PALMETTO PROMISE INSTITUTE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Director, Spartanburg

A Spartanburg native, Barry Wynn's history in the investment business spans over 35 years and includes a wide variety of investment and retirement planning experience. Before becoming President of Colonial Trust in 1992, he served as First Vice President at The Robinson-Humphrey Company, where he designed investment policy statements and conducted manager search studies. Barry is also active in his community and public policy. In addition to his involvement with several Spartanburg organizations, he has served as a Presidential appointee to the National Advisory Committee on Commodity Distribution. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Barry to serve on the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation Advisory Committee, a position he served through 2004. Barry also serves as a board member of Santee Cooper.

Job Titles:

• Immediate past Chairman, Greenville
• President and CEO of the Capital Corporation

Dan Adams is the President and CEO of The Capital Corporation, which under his leadership has grown into one of the most successful merger and acquisition boutiques in the Southeast. He has over 28 years experience in finance and has directed over 200 merger and acquisition transactions during his career. Dan has advised companies in many sectors, including finance, health care, manufacturing, service, restaurant, transportation and waste industries. Dan is an active private equity investor with investments in a broad range of industries with particular concentration in consumer finance, restaurants and consumer health in the Carolinas and Texas. Dan is Chairman and serves as a board member of several privately held companies and also served as past President of the South Carolina Investor's Network (SCIN). He currently serves on the non-profit boards of Limestone College and USC Upstate and has previously served on the board of the Boys and Girls Club. In 2008 he was the recipient of the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year from the University of South Carolina Upstate. Dan served as Chairman of the PPI Board from 2015-2019.

Job Titles:

• Fellow
• Visiting Fellow, Healthcare

Marcelo Hochman, MD is a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Charleston, South Carolina. By working for 10 years in academia as a full-time employed physician and subsequently in independent private practice with a mix of insured, self-pay and indigent patients, Dr. Hochman has a unique lens through which he views healthcare delivery. His private practice draws patients from throughout the southeastern United States and internationally. In addition, he continues to have a dedicated clinic and operating room time at the Medical University of South Carolina; the only independent doctor to do so. Dr. Hochman was honored with The Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina's highest civilian award, the Community Service Award of the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery and named a ‘Health Care Hero' by the Charleston Business Journal for his charitable work with patients with congenital vascular anomalies. He currently serves as President of the Charleston County Medical Society where he champions legislative projects to repeal the Certificate of Need law; exempt Doctors from non-compete clauses as condition of employment and seeking a tax incentive for individual doctors who provide pro-bono charitable medical care.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Palmetto Team
• Policy Analyst
• Policy Analyst / Research Partners

Felicity Ropp is a recent summa cum laude graduate of the South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina, where she earned a dual degree: a BA in Political Science with a minor in Public Relations and a BA in History with a minor in Southern Studies. Since her summer internship with Palmetto Promise in 2021, Felicity has worked part-time at the Palmetto Promise Institute as a research fellow and administrative staff, and she is thrilled to join the team full-time as a policy analyst. At USC, Felicity was a Carolina Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, receiving the university's Outstanding Senior Award and graduating with Leadership Distinction in Civic and Professional Engagement. Outside the classroom, Felicity served as Governor of South Carolina Student Legislature, attorney general of USC's Student Government, chairman of the College Republicans of South Carolina, a research assistant for the political science department's Digital Campaigns Project, and communications director for USC's Institute for Southern Studies. In addition to her work at Palmetto Promise, she paged in the South Carolina House of Representatives, interned with the Department of Social Services, and worked for numerous political campaigns. In summer 2023, Felicity completed the Mississippi Delta Scholar fellowship through the Mississippi State University Shackouls Honors College, the Southern Rural Development Center, and Harvard University. Her policy portfolio thus far has included election reform, public history, foster care, education, and farmers' issues, and she looks forward to expanding that work here at Palmetto Promise. Felicity was born and raised in upstate South Carolina. She is the daughter of a small business owner and a public school teacher. In her spare time, she can be found browsing an antique store, tracking down the best local restaurants, working her way through her lengthy to-read list, or tending her front porch garden.

Job Titles:

• Director, Greenville

Job Titles:

• Founding Chairman, Greenville

Prior to representing South Carolina in the U.S. House (1999-2005) and U.S. Senate (2005-2013), Jim DeMint developed his understanding of conservative principles in action as a husband, father and small business owner in Greenville, South Carolina. Known for policy entrepreneurship, he authored leading conservative reforms to health care, education, taxes, and entitlements. DeMint garnered national acclaim from conservatives for leading efforts to ban congressional earmarks, which had been the source of billions of dollars of wasteful spending for decades and led to corruption and widespread abuse. He also served as the President of The Heritage Foundation for four years, taking the organization to new heights of influence. Under DeMint's direction, Heritage partnered with the Federalist Society to create a list of possible Supreme Court judicial nominations that culminated in the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch. He now serves as Chairman of Conservative Partnership Institute and is the Founding Chairman of Palmetto Promise Institute. DeMint and his wife, Debbie, have four children who now are grown and married. They've taken a shine to being grandparents.

