ATLANTA - Oglethorpe University is proud to announce Martha Laird Bowen ’61, Bill Mullally ’03, Reverend Doctor George Gilman (Gil) Watson ’68, Ray Willoch ’80 and M. John Breton, III ’97 as new members of the Board of Trustees. They will begin serving Tuesday, August 1.

Martha Laird Bowen ’61 has a lifelong connection to Oglethorpe University. As the female student with the highest academic average of her 1961 graduating class, she received the Sally Hull Weltner award. In 1994, she agreed to join the Oglethorpe National Alumni Board of Directors, eventually becoming vice president of the organization. Much of her career was spent as an educational consultant, serving as educational advisor to U.S. Air Force personnel, psychological test administrator for Cybern Education, Inc., and editor of a military base newspaper. Most recently, Bowen and her husband Robert, former executive vice president for SunTrust Banks, both joined the Oglethorpe President’s Advisory Council. The couple has one daughter.

Bill Mullally ’03 is the Senior Vice President and Omega Portfolio Manager for Investments with Oppenheimer & Company, Inc., and has been in the financial advisory business for more than 20 years. Mullally is a member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Capital City Club, as well as the Technology Association of Georgia where he was a founder of the Technology in Entertainment special interest group. He is a former member of the Georgia Film and Video Commission and served on the steering committee for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. He graduated magna cum laude from Oglethorpe University’s Evening Degree Program and is a member of the President’s Advisory Council. He coaches Top Hat soccer as well as girls’ little league basketball. He and his wife Karen are members of the Christ Church (Anglican Communion) in Buckhead and have two daughters.

Reverend Doctor George Gilman (Gil) Watson ’68 is the senior minister at Northside United Methodist Church in Buckhead and a fifth-generation Atlantan. He is the author of Being a United Methodist Means... and From Darkness into Light and has written numerous articles and devotionals for newspapers and religious publications. He has been a visiting professor at Emory University and a guest lecturer at several Georgia colleges. He is active in civic and community endeavors and has served as President of the Paulding County Civitan Club, Secretary of the Lithonia Exchange Club, Chaplain of the Paulding County Jail, member of the Paulding County Mental Retardation Association and Chaplain of high school football teams in Atlanta and, Paulding and DeKalb Counties. He has also coached little league baseball, football and soccer teams. He is a 1979 Alumnus of Leadership Georgia. He wrote a weekly column for The LaGrange Daily News for five years and was a member of the LaGrange Rotary Club. In 1972, he was selected as an Outstanding Young American, appearing in Personalities of the South in 1976 and again in 1977, was designated a noteworthy American in 1977, appeared in the 1977 edition of Who's Who in Religion and is included in the International Dictionary of Biographies published in Cambridge, England. He is an alumnus of Kappa Alpha Order, a member of the Bolton Lodge No. 416 F. & A.M. He is past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Georgia F. & A.M. His love for the South is demonstrated by his hobby which is portraying Mr. Joel Chandler Harris and telling Uncle Remus stories to children and adults in schools, churches and civic clubs. He and his wife Carol (Class of ’69) have two sons and a daughter.

Ray Willoch ’80 serves as Senior Vice President for Administration, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Interface, Inc. He has overall responsibility for the legal affairs of the company and its various subsidiaries, as well as corporate responsibility for mergers, acquisitions, human resources, compensation, benefits, purchasing and facilities. Prior to joining Interface, Willoch worked for six years with law firms in Atlanta concentrating in mergers, acquisitions, public company administration and contracts. Ray graduated summa cum laude and was Oglethorpe’s 1980 valedictorian. While at Oglethorpe, Willoch also played intercollegiate basketball and tennis. He earned his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, in 1984 from the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the Georgia Law Review. Willoch's professional and community activities include serving as Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section of the State Bar of Georgia and as Vice Chair of the President's Advisory Council at Oglethorpe. Willoch is a native of Atlanta, where he resides with his wife Florrie and their three sons.

M. John Breton, III ’97 is a Senior Account Executive with Clear Channel Radio WLTM 94.9, Lite FM. Prior to joining the station in 2005, John served as an Account Executive with WPXA-PAX and WXIA-NBC television stations and was Director of Sales with B2B Publishing Company. He has earned two degrees from Oglethorpe University, his BBA in 1997 and his MBA in 1999. John and his wife Anna (Class of ’02) have been very active as alumni, attending and hosting various events.