School of Economics

Meet our Board of Advisors

Mr. Grey Cleveland

Grey Cleveland earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics and Math from Georgia Tech in 1984. He is a highly accomplished, results-oriented technology executive with over eighteen years of management experience combining leading-edge technologies with sound business practices. He has proven success in key corporate leadership roles, with specialties in information technology, procurement, strategic sourcing, contract management/negotiation, customer service management, and M&A integration. Cleveland has broad financial services industry experience having started his career at SunTrust, and later moved to CheckFree Corporation where he has served most recently as senior vice president and corporate CIO.

Grey also has extensive background in IT governance, architecture and design, application development, infrastructure engineering and operations, information and physical security, business continuity, business process automation, enterprise project and portfolio management, and business relationship management. He is an enthusiastic leader who effectively communicates complex technology solutions to the entire spectrum of business and technical principals.

Cleveland lives in Marietta with his wife and two children. He is a member of Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church, where he serves on the Administrative Council.

Mr. Cliff Culberson

Cliff Culberson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics in 1973 and his Master of Science degree in Industrial Management in 1976. He has held positions as a systems engineer, information technology (IT) manager, and in IT staffing at various companies. Currently, he is with Modis IT Consulting.

Culberson and his wife, Anne Gwynn, have a twelve-year-old child. He enjoys coaching youth soccer and baseball, is active in alumni activities and with the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, and is a member of Peachtree Road Methodist Church.

Mr. Richard House Jr.

Richard R. House Jr. was named president of CompuCredit in October 2000 and became a director in May 2001. House served as chief credit officer from the time he joined CompuCredit in April 1997 until being named president.

House has more than fifteen years of experience in the consumer credit industry. From 1993 until 1997, House managed and directed Equifax’s Decision Solutions division, the company’s quantitative analysis and modeling group. Prior to joining Equifax in 1991, he was employed by the JC Penney Company, where he held various positions in credit operations and credit policy.

House earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Southern Methodist University.

Mr. Richard B. Inman Jr.

Richard B. Inman Jr. is the managing principal and founder of Iron Bridge Capital Partners in Atlanta, Georgia. Iron Bridge specializes in the development and financing of public/private partnerships, infrastructure, affordable housing and traditional real estate projects. It has particular expertise in developing in challenging locations. To date, Iron Bridge has developed projects valued at over $300 million, $175 million of which are on the island of Guam.

Inman started his career in New York as an investment banker, later moving to Atlanta. He acquired and sold two food companies for his own account. Over the past ten years, he guided the growth of a community bank from $250 million to $1.2 billion in assets. He served as chief executive officer of the Tucker Federal Bank and as chairman of the Executive Management Committee and Senior Loan Committee. He founded the bank's Asset and Liability Committee and served on the Asset Classification Committee and Board of Directors.

Inman is active in the community as a founder of La Societe des Tetes Grande and serves on the Board of Directors for the Cathedral Towers and Atlanta Soccer Park. He is chairman of the board of directors of Guam Education Financing Foundation. Previously he has served as president of Christmas in April-Gwinnett , chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgia State Soccer Association and on the board of Emory-Northlake Hospital.

Mr. J. Vernon O’Neal Jr.

J. Vernon O’Neal Jr. is a senior vice president with Wachovia/Hamilton Dorsey Alston, which is part of the insurance brokerage division of Wachovia Corporation.

O’Neal specializes in working with larger privately held and publicly traded companies. He is especially active in the technology area and also has expertise in the financial services, manufacturing, and retail sectors. He specializes in establishing risk management programs, with special emphasis on directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, errors and omissions liability, products liability, international exposures, and workers’ compensation. He also assists clients in evaluating large deductible, self-insurance, and other alternative risk-transfer programs.

O’Neal has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a chartered property casualty underwriter (CPCU) and also holds associate in risk management (ARM), associate in research and planning (ARP), and associate in management (AIM) professional designations. He was previously with the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company (USF&G) and has served on that company’s national advisory council. He is also active on numerous advisory councils with other insurance companies.

O’Neal is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society and the Society of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters. He is also active with a number of other charitable, civic, and business organizations.

Dr. William A. Schaffer

William A. Schaffer, emeritus professor of Economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University. He has directed major inter-industry studies for the states of Hawaii and Georgia and the province of Nova Scotia. In addition, he has published studies of the economic impact of various professional sports teams, festivals, and educational and cultural activities around the nation. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Cost-Benefit Analysis and On Input-Output Models and Regional Planning, and has consulted and testified on environmental questions, project feasibility, computer applications, and tourism impacts. His latest publication is the electronic Economic Impact Models for The Web Book of Regional Science at West Virginia University.

Dr. Schaffer acted as chair of the School of Economics at Georgia Tech from 1990-1997 and from 1999-2000, and has been on the boards of private corporations, the Georgia Tech Athletic Association, and several professional associations and journals. Most recently, he was president of the Atlanta Economics Club in 2000. Schaffer has also been a member of the International Council of the Regional Science Association and was president of the North American Regional Science Council from 1996-1997. He has been honored as a Distinguished Fellow of the Southern Regional Science Association and is a recipient of the Faculty of the Year award of the Student Government Association at Georgia Tech.

Mr. Mike Slavin

Mike Slavin has an extensive background in information technology serving in various leadership roles over a thirty year career beginning with Electronic Data Systems and firms including Insurance Systems of America and PriceWaterhouse. Currently, Mr. Slavin advises Fortune 1000 firms in the strategic use and deployment of technology-based assets and resources as Partner and Global IT Sourcing Practice Leader for TPI, Inc. Mr. Slavin earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Georgia Tech in 1976.

Mr. John Wylder

John Wylder is the founder and principal of Security Strategy and Advisory Services, a consulting firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has an extensive background in the financial services industry, having worked for SunTrust Banks in a variety of leadership roles over his twenty-five years in the banking industry. Most recently he worked for both Hewlett Packard and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the field of information security.

His first book, Strategic Information Security, was be published in the fall of 2003 by Auerbach Publishers. The book is aimed at companies’ chief executive and financial officers and features chapters describing the strategic issues regarding business continuity planning, Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT), and risk management.

He is also active in the community and has served as the president of the Acoustic Neuroma Association USA and on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Rowing Club and the Southern Bicycle League.

Wylder earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA in Finance from Mercer University. He also earned a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certificate from the International Information Security Systems Certification Consortium (ISC)2. He has taught a number of classes and has been a member of the faculty of the Georgia Banking School, the American Institute of Banking, and for the Emerging Issues Conference of the Federal Financial Interagency Examination Council (FFIEC).