The Brenau University Board of Trustees’ four newest members include three alumni and a New Jersey physician who collects art.

Melissa Currin Heard, WC ’92, Melissa Cannady Howard, WC ’97, Mary Kathryn Wells-Winsett, WC ’00, and Dr. Michael Stubblefield began their three-year terms in March.

“With the addition of these four new trustees, Brenau continues its long tradition of being guided by a board of trustees who understand the value of higher education and the dynamics that drive the institution,” says Board of Trustees Chair Mike Smith.

Heard is the president and owner of Success Consulting & Mediation Inc., where she has been for 20 years. In addition to running her own company, Heard has worked with the Justice Center of Atlanta. She was awarded the 2019 Chief Justice Harold G. Clarke Award, given by the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution and the Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Heard studied broadcasting and marketing while attending Brenau and went on to earn her master’s in social work from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Howard is an assistant general counsel for WarnerMedia in Atlanta, where she has worked for more than 15 years. Howard negotiates program acquisition and co-production agreements for WarnerMedia’s kids and family networks and provides legal support for the on-air/creative groups for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. She earned her bachelor’s in biology at Brenau and graduated from Georgia State University College of Law with a Juris Doctor in 2000. 

Wells-Winsett is the chief creative officer at The Wells Agency, a marketing company she founded in 2017. The Wells Agency provides innovative solutions to companies looking to launch, engage with customers and grow their business through branding, marketing and community relations. Wells-Winsett graduated from Brenau with a degree in musical theatre.

Stubblefield is the national medical director for cancer rehabilitation for Select Medical in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, He also serves as the director of cancer rehabilitation at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, New Jersey, and is professor of rehabilitation at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is triple board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation, internal medicine and electrodiagnostic medicine. Stubblefield graduated from Brown University with degrees in biology and philosophy. He received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.

Outside his medical career, Stubblefield is a professional nature photographer and writer, as well as an avid art collector and birder. He has won several awards for his photography and writing, and his natural history images and articles have appeared in hundreds of publications. Stubblefield has been instrumental in helping to grow Brenau’s Permanent Art Collection, as he and his wife, Elyn, provided funding for the purchase of numerous botanical prints. 

“A true mark of the caliber of a university is the board members whom it recruits and retains,” says Brenau University President Anne Skleder. “This is a wonderful class of new trustees, and their experiences and insights will prove to be most beneficial as they help shape our new strategic plan that will provide a roadmap for our years ahead. Brenau is most fortunate to attract trustees of their distinction, and I look forward to working with them.”