.

Sanborn holds a bachelor’s degree from Emory. She earned an MBA from the University of Miami. She was elected a trustee in 2015.

E. Jenner Wood III serves as a director of Genuine Parts Company, Southern Company, and Oxford Industries, and is a former director of Crawford and Company. He spent his entire career with SunTrust Bank, serving in various corporate executive positions from 1975 to 2017.

His civic responsibilities include the Jesse Parker Williams Foundation, Sartain Lanier Foundation, and Episcopal High School. Wood served as chair of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 2016. He also served as a trustee of the Camp Younts Foundation, Pitts Foundation, SunTrust Foundation, Inc., Agnes Scott College, Atlanta Speech School, Trinity School, Visiting Nurse Health System, and Piedmont Healthcare System.

Wood holds a BA from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and an MBA from Georgia State University. He was elected a trustee in 2018.