Columbia Opportunity Resource

COR Table for Six (TF6) Networking Event - September 23rd, 2009 - Saluda's at Five Points

At the COR Table for Six (TF6) Networking Event, you will enjoy dinner with a prominent executive and other up and coming professionals and young leaders. Join us for a fun evening of social networking and leadership development. TF6 executives always cover a wide group of industries, so you will always find something new at TF6.

Register today at https://www.ourcor.org/index.php?option=com_dtregister&Itemid=74.

Executives for the September 23rd Meeting Include:

- Mac Bennett, President and CEO, United Way of the Midlands
- Frank Fusco, Executive Director, SC Budget and Control Board
- Erin Hardwick, Executive Director, South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants
- Pamela Lackey, President, AT&T SC Operations
- Greg LaPointe, Market President, Wells Fargo (formerly Wachovia)
- Paul Livingston, Chair, Richland County Council

See below for bios.


Mac Bennett, President and CEO, United Way of the Midlands

Since March 2005, Mac Bennett has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of the Midlands in Columbia, South Carolina.

Prior to that time he served as Executive Director of the Central Carolina Community Foundation in Columbia for 14 years. From 1980 to 1991, Bennett held a variety of positions with the University of South Carolina, including Executive Assistant to the President, Chief of Staff of the Byrnes International Center and Assistant Vice President for Administration.

Bennett is a founding director of the South Carolina Association of Nonprofit Organizations (SCANPO) and served as the first chairman of the organization’s Board of Directors. Throughout his career, Bennett has been instrumental in efforts to improve training and education for people working in the nonprofit sector. He has served on the SC Department of Revenue’s Exempt Organizations Advisory Committee and currently serves on the SC Secretary of State’s Exempt Organizations Advisory Board.

Bennett has served on a variety of nonprofit boards during his career. He currently serves on the Board of Directors Richland School District Two Foundation, SCANPO and the S. C. Philharmonic Advisory Board. Bennett also serves on the Knight Foundation’s Community Advisory Committee for Columbia. Bennett is active with his church as a Sunday School teacher and Elder.

Bennett holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and management from the University of South Carolina. He is also a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) with the Association of Fund-Raising Professionals. He is married to Leslie Woods Bennett, and they have two children, Evans who works for Schlumberger in Louisiana and McCauley who is a senior English major at Clemson University.

Register today at https://www.ourcor.org/index.php?option=com_dtregister&Itemid=74.


Frank W. Fusco, Executive Director of the SC Budget and Control Board

Frank presently serves as the Executive Director of the SC Budget and Control Board; he has thirty-five years of state service including performance auditing, budgeting and leadership positions. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps for two years.

His primary interest is in organizational performance excellence and he has learned most about this through his involvement with the national Baldrige criteria. He served as a state quality examiner for multiple years.

Frank received the Milliken Medal of Quality Award which is presented to a person whose career demonstrates a full commitment to continuous quality improvement.

In 2009, Frank was elected to the National Baldrige Foundation Board. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the South Carolina Governor’s Quality Award and he is also a member of the South Carolina Government Improvement Network.

Register today at https://www.ourcor.org/index.php?option=com_dtregister&Itemid=74.


Erin Phillips Hardwick, CAE, Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants

Erin has served Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants since December 2005. In addition to supervising all Association activities, she is directly involved in SCACPA's legislative and advocacy program and handles issues as they relate to ethics and professional conduct. A native of Cheraw, SC, she has focused her career on association management. She recently received the Certified Association Executive credential which is the highest professional credential in the association industry.

Erin Hardwick is previously the executive director of the South Carolina Association of Nonprofit Organizations (SCANPO), a position she has held since the Association’s founding in 1997. In this position she served as the chief executive of the state’s only nonprofit association working to strengthen the sector by providing resources and public policy advocacy. SCANPO reognized Erin in 2006 by renaming its Excellence in Nonprofit Management Award in her honor. The Erin Hardwick Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management is an annual award presented to member nonprofit organizations at SCANPO's Annual Conference for outstanding achievement in the exemplary management of their organization.

She is past board chair of the Lexington (SC) Chamber of Commerce; a 2004 graduate of the SC Executive Institute, a public administration program led by faculty from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; and a graduate of two local leadership programs. She is a charter member of the Women in Philanthropy Fund. Hardwick attended Lees McRae College in Banner Elk, NC and was graduated from the University of South Carolina.

Hardwick has served on the board of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA), is a past president of the SC Society of Association Executives and is an active member of several national organizations including the INDEPENDENT SECTOR, the Alliance for Nonprofit Management and the American Society of Association Executives She was appointed in 2004 to serve on the small organizations work group of the National Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, a group providing input to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on nonprofit accountability.

