Atlanta — June 8, 2005

Regent J. Timothy Shelnut today was elected chair of the Board of Regents, the 18-member governing body for the University System of Georgia.

Shelnut, who was appointed to the Board of Regents by Gov. Roy Barnes in 2000, will serve as board chair from July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006. He has served as vice chair since July 1, 2004 and succeeds Regent Joel O. Wooten, Jr., who served as board chair from July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005.

“I am honored my fellow regents have elected me to serve as the board’s chair during a period when we must continue to address challenging governance and policy issues,” Shelnut stated. “The University System of Georgia is a highly valued state asset, and we take our oversight responsibility very seriously.”

Shelnut currently also serves as chair of the University System of Georgia Foundation.

During his tenure on the Board of Regents, Shelnut has served as chair of both the Committee on Finance and Business Operations and the Committee on Real Estate and Facilities. He also has served as vice chair of the Executive and Compensation Committee, and as a member of the Academic Affairs and Finance and Business Operations committees.

As chairman, Shelnut said he will join with the other members of the Board of Regents’ Executive Committee to discuss and establish the board’s primary goals and objectives for the coming year, which he said will focus on “continuing to meet the board’s mission of “Creating a More Educated Georgia.”

Shelnut has been involved in the financial-services industry for more than 30 years. He is the chairman and owner of Four Seasons Securities of Augusta, a national marketing firm specializing in retirement planning and 403 (b) tax-sheltered annuities. In addition, he is president and CEO of Shelnut Properties, Ltd., a private real estate firm based in Augusta.

Upon his appointment to the Board of Regents in 2000, Shelnut resigned as a member of the Georgia Lottery Corporation’s board of directors, where he worked on issues involving public education financing.

Shelnut previously spent 14 years as president and owner of Washington Annuity Sales, building the firm into one of the country’s fastest-growing major providers of 403(b) annuities, with assets totaling $6 billion. He sold the company to the Northern Life Insurance Company of Seattle in 1996.

The recipient of the 1998 National Philanthropist of the Year Award, Shelnut was the first donor to contribute $1 million to Augusta’s University Hospital in support of its juvenile-diabetes program. He is a former chairman and current member of the board of trustees of the Augusta State University Foundation and a member of the board of trustees at Paine College. He also currently serves on the boards of MCG Health, Inc., and the University Hospital Foundation.

Shelnut has five children: Julie, Tim Jr., Jeff, Allyn and Jamie. He and his wife, Virginia (“Sam”), live in Augusta.

The Board of Regents is a constitutional body that governs and manages the University System of Georgia, comprised of 34 public colleges and universities, more than 250,000 students, and approximately 36,000 faculty and staff.

« News Releases