Board of Directors

More about Derek

Derek is currently the Senior Vice President and Area Executive of SouthState Bank. First Landmark Bank elevated Derek to Marietta Market President in September 2018. Prior to September, he served the Bank’s Midtown market as SVP/Senior Commercial Lender. He oversaw the Marietta commercial lending group and the Marietta Banking Center and was responsible for business development in Marietta and throughout Cobb County. Derek received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance in 2001 from Kennesaw State University and completed the three-year graduate School of Banking at LSU in 2009.

Derek is a member of the Chairman’s Club of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. Derek is the past Treasurer of St. Benedict's Episcopal Church. He has participated in teaching financial literacy programs to elementary school students with Junior Achievement and has served as a volunteer with Special Olympics. He is married to Ashley and they have two young children.

More about Jenny

Upon joining St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in 2019, Jenny Porter became interested in Path to Shine and started attending the annual Low Country Boil & Auction fundraiser. Once she retired in the spring of 2022, she had more time to devote to Path to Shine, so joined the auction committee, became a mentor at Norton Park and in the summer of 2023, she joined the Board of Directors.

Jenny worked in the corporate world for ten years, took a few years off to be a full-time mom, and then for the past 20 years, she was co-owner of a home décor and gift store in Marietta. She has spent many years teaching Sunday school; junior church, for elementary-aged children; Vacation Bible School; and ESL classes. She is currently the coordinator of an ESL program which is joint mission with St. Benedict’s and St. Jude’s. Jenny has two grown children and one granddaughter who all live in Costa Rica.

She is touched by the many stories of children who have grown up with Path the Shine and is excited to be a part of this ministry.

More about Jim

Jim is a retired Information Security Consultant with a BS degree in Computer Science from Stony Brook University. For over two decades he worked in various capacities at Merrill Lynch, such as telecommunications, email/collaboration systems, data center management, and information security and privacy. Later he was a senior consultant at RSA/EMC Corporation working with clients over the entire spectrum from “techies” to the “C-suite” level.

Since retiring in 2014, Jim has been mentoring at Path To Shine and has been a co-director of the Marietta program for much of that time. He has also been involved with other aspects of Path To Shine such as the Ugly Pants golf tournament fundraiser and has provided technical support for the home office as well as other Path To Shine programs.

He has also volunteered with other organizations including Family Promise of Cobb County and the Church of the Common Ground.

Born and raised on Long Island, Jim moved to Smyrna in 2005. He has three adult children and two grandchildren. He is a member of St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in Smyrna.

More about Rev. Winston

A native of Barbados, The Reverend R. Winston Arthur obtained a Bachelors Degree in History and Politics and an LLB in Law from the University of the West Indies in 2002 and 2005, respectively. He most recently lived in the British Virgin Islands where he practiced law as a commercial litigator and served as Executive Director of an International Offshore Trust Company.

Rev Winston followed God's call to ordained ministry in 2011 and became a postulant for Holy Orders in the Diocese of the Virgin Islands in 2013. He obtained a Masters of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) in Alexandria, Virginia where he was appointed by the Dean as a Sacristan of the Immanuel Chapel. He was ordained to the transitional Diaconate on 31st July, 2016 in the Diocese of the Virgin Islands. He was called to be the Rector of St. Michael and All Angels in Stone Mountain in April 2017.

Rev Winston and his wife, Laura, reside in Stone Mountain, Georgia and are the parents of two children, Symone and Richie.

More about Dona

Dona McKee is currently an Affiliate Director of Path To Shine Inc. at Pitner Elementary in Kennesaw. She is a retired educator with forty-six years of experience; she was a classroom teacher as well as a Literacy Coach. She served on curriculum selections and teacher selections, and she presented workshops to large groups of educators. During her time as an educator, she was selected as Teacher of the Year for her district.

