NeSmith Named Vice Chair of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
Atlanta — June 7, 2011
Regent Dink NeSmith
The Board of Regents, the 18-member governing body for the University System of Georgia, today elected Regent William “Dink” H. NeSmith Jr. to a six-month term as the Board’s Vice Chair.
NeSmith, who was appointed in March 2008 to the Board of Regents by Gov. Sonny Perdue representing the Tenth Congressional District, will serve as Board Vice Chair from July 1, 2011, through December 31, 2011.
At the April board meeting, the Regents voted to change the board’s bylaws so that the terms of the Board’s chair and vice chair will run on the calendar year instead of the state’s fiscal year, which is July 1 through the following June 30. The new format will take affect January 1, 2012.
“I look forward to working with the Board Chair-elect Tarbutton and Chancellor-designate Hank Huckaby in continuing to create a more educated Georgia,” says NeSmith.
NeSmith is co-owner and president of Athens-based Community Newspapers, Inc., which publishes several dozen newspapers in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas. A native of Jesup, he is a 1970 graduate of The University of Georgia (UGA) and chairman of the Richard B. Russell Foundation. He is past president of UGA’s Alumni Association.
NeSmith served eight years on Gov. Perdue’s 20-member Commission for a New Georgia. He is on the board of directors of Athens First Bank and Trust, Southern Mutual Insurance Company, Pattillo Construction Company and the Georgia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. NeSmith is past president of the Georgia Press Association and former chairman of Leadership Georgia. He is an emeritus member of the UGA Athletic Association’s board of directors and the UGA Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
During the FY 2011, NeSmith has served as the Board’s chairman of the academic affairs committee, vice chairman of MCG Health Systems, Inc. and vice chairman of the University System of Georgia Foundation.
He and his wife, Pam, have three children and live in Athens.
Regent Jim Jolly chaired the committee that developed nominations for board officers for the coming year. Committee members were Regents Doreen Poitevint and Larry Walker.
The Board of Regents is a constitutional body that governs and manages the University System of Georgia, comprised of 35 public colleges and universities, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and the Georgia Public Library Service; more than 311,000 students, and approximately 40,000 faculty and staff.
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