RYAN BLALOCK, a former mayor of Abbeville, has been in leadership roles with Great Southern Wood Preserving for more than 20 years, working in purchasing and in the international division. Now a senior vice president, he is still involved in purchasing but also in management of the firm’s sawmill business. Blalock is a graduate of Troy University with additional credentials from Harvard Business School. While mayor of Abbeville, from 2008 to 2012, he participated in the Alabama Leadership Initiative. He has served as chairman of the board for Abbeville Christian Academy.
COLTON CURETON is vice president of economic development for the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce. He also administers the Industrial Development Board of the city of Dothan, the Dothan Downtown Redevelopment Authority and the Industrial Development Authority of Houston, Henry, Geneva and Dale counties. A Dothan native, he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Troy University and a doctorate from Liberty University. He is a member of the Economic Development Association of Alabama and serves on the Young Professional Committee for EDAA. He is active in Rotary Club and United Way.
KIRK L. DAVIS is chief operating officer of Troy University’s Dothan campus where he also teaches. Davis earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi State University and a second master’s and doctorate from the University of Mississippi. He has been honored three times as outstanding faculty member. He serves on the advisory board of the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Alabama Wiregrass Area Health Education Center and is active in Rotary International.
SCOTT FARMER is executive director of the Southeast Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission, which works with economic development; Head Start and other early childhood programs; public transportation; senior workforce; and other issues in the seven-county Wiregrass area. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Alabama and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Southeast Regional Directors Institute. He serves on the Main Street Alabama board and is active in the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce.
ADAM HARTZOG is executive director of Dothan Regional Airport, overseeing day-to-day operations, financial management, airfield safety, tenant relations and economic development. A Prattville native and Auburn University graduate, he served multiple terms on the board of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and the Southeast Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission. Also, he volunteered on the capital steering committee for the Dothan City School Board. Hartzog is also a certified instrument-rated pilot.
IAN E. McFADDEN is executive director for the Wiregrass Area Health Education Center, which recruits students into health programs in underserved areas of Alabama. McFadden came to the job after a 40-year career in health-care management in the U.S. and abroad. A graduate of the University of Alabama, he has master’s degrees from the University of Memphis and the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a doctorate from UAB. A life fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, he serves on the board of the Health Leaders Alumni Association at UAB and is active with the Dothan Chamber, the Wiregrass Healthcare Alliance and the Alabama Rural Healthcare Association.
RANDALL S. MORRIS is the Dothan city manager. A civil engineering graduate of the University of Alabama, he has worked for the city of Dothan for 27 years, in the engineering, utilities and general services departments and later as assistant city manager before being named manager this year. Morris holds local government professional management certification and graduated from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business’ Leading, Educating, and Developing program.
MARK SALIBA is mayor of Dothan. A University of Alabama graduate, Saliba joined his father’s construction business in Dothan in 1982 and has played a significant role in the Home Builders Association of Alabama, serving as local president in the early ‘90s, state president in 2006, and earning numerous awards, including inductions into both the Dothan/Wiregrass and Alabama Building Industry Halls of Fame. He currently chairs the Alabama Home Builders Self Insurers Fund and works with the boards of Southeast Gas and Embrace Alabama Kids. He also recently completed a term as president of the Alabama League of Municipalities. He is active with the Dothan Chamber, Dothan Police Foundation, Houston Academy, Wiregrass United Way and the Alabama Kidney Foundation.
DANNY SHARP is a broker for Coldwell Banker Commercial Alfred Saliba Realty, practicing for 50 years in southeast Alabama. Sharp graduated from the University of Alabama. A former chairman of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and Grow Dothan, Sharp continues to serve as president of the Dothan Area Chamber Foundation. He is a graduate of Leadership Alabama and leads with a group promoting regionalism within southeast Alabama counties.
HANNAH SHIVER is executive director of Visit Dothan. A graduate of Troy University, she worked earlier in hospitality management, specializing in hotel operations and sales. She serves on the boards of the National Peanut Festival and the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce, is president of the Dothan Area Young Professionals and is a member of the Alabama Travel Council’s state Young Professionals Committee.
BRANDON SHOUPE is chairman of the Houston County Commission. He is also a partner in Adventureland Theme Park in Dothan. An Auburn University graduate, he serves on the boards of the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering, the Southern Alabama Regional Council on Aging and Wiregrass Pets.
GEORGE STRINGER is the franchise general sales manager at Buffalo Rock in Dothan. Stringer is a graduate of Wallace Community College. He serves on the Cottonwood Town Council, on the executive board of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and the associate board of the National Peanut Festival. He is the 2025 recipient of Wallace Campus Alumnus of the Year Award.
MELINDA SYKES is the owner of Waxing the City studio of the Wiregrass Region and founder of the Franchise Studio in Dothan. She is a graduate of Kennesaw State University and holds a master’s from Troy University. Sykes is a board member of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and is involved in the HudsonAlpha Wiregrass Navigate Program.
DANIEL TEW is a principal and financial advisor with Jackson Thornton Wealth Management. With almost 15 years of advisor experience, he is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants, where he is past president of the Dothan chapter. A graduate of Auburn University with an MBA from Troy University, Tew is an associate member of the Associated General Contractors board and serves as vice chair of AGC-Dothan section. He has served on the boards of Dothan Area Young Professionals, the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center, Wiregrass United Way and is a graduate of Leadership Dothan and a member of the Dothan Rotary Club.
WHITNEY LANE WOODHAM is a wine professional. After working in Beaune, France, Woodham earned a master’s in wine making and wine marketing from the University of Dijon, followed with a law degree from the University of Vermont. In 2019, Woodham returned home to assist her mother in running the Headland Bottle Tree. She was recently recognized by the Headland Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year in the 2025 program. She serves on the boards of the Southeast Health Foundation, Wiregrass United Way and the Headland Chamber of Commerce.
ASHLI HAMILTON WILKINS is vice president and dean of institutional services and community development at Wallace Community College-Dothan. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Troy University and a doctorate from Auburn University. She has been recognized as an Aspen Presidential Fellow and has served as president of the Alabama Community College Association and commissioner for the American Association of Community Colleges’ Public Relations Advocacy and Advancement Committee. She also serves on the boards of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce, Wiregrass United Way, the Dothan Houston County Library System, the Wiregrass Alabama AHEC and Alfred Saliba Family Services Center, among others.
This article appears in the July 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
