Since earning her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Tennessee in 1962, Ann Holt Skadberg has been a passionate and dedicated alumna, continuously giving back to the university. A proud Lady Vols fan, she has championed key initiatives, including Neyland Stadium improvements, Lady Vols athletic scholarships, and the Pat Summitt statue.

Skadberg has played a vital leadership role at UT, co-chairing the Campaign for Tennessee for the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and serving on the board of the UT Women’s Council. She currently serves on the CEHHS Board of Advisors. Committed to fostering student success, Ann and her husband, Dean, have hosted eight Student Alumni Associates annual meetings, welcoming high school seniors into their home to inspire their UT journey.

Honoring her father, former UT President Andy Holt, the Skadbergs have endowed multiple scholarships and a professorship in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. Their generosity extends to major gifts supporting the Haslam College of Business, CEHHS, Athletics, the College of Nursing and the UT Alumni Association.

With a lifelong passion for UT, Ann Holt Skadberg continues to shape the university’s future through her leadership, generosity and unwavering Volunteer spirit.

Judith Herbert and her late husband Jim have a long history of philanthropic support at the University of Tennessee and in their community. Judith graduated from UT Knoxville in 1963 with a degree in English and in 2017 the Herbert’s established an endowment to support interdisciplinary writing services and student support. The following year the couple established the Herbert College of Agriculture Strategic Endowment that marks one of the largest gifts to in UT history. The Herbert’s local community giving in Michigan culminated in the Herbert-Herman Cancer Center at the Sparrow Health System, which is affiliated with the Mayo Clinic. The couple also made a record-breaking gift to the Sparrow Foundation in 2022 to establish The Genomics Endowment for Diagnosis & Treatment of Cancer to fund advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer through genomics and precision medicine at Sparrow Herbert-Herman Cancer Center.

Betty Ann Tanner is an interior decorator and owner of Betty Ann Tanner Accessories. Her Washington, DC non-profit boards include Ford’s Theatre Society, The Congressional Club and International Student House.

She served on the Board of Meridian International Center from 2005-2010 and co-chaired the Meridian Ball in 2007. She also previously chaired the First Lady’s Luncheon and Prevent Cancer Foundation Gala. She is a trustee with the University of Tennessee and serves on the board of Discovery Park of America in Tennessee where she resides with her husband former Congressman John Tanner, when she is not in Washington.

(1944-2021) In Memoria — Jodie McTeer Johnson (UTK ’66) was a dedicated supporter of her alma mater. From her start on the Panhellenic Council to her lifelong sisterhood in Kappa Delta, Jodie loved the University of Tennessee. Along with her husband, Johnny, the Johnsons have been long-time philanthropists supporting Tennessee Athletics, McClung Museum, the UT Gardens, the AWP Giving Circle Grants program and many other community organizations. Jodie’s philanthropy and friendship influenced the lives of many, and the UT Alliance of Women Philanthropists were honored to have Jodie serve on the Alliance of Women Philanthropists Executive Board for the past ten and to share in her leadership as Board Chair for two consecutive terms.

A native Knoxvillian, Natalie Haslam graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1952. She has been an active volunteer and philanthropist in Knoxville. Natalie was the first woman to be president of the Knoxville Symphony Society and has been president of the East Tennessee Foundation and the East Tennessee Historical Society. She was a founding board member of the Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and has served on the boards of the Tennessee Arts Commission, Child and Family Services, Knoxville Zoo, Maryville College, Webb School of Knoxville, Wellness Community and Junior League. A graduate of the Leadership Knoxville Class of ’86, she also has been president of the Knoxville Garden Club and the Arts Council for Greater Knoxville.

She was the recipient of the National Conference for Community and Justice Award in 1996. In 2003, she received the Governor’s Award from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Knoxville Award from the Senior Citizens Home Assistance Services.

The University of Tennessee’s music school, the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, was named after her in recognition of the support she and her family have given to the school over many years.

Andrea Loughry is a dedicated supporter of her alma mater, having served as vice-chair of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees and as the first female chair of the UT Foundation Board. Andrea was appointed to the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2014, by then Governor Bill Haslam, where she has served in leadership roles as vice-chair, and audit and allocations chair. She served as the first female chair of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce and has been selected as one of their Business Legends.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Andrea taught for ten years at MTSU and then opened an independent insurance agency. She later became the founding chair of the Mind2Marketplace, an organization dedicated to bringing the best and brightest ideas in Middle Tennessee to reality. After a career in business, she now serves as President Emeritus of Miller-Loughry-Beach Insurance Services, Inc.

Anne Holt Blackburn, Nashville’s most veteran TV news anchor, was one of thirteen children born to a family of sharecroppers in West Tennessee. She graduated from UT in 1973 with a BS in broadcasting and retired in January 2017 from her duties as TV news anchor at WKRN-TV in Nashville, where she worked for forty years.

