Sharon S. Boles is a Legacy Member of the Women’s Fund of East Tennessee. Retired from Eastman Chemical Company, she holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from East Tennessee State University. She and her husband are members of the Distinguished President’s Trust at ETSU, and Sharon was named the University’s Outstanding Alumna in 2012. The couple received the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy. Current volunteer initiatives include: Chair, Steering Committee of the Roan Scholars Leadership Program at ETSU; Secretary, Jonesborough Heritage Alliance; Board Member, Jonesborough Locally Grown; and, Volunteer, International Storytelling Center, Jonesborough. Previously, she held volunteer leadership roles with Girls Incorporated, Leadership Kingsport, and, United Way. Sharon enjoys yard work, good conversations, long stories, and people who forge their own path and are always learning.
Laura Seery Cole, Ph.D., is a Legacy Member of the Women’s Fund of East Tennessee. She earned multiple degrees from Auburn University before pursuing her doctorate in finance from the University of Tennessee. She joined the faculty of the UT Department of Finance in 2009 as director of the Masters Investment Learning Center (Masters ILC). Her research interests include corporate finance and governance, and her research has been cited in the Wall Street Journal and on Bloomberg. She has been a contributor forwsj.com, Bloomberg, CSPAN, and CNN, as well as local television and news programs. At UT she serves as faculty advisor for the UT Investment Group and the Trade Like A Girl initiative, which promotes empowering young women to learn more about personal finance.
Susie Whitener is a Legacy Member of the Women’s Fund of East Tennessee. She has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia. Her former career included worldwide travel with positions in International and National Account Sales and Marketing positions for two multinational companies. Upon relocating to Knoxville in 2015 with her husband and five children, she dedicated her time to cross generational family care, as well as several community philanthropic and fundraising roles and support to her husband’s company in administrative roles. Susie is currently the Children’s Minister at New Life Gathering, a church plant of Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church. She also serves on the Board of The Restoration House of East Tennessee.