Job Titles:

• Visiting Fellow, Education

Jonathan Butcher resides in Greenville and serves as senior policy analyst in the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation. He has researched and testified on education policy and school choice programs around the U.S., and his work has appeared in journals such as Education Next and the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. He has appeared on local and national TV and radio outlets, including C-SPAN, Fox News, and HBO's Vice News Tonight. His commentary has appeared nationally in places such as the Wall Street Journal, Education Week, National Review Online, and Forbes.com, along with newspapers around the country. Jonathan previously served as the education director at the Goldwater Institute, where he remains a senior fellow. He was a member of the Arizona Department of Education's first Steering Committee for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, the nation's first education savings account program. He is also a Senior Fellow with The Beacon Center of Tennessee, a nonpartisan research organization, and a contributing scholar for the Georgia Center for Opportunity. Prior to joining Goldwater, Jonathan was the director of accountability for the South Carolina Public Charter School District, South Carolina's only statewide charter school authorizer. Jonathan previously studied education policy at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and worked with the School Choice Demonstration Project, the research team that evaluated voucher programs in Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee, Wisc. Jonathan holds a B.A. in English from Furman University and an M.A. in economics from the University of Arkansas.

Job Titles:

• Visiting Fellow, Energy

Job Titles:

• Director, Columbia

Chairman of the Board until January, 2023, of Cason Family Company and subsidiaries. which include the Cason Group, Cason Development Group and Cason Real Estate Holdings. He now serves on the Board, and is not actively in day to day operations. After 16 years as an agent for Metropolitan Life, and a Sales rep for The Guardian, Louie established in 1991 the insurance agency, which now covers the Southeast. In 2018, the Cason Family Company was established to oversee insurance, real estate development and the real estate holdings. His sons, Lander, William, and Frank are part of the ownership of the companies, with Frank and William as CEO's for real estate and insurance, respectively. Louie is past President of the SC Association of Health Underwriters, and also received the Lifetime Achievement award from that organization in 2018. In addition to the above, he is a University of Georgia graduate, and also served in the Marine Corps.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Palmetto Team
• Senior Fellow
• Adviser

Dr. Oran Smith has developed a reputation as a trusted adviser and public policy scholar during his many years of service in the Palmetto State. His prior work includes President of Palmetto Family Council, COO of the SC Business & Industry Political Education Committee [BIPEC] and regional economic development director in the Office of the Governor (Carroll Campbell). Dr. Smith co-founded Palmetto Promise Institute with Senator Jim DeMint and Ellen Weaver in 2013 and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and Senior Fellow. Oran holds a PhD in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of South Carolina and has also studied at Clemson University and George Washington University. His dissertation, The Rise of Baptist Republicanism, directed by Professor Earl Black, was published by New York University Press. Oran has served on the Board of Trustees for Coastal Carolina University since its independence in 1993 where he chairs the Academic Excellence & Student Experience Committee. He is a Commissioner on the state Commission on Higher Education representing the Senior Comprehensive Teaching Institutions. A native of Greenville County, Dr. Smith has authored numerous scholarly and policy publications.

Job Titles:

• Chairman, Greenville
• President of Hughes Investments, Inc

Phil Hughes is the President of Hughes Investments, Inc. located in his hometown of Greenville, where his projects include commercial, industrial, office, and mixed-use developments that demonstrate his passion for innovative architecture. He is an avid supporter of his community and serves as a Board Member on several civic, cultural, and educational boards. He has been recognized for his leadership role in converting McAlister Square Mall into University Center, expanding and revitalizing Heritage Green, and numerous other Upstate developments including Poinsett Plaza, CenterPointe, and RiverPlace. In addition to participating and holding leadership roles in the Urban Land Institute and Foundation, Phil has been actively involved with the South Carolina District Council and initiated Growing by Choice or Change - State Strategies for Quality Growth in South Carolina.

Job Titles:

• Director, Greenville

Job Titles:

• Vice Chairman, Hilton Head Island

Job Titles:

• Chairman of the Washington
• Director, Debordieu

Van Hipp is Chairman of the Washington, DC-based American Defense International, Inc. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he served on active duty in both Operation Desert Storm and Operation Restore Democracy. In 1990, he was sworn in as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Reserve Forces and Mobilization), where he served as point man for the successful mobilization and demobilization of the Army's reserve forces for Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Following that, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney named him Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Navy, the Navy's number two lawyer, where he served until 1993. Van continues to speak on defense issues at public forums across the country, and his articles on defense and international policy have been widely read in the national print media. He has also appeared regularly as an expert commentator on national news networks. South Carolina born and bred, Van served as a member of the 1988 Presidential Electoral College and Chair of the SCGOP from 1986-89. In 2002, he was named by Governor Jim Hodges as SC Ambassador for Economic Development and has served on numerous boards, including the Board of Visitors of Charleston Southern University.

Job Titles:

• CEO
• Member of the Palmetto Team
• President

Wendy Damron graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She started her career at Ernst & Young LLP as a CPA in both the Detroit and Baltimore offices, where she practiced in all aspects of tax with a concentration on the areas of high net-worth individuals, corporate and non-profit compliance. Through this experience, she came to understand the complexity of tax law and the burden it places on businesses large and small. In 2000, Wendy became a self-employed tax professional. In this capacity, she gained more experience and insight into the tax issues that middle-class individuals face and how tax policy can influence individual decision-making. She continues her tax practice with pro-bono work. Wendy also served as the state director for Convention of States, a.k.a. Citizens for Self-Governance, a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging citizens to actively engage with their state legislatures to make an impact on policy. Efforts of this state team resulted in the successful passage of legislation in South Carolina. During her time with this organization, Wendy has traveled the state to speak to groups about self-governance, served as an external relations manager, and established strong relationships with other like-minded organizations in the state. Over the years, she has also been a member of several local nonprofit boards and has been very active in charitable work through her church and community. Wendy, her husband, and her two children relocated to the Charleston area over a decade ago, and have fallen in love with the people, the culture and the beauty of South Carolina.