She has received many awards and honors, including eight Emmys, the George Foster Peabody Award for the investigative documentary Under the Influence, and the 2007 Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement—the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ highest honor. The Nashville Conference on Community and Justice awarded her the Jerry Thompson Communicator’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, when she was also the first recipient of the College of Communication and Information’s Donald G. Hileman Distinguished Alumni Award. The first woman, the first African American, and the first news anchor to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, Blackburn was inducted into the first class of the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013.

Blackburn is a community servant, generously giving back to UT, Nashville, and Tennessee. She served on the College of Communication and Information Board of Visitors (1990–2007) and on the UT Board of Trustees (2007–2013). She has led News 2’s twenty-eight-year partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and served on many charitable boards, including Book ’em, Leadership Nashville, Cumberland Valley Girl Scouts, the Middle Tennessee March of Dimes, Inroads/Nashville, and the United Way of Middle Tennessee.

Margaret Perry has always been a trailblazer with the determination to get things done. She was the first female dean for graduate studies at UT Knoxville, then first female associate vice president for academic affairs at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, and in 1986 she was appointed to serve as the sixth chancellor of UT Martin. She was the first UT Martin alumna to serve as the institution’s chancellor and the first woman to be appointed chancellor or president of any university in Tennessee. During her eleven years as chancellor, UT Martin flourished, transformed by major building expansions, unprecedented enrollment growth, the accreditation of all campus programs, the surpassing of funding goals for the University system’s 21st Century Campaign, and the school’s athletic standing being increased to a Division 1 athletics program.

First Lady of Tennessee, Ann Furrow was the pioneer of Lady Vols Golf playing on the men’s team at UT in 1964 and 1965. Not only was she the first woman to play a men’s varsity sport at the University of Tennessee, she was also on a full men’s scholarship during her collegiate career.

In addition to being the first woman golfer at Tennessee, she was the first woman ever appointed to the UT Board of Trustees and served for 18 years. At the age of 26, she was also the youngest person ever to be selected as a member of the board.

Furrow put together an accomplished career as an amateur golfer, winning various tournaments and receiving high national rankings. She was a five-time Tennessee Women’s Amateur Champion, with victories in the event spanning nearly 20 years. After winning the Western Junior Golf Association Championships in 1961 and placing second at the USGA National Amateur in 1962, she became the top-ranked junior golfer and the 10th-ranked female golfer overall in the United States.

Not only has Furrow endowed a full scholarship at UT Knoxville, she has also worked closely with the Lady Vol development office in raising more than $2 million toward fully endowing the UT women’s golf team. She is also a pillar of the community holding positions on numerous boards, including the Covenant Health Board, the Fort Sanders Foundation, the National Board of AnGeL Ministries, the International Board of Joni and Friends, the Spiritual Heritage Knoxville Board and the Spiritual Heritage Nantucket Board.

For more than thirty years, Janet McKinley has been an avid and active supporter of UT, the Haslam College of Business, the Department of Accounting and Information Management, and UT men’s and women’s athletics.

A native of Middle Tennessee, she earned her BS in accounting at UT in 1980 and then joined BellSouth Corporation, where she held positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of accounting, finance, budgets, forecasting and internal audit. In 1988, McKinley received her master’s in accounting from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Her BellSouth career culminated in her role as chief corporate auditor, in which she implemented the sweeping internal-audit changes that followed the Enron and WorldCom scandals and the resulting Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Since retiring from BellSouth in 2007, McKinley has dedicated herself across a wide spectrum of initiatives to her personal goal of helping others to build a foundation for success.

She was the founding president of the BellSouth (now AT&T) Women’s Networking Alliance, which served more than 3,000 women in a nine-state area. McKinley also served as board chair for Girls Incorporated of Greater Atlanta and on the board for the Moore Advisory Board in Atlanta.

In her continuing and tireless commitment to UT, she serves on the Foundation Board, on the Board of Governors, on the Department of Accounting and Information Management Advisory Council, on the Department of Accounting and Information Management Roundtable as a member of the 1914 Society, as a member of the Haslam College of Business’s Archways Society, as a past chair of the Development Council, and as a member of the Alliance of Women Philanthropists and the Athletics Development Council.

McKinley has touched many areas within the university. She is an avid supporter of the Women in Business Scholarship for female student athletes enrolled in the Haslam College of Business and the Auditing Excellence Scholarship in honor of her father, Robert, who received his accounting degree from UT in 1948. A longtime member and former board member of the Executive Women’s Golf Association, she was instrumental in creating UT’s program to encourage female business students to not only learn to play golf but understand its importance in the business world. She has also supported the Institute for Agriculture by establishing the Bob and Barbara McKinley Student Enrichment Endowment.

Joan Cronan spent more than 28 years as Tennessee women’s athletics director. Under her leadership the Lady Vols became one of the most visible and well-respected programs in the country, amassing ten NCAA national championship titles, 46 top-five NCAA finishes, 29 Southeastern Conference regular-season crowns and 24 SEC Tournament Championships.

