Tiger Wells is the South Carolina government affairs director for Duke Energy. Duke provides electricity to 7.7 million retail customers is six states, 760,000 of them in the Greenville and Myrtle Beach areas of South Carolina. Tiger works with state lawmakers, local leaders and community groups on issues and legislation concerning energy and the power company.

A graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta and of the University of Virginia School of Law, Tiger is a 2016 graduate of Leadership South Carolina.

He worked previously at the Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd law firm and as director of governmental affairs for the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

Tiger is a graduate of the Riley Institute at Furman University and is the board chairman of Academic Angels, a non-profit helping at-risk students achieve academic success. He is also active in the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, a bipartisan coalition of Republicans, Democrats and independents working for criminal justice reform

Carol Burdette is the chief executive officer for the United Way of Anderson County, which provides services for almost 60,000 people in the county in northwest South Carolina. Although the area is rapidly growing, 30,000 people in the county live in poverty including almost a quarter of the children under 18. The organization helps fund 31 programs and about 2,000 people volunteer more than 12,000 hours a year for various efforts.

Carol is a graduate of Southern Wesleyan University, a graduate of Leadership South Carolina class of 2000, and a former mayor of Pendleton, South Carolina.

She has served on the boards of Anderson University, Spartanburg Methodist College, Sister Cities International and the Anderson Oconee Pickens Mental Health Board. Her long resume of community service includes work with, among other groups, the South Carolina Municipal Association, AdvanceSC, the YMCA, Rotary and the South Carolina Association of Nonprofits.

Jason Bristol is the Area Executive for TD Bank in the Midlands of South Carolina. TD bank, with more than 1,200 locations serving 9 million customers on the East Coast, is a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada, one of the top 10 financial services companies in North America.

Jason’s develops new commercial relationships for the bank and provides leadership for bank’s commercial and small business bankers. He manages a diverse portfolio of commercial, treasury, and wealth relationships.

A 2016 graduate of Leadership South Carolina, Jason earned a bachelor’s in finance and accounting from the University of Michigan-Flint. A veteran of more than two decades in banking, he previously worked as a senior portfolio officer at Bank of America and as a commercial banker at Citizens Republic Bancorp.

A past as vice chairman of the board of Leadership South Carolina, Jason volunteers with several non-profit organizations including serving on the board of the Children’s Trust of South Carolina. He is a past chairman of the Financial Stability Council for United Way of the Midlands.

Hamid Reza Mohsseni is President and CEO of Anderson Restaurant Group in Anderson S.C. The company operates two full-service restaurants – Tucker’s Restaurant and Carson’s Steak Warehouse & Saloon – as well as a restaurant management and commercial leasing operation.

A native of Tehran, Iran, Hamid came to the United States in 1977, earning a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Clemson University. He previously was General Partner of Kelsey’s Restaurant in Hendersonville, N.C.

He is a member and former chairman of the Anderson Economic Development Board and has participated in several overseas economic development partnerships including missions to China and Ireland. He is a 2005 graduate of Leadership South Carolina. He has served as chairman of the LSC board for two years and is a graduate of Leadership Anderson.

He serves on the Board of Regents for Anderson University, the Tri-County Foundation and the local Salvation Army. He has also served on the boards of Region’s Bank, the Anderson Chamber of Commerce, the Anderson YMCA, United Way of Anderson County and the Anmed Hospital Foundation.

He has made Anderson his home for 25 years with his wife, KD, and 14 year old son, Maddox. Hamid is a private pilot and enjoys traveling with his family.

Shiva Hodges is a United States Magistrate Judge sitting in the District of South Carolina. Shiva was one of the youngest federal judges in the country when appointed to the bench in 2010.

A 2019 graduate of the Leadership South Carolina, Shiva attended the University of South Carolina where she earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in international business, and her law degree.

Shiva widely lectures on legal and ethical issues and serves on the Executive Board of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association. She is a member of the Federal Bar Association, the South Carolina Women in Law Society, and a former member of the alumni board of the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics.

Before her appointment to the federal bench, Shiva was a litigator at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein and a career law clerk for the Honorable Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., then-Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court in South Carolina.

Neil Jones is senior vice president and chief financial officer for Colliers International / South Carolina, leading all financial reporting and planning for the Company’s four South Carolina offices. Colliers is a worldwide real estate services and investment management company with 18,000 employees.

