Donna Williams
Rowena Belcher
Mark Feemster
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga announced the recent appointment of business and community leaders Donna C. Williams, Rowena Belcher and Mark Feemster to its board of directors. The appointments became effective on July 1 and bring the number of directors to 12.
“The addition of Donna, Rowena and Mark is invaluable to our board and to the community. Already, their combined experience and insights have been critical in promoting our mission of building strength, stability, self-reliance and shelter for families in the Greater Chattanooga area,” said Jens Christensen, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga.
About the appointees:
A native Chattanoogan, Ms.
Williams previously served as executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga. During her time in Atlanta working in marketing and business development for Apple, Simon & Schuster Publishing and Grey Global Group, Ms. Williams also served on the advisory board of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. After returning to Chattanooga, she became active in neighborhood revitalization efforts, real estate sales and real estate development in urban neighborhoods, and built or renovated homes in the Fort Wood, Highland Park, Lincoln Park, Glenwood and ML King neighborhoods. In addition to her service with Habitat for Humanity, Ms. Williams served for eight years as the administrator of the City of Chattanooga Department of Economic and Community Development, where she and her team increased the quality and quantity of affordable housing units for low-to-moderate income families. Currently, Ms. Williams is an affordable housing consultant to both the public and private sector clients.
Joining the board as Governance Chair, Ms. Belcher (also a native Chattanoogan) is a retired TVA executive, Air Force veteran and active civic leader. She holds a BBA in economics from the University of Georgia and officer commission through the Air National Guard Academy of Military Science. During her 28-year career at the TVA, Ms. Belcher held key roles in economics, contract management and HR, eventually serving as HR manager for TVA’s largest operations group. From 1985 to 1995, she served in the Tennessee Air National Guard, achieving the rank of captain. Ms. Belcher has held leadership roles with numerous organizations, including president of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga, treasurer of CWLI, and chair of both ArtsBuild and the Chattanooga State Foundation. She also has more than a decade of volunteer experience with Habitat, having worked on almost 20 new home builds and critical repairs. A believer in lifelong learning and community service, she lives by the motto: Live with gratitude, keep learning and embrace adventure.
Mr. Feemster is an area executive for Chattanooga's client advisory group that serves commercial and industrial clients at Pinnacle Bank. He previously served as executive vice president at Capital Mark Bank from its initial startup in 2007 until its merger with Pinnacle in 2015. Prior to that, he was head of retail banking for First Volunteer Bank. His decades of experience in financial services also included stints in commercial real estate lending, brokerage and private banking. Mr. Feemster is a graduate of The University of Tennessee. His love for children is highlighted by his roles as co-chair for the Creative Discovery Museum, president of all youth sports in his hometown of Signal Mountain and unit commissioner of the Boy Scouts.
Other community leaders serving on the Habitat for Humanity board of directors include Derek Bullard, Stephen Adams, Don McDowell, Tony Sanders, Blake Todd, Rev. Ternae Jordan Jr., Fabiola Ortiz-Smith, Ken Stapleton and Cornelius Bayes.