Pee Dee Land Trust: Staff and Board

Board Members: Chesterfield

Chesterfield: Jim Crawford
Mr. Crawford is a former executive with B. C. Moore and Sons, Inc. He is Chairman of the Board of Sentry Bank and Trust and a longtime tree farmer and outdoorsman. Jim lives in his hometown of Cheraw.

Chesterfield: Jimmy Lofton
Mr. Lofton, a Cheraw native, received an A.S. degree in Forestry from Lake City Community College, Lake City, FL in 1975. He has twenty years of experience as a SC Certified General Real Estate Appraiser specializing in commercial, farmland, and timberland properties. He is a Registered Forester and Real Estate Broker in both SC and NC. He is President and CEO of J. B. Lofton Company, Inc., which was established in 1985. The company provides the real estate appraisals (residential, commercial, and rural) as well as forest management and real estate sales in the Pee Dee area.

Chesterfield: Heath Ruffner (Secretary/Treasurer, Board of Directors, 2008-10)
Mr. Ruffner is an attorney with Harris, McLeod and Ruffner law firm in Cheraw. A graduate of USC and USC Law School, he has been on the PDLT board since 2003. Heath is active in his community having served on the board of directors of the Greater Cheraw Chamber of Commerce (Past Chairman), Kiwanis Club and Chesterfield General Hospital. He is also a charter member of the Cheravian Club, a local civic group concentrating on the Cheraw area. Heath enjoys the outdoors and traveling, and has a special interest in the preservation of historic homes and properties.

Board Members: Darlington

Darlington: Eddie Drayton (Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, 2008-10)
Mr. Drayton is a native of Lee County and has long since adopted Hartsville, SC as his home. He graduated from Wofford College in 1960 with a degree in Biology and obtained a master’s degree in Forestry from Duke University. After serving in the US military, he joined Sonoco’s Forest Products Division in 1962 where he worked until retirement. Mr. Drayton’s specialty is river-bottom hardwoods. For Sonoco, he managed about 80,000 acres in SC, primarily on the Pee Dee and Santee Rivers. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters and is active in the Boy Scouts of America and St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Hartsville. In his retirement, he has maintained involvement in the study and forest management of river-bottom hardwoods and has continued personal research on cherrybark oak. Mr. Drayton recently purchased a tract of land in Wallace, SC which he uses for educational tours. Mr. Drayton was recently named the South Carolina Tree Farmer of the Year for 2009 by the South Carolina Forestry Association.

Darlington: Gordon McBride

Hartsville resident Gordon McBride was recently named Darlington County's Economic Ambassador by Governor Sanford. Formerly solicitor for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, Mr. McBride is a private practice attorney specialzing in criminal law and real estate. He currently serves on the Pee Dee Mental Health Board, the Pee Dee Chapter of the Red Cross Board, the Darlington County Development Board and the Hartsville Chamber of Commerce Board.

Board Members: Dillon

Dillon: Keith Allen

Mr. Allen is a partner and seventh generation farmer on his family's Betty Allen Farm near Latta. A Clemson graduate he serves on the SC Farm Bureau Executive Committee, the SC Farm Bureau Tobacco Committee, and the Dillon County Farm Bureau Board. He is also on the Dillon FSA County Committee and is Secretary of the SC Tobacco Growers' Association.

Dillon: Earl Dutton
Mr. Dutton is a consulting forester and president of Forestland Services, Inc. He is active in Dillon civic groups including the city's Tree Committee, Little Pee Dee Scenic River Advisory Committee, and Dillon Lion's Club, and the BSA, Adult Leader– 31 yrs. He is also a member of the Association of Consulting Foresters, Society of American Foresters, International Society of Arboriculture.

Dillon: Kalli Norton
Mrs. Norton is a retired lawyer. She is a former Deputy General Counsel to the Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency. She currently serves as third vice president of the Garden Club of South Carolina, Inc., vice president of the Forest Dunes Property Owners Association, and is a member of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation Education Committee. She is a former member of the Dillon County Planning Commission and the Downtown Dillon Revitalization Executive Committee. She is also former chairman of both the Downtown Economic Development Committee and the Civic Pride Working Group, part of the Dillon County Quality of Life Task Force.

Board Members: Florence

Florence: Austin Gilbert
A 2000 recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, Mr. Gilbert is president and founder of Gilbert Construction. During his stint on the Commission of Higher Education, he was Chairman of the Planning and Assessment Committee. In 2002 he earned the Florence Small Business Person of the Year Award and the Clemson Alumni Fellows Award. He has also served on the boards of NBSC, SC Research Authority, MUSC Board of Visitors, Young Pecan, the Home Builders Assn. of the Pee Dee, Carolinas Associated General Contractors, Florence County Economic Progress, and the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

Florence: Waldo “Tres” Hyman
Mr. Hyman owns Bishop Brothers Forestry Consultants and has been in the forestry business for 25 years. Prior to moving to Florence, he worked for the US Forest Service in Ketchikan, AK. Mr. Hyman is also a former member Lynches River Advisory Council, member Society of American Foresters (past state chair, Pee Dee Chapter chair, past state Natural Areas chair), Association of Consulting Foresters, NC & SC Registered Forester, and a licensed real estate broker.