Neil received his bachelor’s in corporate financial management from Clemson University and did post-graduate work at the University of South Carolina.

A certified public accountant, Neil is a 2014 graduate of Leadership South Carolina and a graduate of Leadership Columbia where he served on and chaired the executive board. He was previously an audit and consulting senior manager at Bauknight Pietras & Stormer, a Columbia headquartered regional accounting firm.

Neil has served on the boards of South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Foundation and Columbia Opportunity Resource. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants, the South Carolina Captive Insurance Association and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.

Dr. Tim Hardee is president of the South Carolina Technical College System, the largest higher education sector in the state. South Carolina’s Technical colleges have 160,000 students enrolled in degree, diploma, certificate and continuing education programs at 16 campuses and 64 satellite campuses statewide.

Tim has more than 30 years of educational experience including working as a teacher, coach, counselor, and principal in public schools. Tim has a bachelor’s degree from Coastal Carolina University and a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina where he earned his doctorate in higher education administration. He previously served as President of Central Carolina Technical College.

A 2002 graduate of Leadership South Carolina, Tim serves on the State Workforce Development Board, the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development and the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness. He is also a graduate of South Carolina Economic Development Institute and the Furman Diversity Leaders Institute.

Carter Deupree is a shareholder in the Charleston office of the Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd law firm. The Park Hills, Kentucky, native represents individuals, businesses and institutions in real estate and corporate transactions, governance issues and financing. The law firm has about 120 attorneys in offices across the state of South Carolina and roots dating to the late 1800s.

Carter, who earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Washington and Lee University, is a 2018 graduate of Leadership South Carolina. Prior to joining

Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, Carter interned for the Senior U.S. District Judge Sol. Blatt Jr. in Charleston.

In addition to service on the Leadership South Carolina Board, Carter also serves on the board of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of Leadership Charleston, Leadership Greenville, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce LeadSC program and served on the board of the Greenville Chautauqua Society. He is also active in the Urban Land Institute.

Kristen Beckham is the External Affairs Manager supporting Dominion Energy Carolina Gas; she serves as a member of the Capital Projects Support Team; and represents the company at targeted national legislative, gubernatorial and industry conferences.

Her responsibilities also include supporting communications, capital projects and the development of a positive regulatory and legislative environment for Align, Dominion Energy’s renewable natural gas (RNG) partnership with Smithfield Foods.

Kristen previously served as an External Affairs Representative for Dominion Energy Carolina Gas as well as the company’s solar projects in South Carolina and Georgia. In that role, she led external efforts for the Dominion Energy/SCANA merger in addition to managing external engagements for major capital projects, state government relations, public relations, media relations, and economic development, as well as local government relations in 50 counties.

Kristen is participating in Dominion Energy’s Emerging Leaders Program, class of 2021. She is a graduate of Leadership South Carolina and a member of the Leadership South Carolina Board of Trustees. She is also a board member of the Alumni Association of the College of Charleston.

In her community, Kristen recently served as Communications Chair of the Rotary Club of the Vista and was a member of the Central S.C. Board of Directors for the American Red Cross. She previously chaired the Public Affairs committee of the Junior League of Columbia and served as Sponsorship Chair of the United Way of the Midlands.

In 2017, she was recognized as one of Columbia Business Monthly’s Best & Brightest 35 and Under and as a 2017 Woman of Influence. In 2019 she was named in the inaugural list of Icons and Phenoms by the Columbia Regional Business Journal.

Kristen earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the College of Charleston and a master’s in business administration from the University of Georgia.

For the past six years, Richard Gough has served as the President of the Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort, one of 16 colleges in South Carolina’s statewide technical college system. Richard provides leadership for a college with three campuses serving four counties, as well as two Marine installations, in southeastern South Carolina. The Technical College of the Lowcountry has 2,400 students pursuing over 80 courses of study.

A 2016 graduate of Leadership South Carolina, he holds a bachelor‘s degree from Michigan State University and master’s degrees from both Pepperdine University and the Naval Postgraduate School. Additionally, he holds a doctoral degree in higher education from East Carolina University.

Following a 25-year career in the United States Marine Corps, as an aviation logistics officer, Richard worked in executive-level positions at Montgomery Community College and Sandhills Community College, both in North Carolina, before coming to Beaufort.