Dona is also an artist who is featured in collections in numerous states and was selected for juried art exhibits in Connecticut and Rhode Island; she was also a single featured artist in exhibits. Dona also owned a boutique in South Louisiana that featured her hand-dyed silks and cottons. When she moved to Georgia and became a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Kennesaw, Dona was excited to learn of the Path To Shine program and quickly became involved.

More about Belinda

Belinda is an Early Childhood Educator having received her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from Florida State University and her Master of Science in Early Childhood Education from Georgia State University. She retired in 2021 from Gwinnett County Public schools where she taught for 25 years with her last year as a Zoom based kindergarten teacher. Belinda was named Teacher of the Year at Chattahoochee Elementary School during the 2005-2006 school year and was recommended for and participated in Teachers as Leaders. With that total of 36 years working with children in pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade Belinda began her third year as an Affiliate Director for Path to Shine at Norcross Elementary School in 2023..

Belinda is married to Joe Chancey who is the managing partner at Drew Eckl & Farnham, LLP. They have a son who is an educator in John’s Creek and a daughter who is a lead copywriter in California. She enjoys playing tennis with ALTA and T2 leagues.

More about Dr. Hawk

Dr. Charles Hawk was born in Atlanta and has served his community his entire life. He currently is Assistant Principal in Gwinnett County School System at Mountain View High School in Lawrenceville. Prior to this position, Dr. Hawk served at Gwinnett County’s Give West school as Assistant Principal and was the faculty’s leadership coach. A lifelong educator, Dr. Hawk served in Gwinnett County School System and Atlanta Public Schools.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Morehouse University. Dr. Hawk obtained his Master of Secondary Education through Grand Canyon University. Not stopping there, Dr. Hawk received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University and then his Educational Leadership Certificate at the University of West Georgia.

Always serving, Dr. Hawk has Managed Relay for Life several times. He is a member of the South Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and a member of their Executive Board.

More about Karen

Karen, originally from Massachusetts, has made Cobb County her home since moving to
Georgia in 1977. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Framingham State
University and a Master of Education in Early Childhood from Georgia State University.
With 38 years of experience in education, Karen retired from the Clayton County Public School
District in 2015. Throughout her tenure, she was very active in the school system: classroom
teacher (3 rd , 4 th , and 5 th grades), EIP teacher, Literacy Coach, Math Coach, and Instructional Site
Facilitator. In addition, she taught Professional Development, helped with curriculum
development for Language Arts, Math, and Social Studies, participated in many instructional
learning activities, and the summer before retiring, supervised Clayton County’s Summer School
program.

Karen was introduced to Lesley-Ann Drake by her husband Bob (a high school classmate), who
in turn introduced her to Path To Shine. She enjoys her time with Path To Shine: mentoring
(eight years), leading the training sessions for new Path To Shine mentors, and visiting two sites
as a Site Resource.

Karen thoroughly enjoys retirement. She looks forward to hitting the beach as often as she can;
her “go to” place, though walking the Chattahoochee River trail is a close second. Another
passion is travel, domestic and international.

More about Sandy

Sandy is originally from Fort Pierce, Florida, and a proud graduate of Florida State University with a B.S. in Family, Child & Consumer Sciences, majoring in Child Development. After college, she moved to Atlanta, where she began her career as a pre-kindergarten teacher before transitioning into the business world. With over two decades of experience in accounting, Sandy spent 20 years at Michael W. Grossberg, CPA, and currently serves as the Accounts Payable/Office Manager at Capital Restoration LLC.

A passionate advocate for education and community service, Sandy has been involved with Path to Shine since its early days—serving as a mentor, Program Coordinator for the St. Benedict’s affiliate, and a Board Member from 2016 to 2018. She is an active member of St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in Smyrna, where she contributes to various outreach programs such as The Angel Tree and school supply drives. Most recently, Sandy has taken on a new mission: teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in a joint effort between St. Benedicts and St. Jude’s.

In her free time, Sandy enjoys researching her family history, spending time with loved ones, and discovering new places and restaurants.