Her success at Tennessee opened the door to serve in many distinguished and prominent leadership roles with the national athletics organizations. In 2010 she was appointed to the NCAA Division I Leadership Council, and in 2008-09 Cronan was selected as the president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics by her peers.

In 2011, she served for three months as vice chancellor and interim director of UT athletics, becoming the first person in UT history to hold that position. She was named women’s athletics director emeritus in July 2012. Cronan continues to represent the university and community through speaking appearances, fundraising and as a senior advisor. The Joan Cronan Volleyball Center was dedicated in October 2014 and stands as a testament to the legacy that Cronan built at Tennessee.

Former first ladies Carolyn Boling and Pat Johnson were honored with the 2014 Brenda G. Lawson Legacy of Leadership Award for their years of service and dedication to the University of Tennessee. Mrs. Boling served as first lady from 1970 to 1988. Mrs. Johnson served as first lady from 1991-1999 and again in 2003-2004 during Dr. Johnson’s term as Interim UT President. Both women have been associated with UT for more than 50 years.

Mrs. Boling and Mrs. Johnson, often in public relations roles, served as liaisons and laid foundations for relationships throughout the university. As former first ladies, they have emphasized the continuity and feeling of family amongst the three administrations (referring to President Andy Holt’s administration and first lady Martha Holt). Their long-running friendships made for smooth transitions between administrations. They give credit to the late Martha Holt when explaining how they learned their roles.

Mrs. Boling and Mrs. Johnson were also recognized by UT President Joe DiPietro as the first recipients of Joe Johnson Lifetime Service Award, which honors employees who have reached 50 years of continuous service.

Julie Wharton was a charter member of the Alliance of Women Philanthropists and an active supporter until her passing in 2008. Known for her boundless compassion, Julie had a lifelong passion for animals. She and her husband, Charles, once cared for more than 100 horses, along with numerous rescued cats and dogs, on their farm in Winchester, Tennessee.

Her deep commitment to animal welfare led her to the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM), where she first connected with the college in the 1980s after bringing their bulldog from Houston for treatment. This experience forged a lasting relationship with the college, especially through her respect for the care and expertise of faculty like Dr. D.J. Krahwinkel.

Julie served on the UTCVM Advisory Board during two different periods and was a strong advocate for advancing veterinary care. She was particularly dedicated to faculty development, once stating, “They really care deeply about what they do… We have to attract and retain talented faculty to maintain a certain level of care and excellence.” She and Charles established the Charles and Julie Wharton Faculty Development Fund to help the college recruit and retain top-tier faculty.

Julie’s legacy of generosity, leadership and love for animals lives on through her philanthropic work and the countless lives she touched.

Pat Summitt was a legendary coach who redefined women’s collegiate basketball and inspired generations through her leadership, integrity and competitive spirit. As head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers for 38 seasons, she led her teams to eight NCAA national championships, 32 SEC titles, and an unprecedented 1,098 career wins, the most in NCAA basketball history at the time of her retirement in 2012.

Raised on a Tennessee dairy farm, Summitt brought a relentless work ethic to the court. After a standout playing career at UT-Martin, she co-captained the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team to a silver medal before becoming UT’s head coach at just 22 years old. She built a powerhouse program rooted in discipline, education and teamwork. Every Lady Vol who completed her eligibility under Summitt graduated—an achievement she was as proud of as any championship.

In 2011, Summitt bravely shared her diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. She continued to coach during the 2011–12 season and launched the Pat Summitt Foundation to raise funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s research. Her transparency and courage inspired the national “We Back Pat” campaign and brought new visibility to the disease.

Summitt received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was inducted into multiple halls of fame, including the Naismith and Women’s Basketball Halls. Her name graces two Division I courts and a statue at UT Knoxville.

Brenda Lawson is a trailblazing philanthropist and business leader whose dedication to the University of Tennessee and commitment to advancing women’s leadership has left a lasting legacy. A founding member of the UT Alliance of Women Philanthropists, Brenda has championed the power of collective giving and inspired countless women through her example.

As co-chair of the Campaign for Tennessee, she provided visionary donor leadership that played a pivotal role in the campaign’s success. Her generosity extends beyond financial contributions—Brenda has been an engaged volunteer and advocate for the university, its students and the broader community. She was a primary donor to the endowment that supports the Alliance’s annual Women & Philanthropy Symposium, creating a space for dialogue, inspiration, and action among women leaders.

A successful businesswoman in her own right, Brenda also established the Women’s Success Program at UT Chattanooga’s College of Business. This innovative program supports female students by offering leadership development workshops, networking opportunities with women professionals and mentorship, equipping the next generation with the tools to succeed in a competitive business landscape.

Widely respected in the Chattanooga and Cleveland communities, Brenda has been an unwavering advocate for women’s empowerment through education and philanthropy. In recognition of her extraordinary contributions, the UT Alliance of Women Philanthropists established the Brenda G. Lawson Legacy of Leadership Award in her honor—presented annually at the Women & Philanthropy Symposium to a member who exemplifies the spirit of service, leadership and generosity that Brenda embodies.