Board of Directors

William E. (Bill) Craig
President

Mr. Craig is a retired Connecticut attorney. He has been a resident of The Landings since 2002. He spent his entire professional career with the New Haven, CT based firm, Wiggin and Dana, LLP. He served on the firm's Executive Committee and chaired its Real Estate and Environmental Law Department. His experience with real estate development led to him being retained in the early 1970's to represent the non-profit sponsor of the first continuing care retirement community constructed in New England. He subsequently represented other CCRCs, both non-profits and for-profits, from initial development and financing through all aspects of operations. Mr. Craig holds degrees from Dartmouth College and Yale Law School. Before moving to Savannah, he was a Trustee and President of the Quechee Lakes Landowners Association in Quechee, Vermont. He also served on the City of New Haven's Board of Finance and was a Director, Treasurer and Life Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation.

Thomas L. Curless
Treasurer

During his 40-year career, retired certified public accountant Thomas Curless spent more than three decades in New York City with Price Waterhouse & Company, an international accounting, tax and advisory firm. He belonged to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and served as a member of the Board of Regents of the Chartered Bank Auditor Program for the Bank Administration Institute.

Actively involved in the local community, Mr. Curless is a board member, treasurer and chairman of the finance committee for the not-for-profit Community Health Mission that provides access to free health care to the uninsured and underinsured in the Savannah area. He volunteers his time to the Skidaway Island United Methodist Church and the Rod & Gun Club.

Previously, Mr. Curless served as board member and treasurer for the Skidaway Island Republican Club, The Landings Company and The Landings Association, and as finance chairman of the Golf Tournament Committee for the American Cancer Society. In New Jersey, he was a member of the Board of Trustees and chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee for the Overlook Hospital Association.

Mr. Curless holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Amos Tuck School of Business Administration. He moved to The Landings in 1995.

Robert DiBenedetto, M.D.

Dr. DiBenedetto was born and educated in New York. He attended St. John's University and the State University of New York, Downstate College of Medicine. He is Board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care. He served in the U.S. Navy at the Beaufort Naval Hospital. In 1969, he entered practice in Savannah and was one of the founders of Medical Associates of Savannah. He was the first pulmonologist and critical care physician in southeast Georgia and was instrumental in developing the Pulmonary and Critical Care Departments at Memorial Medical Center. Dr. DiBenedetto was one of the founders of both the School of Respiratory Therapy at Armstrong Atlantic University and The Physician Assistant School at South University. He served as the Medical Director of both programs for many years. In 1990, he moved to Memorial where he served as Director of Internal Medical Education and Vice President of Medical Affairs and Education. Dr. DiBenedetto was Clinical Professor of Medicine at The Medical College of Georgia and Professor of Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine. He currently is Professor Emeritus at Mercer. During his time at Memorial, he was responsible for the affiliation of Mercer School of Medicine and the development of the Savannah Campus of the School of Medicine.

He is a Fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians. He has authored more than 40 medical publications. Dr. DiBenedetto has received the Laureate Award of the American College of Physicians and the Founders award for his contributions to the development of Memorial Medical Center.

William G. (Bill) Foster, Sr.

Mr. Foster was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. He retired as a principal owner of Thomas and Hutton Engineering Company after 45 years of service. He was the chairman of Thomas and Hutton's Board of Directors at the time of retirement. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and a Charter Member of the Skidaway Presbyterian Church. He presently serves on the Board of Trustees for Presbyterian Homes of Georgia. He is a charter member of the Rotary Club of Savannah South. He is a past member of Wachovia Banks Coastal Advisory Board, past president of The Landings Property Owners Association and past president of the King & Prince Condominium Association of St. Simons Island, Georgia. He is also past chairman of The Georgia 12 Advisory Council.

S. Stewart Bromley, CPA, CFP

Stewart is a native of Berlin, Maryland and graduated from Duke University in 1982. He has over 25 years of experience, including nine years with Price Waterhouse. Stewart's experience has been primarily devoted to tax planning and compliance for privately owned businesses and high net worth individuals, estate planning and business advisory services.

Lisa Birch

As a graduate of the University of Georgia's School of Environment and Design, Lisa Birch has had an accomplished career as a landscape architect. In 1985, Lisa founded Birch and Associates, Inc.—a landscape architectural design firm—and currently serves as the company's president. Lisa's work has been featured in Southern Living and Coastal Living magazines for her design of outdoor kitchens, pools and water features, hardscapes and landscape renovation.