Prior to her work at SCANPO, Hardwick ran a successful association management company for over seven years providing executive services to a variety of statewide professional and trade associations. Before that she served as the director of communications and training at the SC School Administrators Association and as board development and public relations manager at the SC School Boards Association.

Register today at https://www.ourcor.org/index.php?option=com_dtregister&Itemid=74.


Pamela P. Lackey, President, AT&T South Carolina

Pamela P. Lackey is currently State President, AT&T South Carolina, responsible for the company’s regulatory, legislative and community affairs activities in the state. She works closely with state and community leaders to help bring new technology and jobs to the state and improve the quality of life for all South Carolinians.

Pamela brings a diverse background to her position, having joined AT&T’s predecessor company, BellSouth, in 1997. She initially served in the business marketing group, where she was the company’s primary interface with education and government customers. In that role, Pamela was instrumental in establishing the state’s first broadband network to provide high-speed Internet service to all schools and libraries. She was subsequently promoted to the position of Director-Government Relations, where she worked directly with members of the S.C. General Assembly on public policy matters. She was named to her current position in October 2007.

Prior to her telecommunications career, Pamela was a professional educator. She most recently served as the Senior Executive Assistant to the State Superintendent of Education, where she directed a division with responsibility for technology, curriculum standards, testing and professional development for teachers and administrators. Before being named supervisor of library media programs for the SC. Department of Education, she began her career as a school library media specialist.
Pamela has been involved in leadership roles in many community and civic organizations, including the Junior League of Greenville and Columbia, the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, and the Palmetto Center for Women’s Business Advisory Committee. She serves on the boards of the Central S.C. Alliance, the South Carolina State Chamber of Commerce, Governor’s School for the Arts, Hollings Cancer Center Advisory Board, Palmetto Business Forum and the United Way of the Midlands. She was appointed to the Research Centers of Excellence Review Board by Senator Glenn F. McConnell, president pro tempore for the South Carolina Senate.

A native of Meridian, MS, she attended the University of Alabama, where she was awarded a Bachelor’s in Education and a Master of Library Science and an Ed.S in school media supervision. She moved to South Carolina in 1980.
In her faith community, Pamela is a member of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, where she serves on the Altar Guild. Pamela is an avid golfer and reader, in that order. She and her husband, Gary, have two children and five grandchildren.

Register today at https://www.ourcor.org/index.php?option=com_dtregister&Itemid=74.


Paul Livingston, Chair, Richland County Council

Paul Livingston is a lifetime resident of Richland County. He has made public service and political involvement a way of life through his participation in numerous community based programs and service on several boards, commissions, and councils.
Community / Political Involvement
Current member Chairman of Richland County Council (Chairman 1998-2000)
Former member and Chairperson of Richland County School District One, Board of School Commissioners (Chairman 1988-1990)
Former member, Columbia Museum of Art Board of Directors
Current Vice-Chair, Central Carolina Economic Development Alliance (Vice-Chair 1998-1999)
County Council Representative on the Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital Board
Former Member of the State Advisory Council for Vocational and Technical Education
Chairman, Central Midlands Regional Council of Governments , Aging Advisory Committee
Executive Board Member, Engenuity SC
Member, City Center Partnership Board
Former Board Member, Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands
President, 100 Black Men of Greater Columbia Inc.
Member, College Summit South Carolina Advisory Board

Education / Training
Earned Bachelor and Master Degrees form the University of South Carolina and completed some post-graduate coursework toward a Ph.D.
Graduate, College of Charleston, Economic Development School (September 2000)

Employment
Instructor and Coordinator of Psychology, Midlands Technical College,
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Former employee of the University of South Carolina, College of Education

Awards /Honors
Recipient of the National Institute of Staff and Organizational Development Award, 1996.
Recipient of the outstanding USC Alumnus for Professional Excellence and Community Volunteer Service Award, 1989.
Outstanding Young Men of America Recipient
Midlands Technical College Teacher of the Year, 1980-1981.
Appointed by Governor Richard Riley to the State Advisory Council for Vocational and Technical Education.
Recipient of the United Way Volunteer of the Year runner-up award for the Midlands,
Past Chairperson, Midlands Technical College Faculty Committee, Airport Campus.
Nominee to Who’s Who among American Black Professors.
Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s, Ambassador of the year nominee 2002
Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Business Diversity Advocate Award Nominee 2005

Married to Deborah J. Livingston and have two children, Antonio and malea.

Register today at https://www.ourcor.org/index.php?option=com_dtregister&Itemid=74.