Florence: Ben Zeigler
Mr. Zeigler is a native of Florence practicing public finance law. Ben earned his BA from The University of the South, an M. Phil. from Oxford University and his JD from Harvard University. He is chairman of the Pee Dee Land Trust, on the board of the Florence Stockade, the Florence Center for the Arts, and Florence County Progress. He also serves as General Counsel for the Florence Downtown Development Corporation. Ben is a Liberty Fellow and is the former chairman of the Francis Marion Trail Commission.

Board Members: Georgetown

Georgetown: Sumter L. Langston (Chairman, Board of Directors, 2008-10)
Sumter L. Langston, though a native of Darlington, South Carolina, now lives on the Great Pee Dee River in Georgetown County. He is President of Sumter L. Langston Real Estate Inc., a real estate firm specializing in commercial real estate and land brokerage. He has had experience in banking and served as an instructor in business and economics at Florence Darlington Technical College. Sumter is active in civic affairs having served as President of the Grand Strand Sertoma Club and Chairman of the Horry County Higher Education Commission.

Georgetown: Tony Shank
Mr. Shank is a retired timber buyer originally from Marion County. He now lives in Georgetown.

Georgetown: Wesley Bryant
Wesley Bryant is the County Attorney for Georgetown County. He earned a degree in Political Science from The Citadel in 2002, where he was a Citadel Scholar and Palmetto Fellow. Mr. Bryant attended the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor degree in May of 2006 and a member of Phi Delta Phi. After a clerkship, Mr. Bryant was hired by the County.

Board Members: Marlboro

Marlboro: Jeff Dudley
Mr. Dudley is the Tax Assessor for Marlboro County. He is a board member on the Marlborough County Historical Society and was actively involved in creating the 1997 Marlboro Pictorial History book. He is also involved with the SC Genealogical Society, Pee Dee Chapter, the Marlboro County Historic Preservation Commission, and Friends of the SC Archives. Jeff is a published photographer and mapmaker.

Marlboro: Butch Mills

Mr. Mills is the Executive Director of Business Carolina, Inc. which promotes economic and community development and lives in Bennettsville. He is a SC Certified Economic Developer, serves on the board of the SC Economic Developers Association, and is active in several community service organizations.

Board Members: Marion

Marion: Charles Bethea
Mr. Bethea is a native of McColl, South Carolina, but has lived in Marion County for more than 35 years. He is active in civic life, especially in areas of education and health care. He is a Clemson graduate, a former Army officer, and a long time educator in Marion County Schools, first as a teacher, then principal, then District Superintendent. He is an active member of Ducks Unlimited and Wildlife Action, Inc.

Susan_Riales Marion: Susan Riales
Mrs. Riales is a native and lifetime resident of Marion County and has lived on property owned by her family since the 1880’s, Swintz Haven Farm. She has worked as a substitute teacher, billing clerk for a trucking company, pharmacy clerk, hospital employee at Mullins Hospital, and secretary for the VP of Sales at Raytex. She currently shares ownership of her own company, RxBlendables.

Board Members: Williamsburg

Williamsburg County: John Snow

Mr. Snow, his wife and child live on his family farm in Henry, South Carolina, just outside Hemingway. He leases his farm for row crop production: cotton, peanuts, corn, etc. and participates in the Conservation Reserve Program. Mr. Snow is a surveyor with Sanders Surveyors in Georgetown and he owns and operates Black Mingo Venison Processing. He is active in numerous civic and outdoorsmen’s organizations including the Union Methodist Church, Ducks Unlimited, and Quality Deer Management Association.

Williamsburg County: William (Bill) McCullough

William (Bill) McCullough, a native South Carolinian, left the Palmetto State in the late 1960’s to attend the National Academy of Art and Design in New York City. While at the academy, he studied under acclaimed realist painters Eric Eisenberger and Daniel Greene. Ten years later, he returned with his family to Kingstree, where he focused on landscapes and portraiture. He currently operates a studio in Charleston while maintaining the family farm in Williamsburg County as well as a residence in Pougnadoresse, France.

Advisor

Advisor to PDLT, John M. Alford
Mr. Alford is a Program Coordinator with the Land, Water and Conservation Division of the SC Dept. of Natural Resources. Through this position, he serves as chair of the Little Pee Dee Scenic River Advisory Council In the past, he has worked with Pee Dee Farm Credit and in the agricultural chemical/fertilizer trade as a sales representative. He is active in the community: a Member/Elder in the Reedy Creek Presbyterian Church in Dillon County, on the board of the Dillon Christian School and Chairman of the Dillon County Planning Commission.

Staff

Executive Director: Jennie Williamson
In Fall of 2005, Jennie Williamson started as the first full time executive director of the Pee Dee Land Trust. She has previously worked for Harvard Law School, the Arnold Arboretum, SC Coastal Conservation League, and Riverbanks Zoo & Botanical Garden.

You may contact her at jwilliamson@peedeelandtrust.org.

Director of Education and Outreach: Jennifer King
You may contact her at jking@peedeelandtrust.org.