Lisa is an active member of the Skidaway Island United Methodist Church, and has served as chairman of the board of trustees, finance committee and chairman of the stewardship committee. In addition, Lisa designed the church's memorial garden, playground and labyrinth. She is also an active member of the Savannah South Rotary Club, where she has held the positions of membership orientation chair, sergeant at arms, treasurer, president-elect and the club's first female president; Lisa is a Will Watt and Paul Harris multiple fellow.

Lisa will be president of the Hesse Elementary School PTA for 2010-2012, and is currently the chairman of their grounds committee. Residents of The Landings since 1984, she and her husband, Chip, have two sons; the eldest recently graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech, while their youngest is enrolled at Hesse Elementary. Lisa's mother is currently a resident at The Marshes.

Keith Dimond, M.D.

An Ohio-native, Dr. Keith Dimond was born in Cincinnati and graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1962 and from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine in 1966. After completing his nephrology and internal medicine training in 1973, he and his wife, Julie, moved to Savannah with their three children. Dr. Dimond began his career in Savannah with Paulson Square Medical Associates.

Board-certified in nephrology and internal medicine, Dr. Dimond partnered with Dr. Lamont Danzig in 1974 to start the first hemodialysis unit in Savannah at (then) Memorial Medical Center. He was involved in developing Savannah's first free-standing, outpatient dialysis center—Coastal Dialysis and Medical Center—and has been the Medical Director there since 1977. Dr. Dimond has served at Memorial Health University Medical Center as the chief of staff and chairman of the credentials committee; he was also on the board of directors for nine years.

Currently practicing with Medical Associates of Savannah, Dr. Dimond is the medical director of two local dialysis units and is a member of the Southeastern Kidney Council Medical Review Board.

Janet Kwaiser Kuhn, EdD, RN

View Janet's Curriculum Vitae

James K. Emery

Mr. Emery is President and a founding partner of Viewfinder Consulting, which specializes in Brand Positioning. Clients include AT+T, BellSouth, Brown-Forman, Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, Kraft General Foods, Lending Tree, MGM Grand, Pepperidge-Farm, Perrier, Prudential, Quaker Oats, Revlon, the University of Virginia and Walt Disney. He recently co-authored the book, "The Navigator's Guide – How to Position Brands Successfully".

Locally, he has consulted for Armstrong Atlantic University, Bethesda, Greenbriar, Kiwanis, the Mighty Eighth Airforce Museum, Savannah Airport Commission, Savannah Country Day School, the Savannah CVB, SEDA, the Savannah Morning News, Senior Citizens, Inc., SunTrust, the Telfair and Union Mission.

He has served on the Lucas Theatre and Savannah Music Festival Boards and is currently on the boards for Bethesda Academy and the Garcia-Thayer Group.

He received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth. He worked in brand management for Colgate-Palmolive and Chesebrough-Pond's prior to starting Viewfinder.

He and his wife, Melissa, built a vacation home on Skidaway Island in 1985 and moved here full-time in 1992. They are members of Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church and were honored in 2010 as "Savannah Stars" for their volunteer efforts.

LeeAnn W. Aldridge

LeeAnn Williams Aldridge is a Partner in the Savannah office and concentrates her practice on all aspects of Commercial Real Estate and Commercial Finance. Ms. Aldridge has extensive experience representing lenders and borrowers in the negotiation and documentation of loans and sale leaseback transactions across the United States. Ms. Aldridge also assists lenders with loan modifications and workout agreements with regard to nonperforming loans. Prior to moving to Savannah, she was a commercial litigator in Philadelphia, representing lending institutions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with regard to their commercial foreclosures and workouts, giving her a practical perspective on the loan and real estate documents which she now negotiates and drafts.

Ms. Aldridge graduated from Princeton University in 1989 and from Villanova University School of Law in 1992. In the summer of 1991, she clerked for the Honorable Horace W. Gilmore, Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan.

In 2006, Ms. Aldridge was selected to join the American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA), which is a national group of real estate attorneys recognized by their peers for demonstrated skill and experience with the negotiation and documentation of real estate mortgages, lending transactions and related practices. In 2007, Ms. Aldridge was elected to a three year term on the ACMA Board of Regents. She was a Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2005 and 2006 and is a Georgia Super Lawyers for 2008 and 2009. She has also been selected for inclusion in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 editions of The Best Lawyers of America in the specialty of Real Estate Law. Ms. Aldridge is a member of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and South Carolina Bar Associations. Ms. Aldridge is one of the founding members of the MRM Pro Bono Project, which is HunterMaclean's pro bono initiative.

Russell Peterson
Honorary Board Member

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