Capital Rotary Club

Our speaker on Wednesday morning March 4^th was Mr. Michael Briggs, CEO of Central SC Alliance.  Since 1997, Mike Briggs has been the President and CEO of the Central South Carolina Alliance, a regional public-private partnership dedicated to representing the economic development efforts of the nine counties in the Central Region of South Carolina. Born in High Point, North Carolina, Mike came to Columbia in 1972 to attend the University of South Carolina receiving a BA in English in 1974. For the next few years Mike pursued graduate studies and taught at USC in the Government and International Studies Department, receiving a Master’s Degree in Political Science.

After completing course work and examinations toward the Ph.D., Mike left the University in 1981 to pursue a career at Anchor Continental Inc., a manufacturing company in Columbia.  Mike lives in Columbia with his wife, Lilla Ann, and they have four daughters. Throughout his years in Columbia, Mike has been actively involved in Shandon United Methodist Church as well as numerous civic and professional organizations.

Our speaker on Wednesday morning January 28th was Dr. Carolyn Donelan, Lead Flight Director of the Challenger Learning Center.  Carolyn is a graduate of Sumter High School and an alumna of the University of South Carolina, where she earned an Associate Degree in computer science, a Bachelor of Science in biology with a cognate in chemistry, a Master of Arts in Teaching biology, and a Doctor of Philosophy in science education. She has been a certified educator for over 23 years and currently works full-time for Richland County School District One as the Lead Flight Director of the Challenger Learning Center and part-time as an adjunct faculty member of the College of Education at the University of South Carolina.

Carolyn is currently a member of the Palmetto State Teachers Association, the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, EAA Chapter 242, and the S.C. Historic Aviation Foundation.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the S.C. Aviation Association.

Our speaker on Wednesday morning was Mr. Bill Mahoney, CEO of SCRA.  Bill Mahoney is the CEO of SCRA and has held this post since August, 2005. Since assuming leadership, SCRA annual revenues from its applied research and commercialization services operations have grown from $74M to over $266M. In this same timeframe, SCRA annual year-end backlog has grown from $93M to $533M, annual net revenues have set company records of up to 7.9%, and total contract value under management has grown from $235M to over $2.1B.

Bill is a Harvard graduate and former member of both the Harvard Crew and the US National Rowing Team. Bill and his wife, Paula, have been married for 34 years and have two adult sons, one a US Navy officer and one a professional baseball player.

Our speaker on Wednesday morning was Mr. Dan D’Alberto and he provided unique insight on Economics & Entrepreneurism in South Carolina.

By way of background, Dan is the founder of the D’Alberto Law Firm and is a managing director of Southland Capital Partners. Over the past years, Dan served as a staff attorney with Nelson Mullins and as development officer for both Johns Hopkins University and the University of South Carolina. Dan earned his Bachelors of Arts degree from U.S.C., his Master’s degree from Florida State University, and his law degree from the U.S.C. School of Law.