Andrew Betterton is mayor of Florence. Before becoming mayor, he worked for 33 years as the CFO for a local electrical supply company. He also served 12 years on the city council and seven on the Florence school board. A University of North Alabama graduate, he also holds a master’s in education from UNA.
Kyrel Buchanan teaches and directs the Health Administration graduate program at the University of North Alabama. She also is the principal consultant at Sanoa Consulting LLC. A Spelman College graduate, she earned her master’s in public health at Emory University and a Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, with post-doctoral credentials from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She serves on the boards of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce, UNA’s Cole Honors College, the Town & Gown Committee and the Music Preservation Society. She is a graduate of the Alabama Leadership Initiative and Leadership Shoals. Buchanan is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
Sandra Killen Burroughs is mayor of Lexington and executive director of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. A University of North Alabama graduate, she holds a Travel Marketing Professional designation from the Southeast Tourism Society and worked several years in tourism. She also is a state board-certified EMT. She is past chair of the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments, and a board member of Northwest Alabama RC&D, Alabama Elk River Development Authority, Shoals Economic Development Authority and the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association and is a former board member of the Alabama League of Municipalities.
William Foster is mayor of Tuscumbia. He and his family founded the Rattlesnake Saloon and the Seven Springs Lodge, long the subject of national acclaim. While on the Tuscumbia City Council, he assisted with efforts to revitalize downtown, including the Coldwater Commons Pocket Park, the DesignAlabama project for Spring Park and downtown streetscapes, and helped several new businesses get started. Foster is an Auburn University graduate. He serves on the boards of Shoals Solid Waste Authority and Animal Control and is active with the North Alabama Council of Local Governments.
Jeff Goodwin is president of Northwest Shoals Community College, after a 30-year public school career ranging from classroom teacher to superintendent. Under Goodwin’s leadership, NWSCC has seen rising enrollment, reinstated athletics, and a $30 million renovation and construction project at the school’s Phil Campbell campus. In 2024, Goodwin was recognized with the New President’s Paragon Award by Phi Theta Kappa. He serves on the boards of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and North Alabama Council of Local Governments. Recently, Goodwin was appointed to the ACCS Athletics Executive Committee. He was Alabama Superintendent of the Year in 2020.
Kevin Haslam is vice president for university advancement and executive director of the UNA Foundation at the University of North Alabama. The Advancement Team established records in new gifts and commitments in the fiscal years 2022 and 2023, securing $24,865,698 and $34,545,310, respectively. On Sept. 29, 2023, the Team successfully launched Shine On, Gold, the $100 million comprehensive campaign for UNA. A graduate of New Mexico Highlands University, Haslam earned a master’s from Wayne State College and has certifications in fundraising from the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy and Harvard University.
Braxton Holloway was named COO of North Alabama Shoals Hospital in June 2024. Earlier, he was associate administrator and ethics and compliance officer at the hospital. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University and an MBA from Western Governors University. He also has served as assistant administrator, market director of physician practices and market practice manager at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, Tennessee, and was a practice manager at Centennial Thoracic Surgical Associates in Nashville.
Michelle Forsythe Jones is CEO of Forsythe and Long Industries in Florence. She is a University of North Alabama graduate with a graduate certificate from Auburn University’s Brewing Science and Operation Program. In 2013, she and her husband, Rob Jones, founded Singin’ River Brewing Co. She also co-founded fertilizer company CRF Tech with her sister, Molly Partlow; then she and her brother-in-law, Kevin Partlow, partnered with a customer to build a fertilizer production facility, which played a pivotal role during the 2021 supply chain crisis. She founded the Tennessee chapter of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and has worked with UNA’s Women of Influence.
Chris King is a Tuscumbia City Council member and vice president, director of marketing at Bank Independent. During his tenure, the bank has grown, won honors as a great workplace and for economic development projects including Bank Independent Stadium at UNA. He is a member of the Tuscumbia Kiwanis club, works with nonprofits and sits on the advisory board of Alabama Capital Network. After obtaining Certified Marketing Financial Professional status, King joined the American Bankers Association’s group working to improve the test given to certify bank marketers, and he teaches marketing at Alabama Banking School. He is a graduate of Auburn University with added credentials from the Wharton School of Business.
Mike Lockhart is mayor of Muscle Shoals, after eight years on the city council. He has more than 30 years of management experience in the healthcare field, primarily at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield. He is a member of the Alabama League of Municipalities, where he serves on the board. He is involved with committees of the National League of Cities. Locally, he holds positions on the Shoals Industrial Development Council, the Shoals Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization and the executive board of the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Government. He has achieved Certified Municipal Officer Emeritus Status and recently completed the Auburn University Intensive Economic Development Training Course.
Josh Looney is director of athletics at the University of North Alabama. He has ushered UNA into its new NCAA Division I era and led numerous privately funded athletics facilities projects, highlighted by the new Bank Independent Stadium. Looney began his career in professional sports with the Kansas City Chiefs and Orlando Magic. A graduate of Washburn University, he also has an MBA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and an Ed.D. from Creighton University.
Hallie Mauldin is a fourth-generation banker with Bank Independent, a $2.7 billion community bank headquartered in the Shoals and its subsidiary Interstate Billing Service. She is a graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Mauldin is community engagement leader as part of the marketing team and spearheads the bank’s Helping Hands Foundation. She serves on Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business Board of Young Professionals and as a Shine on Gold Ambassador for the University of North Alabama.
Paul Underwood is multi-site general manager of Linamar, an advanced manufacturing company that makes EV battery trays and more in Muscle Shoals and Hartselle. He has served in this position since 2021, where he has coordinated plant expansions and consolidations, training and other tasks. Before coming to Linamar, he served from 2014 to 2021 as director of manufacturing and lean transformation for Freightcar America. Before then, he was a partner/operator with Performance Werks Racing, where he built record-breaking engines in six different classes. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis.
Roger Williams is a CPA, shareholder and president of Patterson Prince and Associates PC. A Birmingham-Southern College graduate, he volunteers in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Shoals program and was voted 2023 Big Brother of the Year. He is finance chair for the boards of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and Shoals Habitat for Humanity and board vice president of Alabama Court Appointed Special Advocates, an organization dedicated to speaking up for abused and neglected children. He is an Alabama Leadership Initiative graduate, receiving the 2024 Alpha Phi Alpha Business Man Award of the Year.
This article appears in the October 2024 issue of Business Alabama.
