Community Foundation of the Lowcountry Announces Officers and New Directors

Community Foundation of the Lowcountry has announced board of director officers for its 2018 fiscal year: John Weymouth - Chair; Jeri Farren - Vice Chair 1; Jim Allhusen - Vice Chair 2; David Wetmore - Treasurer; and Denise Spencer - President and Secretary (non-voting staff liaison).

Additionally, four new directors have joined Community Foundation ’s board of directors.

Shirley “Peaches ” Peterson lives in Hilton Head, but spent many years in Bentonville, Ark., where she served as scholarship director for Bentonville High School, led the school ’s scholarship fundraising campaign and served as sponsor of their Black Student Union. She was president of the Rogers-Bentonville Junior Auxiliary, was a founding board member of the Northwest Arkansas Graduate Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and served on the boards of the Benton County Women ’s Shelter, the Single Parent Scholarship Fund, Ozark Counseling, Saving Grace Ministries, Mid-America Art Alliance, and Walton Arts Center.

Peterson has been an adjunct professor at Webster University and Maryville University, both in St. Louis. She ’s held human resource training and consulting roles with Prudential Insurance, Maritz Motivation Company and McDonnell Douglas Missile Systems (Boeing Company).

She received a B.A. in criminology from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and an M.S. in counseling from St. Louis University.

Peterson currently serves as vice chair for Coastal Discovery Museum, sits on the Women in Philanthropy advisory board and is chair for the Mitchelville Preservation Project.

David Rosenblum is currently the executive vice president for The Kennickell Group. He is also a retired U.S. Army Colonel, who served 30 years on active duty and in the reserves. He received a bachelor ’s degree in business from The Citadel and holds an MBA from the University of South Carolina, as well as an additional master ’s degree in strategic studies from the Army War College.

Rosenblum was commissioned in the U.S. Army upon graduation from The Citadel and served as an infantry officer in the 82nd Airborne Division and the Ranger Training Brigade before leaving active duty. He also served for more than 20 years in the National Guard and Army Reserves, which included tours in Afghanistan. Rosenblum has received two Bronze Star Medals.

He resides in Bluffton.

Jackie Rosswurm has an extensive career in education, having served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and acting superintendent. She graduated from Central Michigan University and became an elementary school teacher, then an assistant principal in Westchester County, N.Y. She relocated to Hilton Head and taught elementary and middle school, then served as a principal. Later, she served as a senior assistant to the State Superintendent of Education.

After Rosswurm earned a doctorate at the University of South Carolina, she served as founding principal of several charter schools, including Oglethorpe Academy in Savannah, then Neighborhood Charter School and Atlanta Charter Middle School, both in Atlanta.
Rosswurm returned to Hilton Head in 2007 and became the administrative and human resources officer for Beaufort County School District. In 2012 she became acting superintendent until July 2013.

She has served on the board of the Mitchelville Preservation Project and currently serves as a community member of the Hilton Head Island High School School Improvement Council. She also serves on the board of the Foundation for Education Excellence and assisted in the establishment of the Turtle Trackers Interest Group of the Women ’s Club of Sea Pines.

Rosswurm resides in Hilton Head.

James Wagner is president emeritus of Emory University, where he served as president for thirteen years, from 2003 – 2016.

Wagner earned his bachelor ’s degree in electronic engineering from University of Delaware, a Master of Science degree in clinical engineering and a doctorate degree in materials science and engineering from Johns Hopkins University. After 13 years on the faculty of Johns Hopkins, Wagner served as dean of engineering, provost and interim president of Cast Western Reserve University. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Arts and Sciences and is a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
Wagner has served on the boards of The Carter Center, the Georgia Research Alliance, SunTrust Banks, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education, the Atlanta Committee for Progress, Woodruff Arts Center and the Hilton Head Institute. In 2009 he was appointed by President Obama as vice-chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, serving until January 2017.

Wagner relocated full-time to Hilton Head Island in the fall of 2016.