Wellman Inc.

Steven L. Ates. Mr. Ates has been Vice President, Sales and Marketing since March 2007. Prior to that, he was Business Manager for our North American PET Resins business and has held various sales and technical positions in our fiber and PET business units.

During the Dialcom years he helped develop, among other things, "The Source," a precursor to AOL. Designated the term "chat" for a command developed to link users who were online at the same time, and the name stuck. Another interesting system Tom wrote was for the U.S. Congress, allowing them to respond to, file and later re-initiate correspondence with constituents. Freshman Al Gore was a customer. At one point had 240 members using the system. This was before PCs became available. In January 1986 left ITT, to start own company with wife, Watson & Walker, Financed the company and did the marketing and editing. Held classes here and abroad, started a newsletter of operating system advice in 1991 that's still going strong and wrote two pieces of monitoring software. He moved to Tampa in 1989, followed by Sarasota in 1991. On the board of local brush painting society, and for the last couple of years served on the board of FCAN (Florida Consumer Action Network) where he met Jerry Lieberman who invited him to join the Humanists of Florida Association. Treasurer Bob La Salle Englewood: Bob worked for what is now Verizon, for a total of 37 years, retiring in 2000. Most of that time was spent in management as a Supervisor and Manager. While I was working, I attended school nights and achieved an Associates degree in Electronics, and Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Business Management. I taught some PC and Management courses at the college level for 2 years and had extensive teaching experience with the phone company-training engineers in the nuances of telephone and computer program skills. In addition, I worked for H & R Block as a Tax Professional for 2 years after I retired. I have been your Treasurer since June of 2004 and was recently elected Treasurer of The Lemon Bay Playhouse in Englewood, FL. Immediate Past President: Dennis Deshaies St. Augustine: Dennis served as President of HoFA from April 2000 April 2003. He is also a founder, a former two-term President and current President of the Humanists of Northeast Florida and has been a lifetime advocate/activist for civil and human rights. Dennis retired in 1994 after a career in a succession of leadership and executive positions, in which he says he was able to earn an income while fulfilling his personal commitment to existential humanism by applying humanistic and social science principles in significant areas of social organization. After earning a Masters degree in Sociology at the University on Chicago, in 1962 he became a Field Research Associate with the Institute For Social Research, the University of Michigan, which conducted a 6 year social research project to evaluate the effectiveness of the Chicago Youth Development Project, an outreach program directed at delinquent street gangs in Chicago. Next he spent 14 years directing a research and development department, at the Chrysler Institute, the Chrysler Corporation, developing programs to recruit train and assimilate economically disadvantaged, minorities, women, and the disabled into the mainstream work place. During the last ten years before retirement he was the Director of Human Resources for Boysville of Michigan, a multi-center, program for the rehabilitation of delinquent youth and their families. Dennis currently resides in St. Augustine, FL and has three adult daughters and two grandchildren who live out of state. He is a licensed private pilot, currently active in sports aviation. He enjoys reading suspense and action novels and nonfiction literature on social, political and philosophical subjects. At Large Board Member Carole Mehlman Tampa: She is a lawyer that works in immigration and has experience with domestic violence issues. She is also a certified mediator, and long time Humanist, active with HFA and a variety of progressive causes. She has served on several boards, including HFA and has a Masters degree in non-profit management. (Carole is the former secretary of the board and has been a...

James E. Rogers, 61, has served as President of SCI Investors Inc, a private equity investment firm, since 1993. He also serves on the boards of directors of Wellman, Inc., Caraustar Industries, Inc., Cadmus Communications Inc. and New Market Corp. Mr. Rogers has been a director since 1991.

Mr. Vandenberg has served as a director since March 1993. He currently serves as the President of Cariad Capital, Inc., a private equity investment business, which he founded in January 1992. Mr. Vandenberg also serves as a director of Wellman, Inc., a polyester fiber manufacturer. From 1986 to December 2002, Mr. Vandenberg served as a Managing Director of Narragansett Capital, Inc., a private investment firm, as general partner of Narragansett Capital Partners -A and -B, L.P., related venture capital funds, and as a general partner of Narragansett First Fund, a venture capital fund. From May 1999 to March 2000, Mr. Vandenberg served as President of EFD, Inc., a manufacturer and seller of fluid dispensing and dispensing components. Committees: Audit.

Tom received a BS in psychology from Duke University in 1964. Worked for the General Electric computer department in their Charlotte, NC office. He was a member of the Unitarian Church there. In 1970-1985 worked at Dialcom, Inc. in Washington, D.C., a time-sharing company where customers paid by the hour to connect a "dumb" terminal to a central computer via the telephone. In 1972 became VP of product development, and given part ownership.