New chair, vice chair announced for MC Board of Directors

Oct. 21, 2020

Cole Piper ’68 and Diane Humphreys-Barlow ’70 began their terms as Chair and Vice Chair of the Maryville College Board of Directors – the College’s governing body – on Oct. 16, 2020.

As the new Board Chair, Piper is the 20th person to hold the position in the College’s 201-year history. He succeeds Dr. Mary Kay Sullivan, who has served as Chair since 2016.

Cole Piper

Piper, who joined the Board in October 2019, also is chair of the Board’s Advancement Committee, and he is on the Executive Committee. After earning his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Maryville College, he completed post-graduate work at the University of Tennessee and Penn State University. He spent most of his career as an executive with Proffitt’s department stores. Most recently, he has served as executive in residence in the Department of Retail and Consumer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, since 1999. He was past president of the Tennessee Retail Federation and has served on several boards.

Diane Humphreys-Barlow

Humphreys-Barlow, who previously was secretary of the College’s Board of Directors, served on the Board from 1986 until 1997 and was reappointed in 1998. In addition to serving as vice chair, she serves on the Board’s Advancement Committee and Executive Committee.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Maryville College, a master’s degree from Middlebury College and a Master of Social Work degree from Tulane University. A clinical social worker, she has had her own private practice since 1981, focusing on adult psychotherapy and marital therapy. She is a member of the Appalachian Psychoanalytic Society and the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum’s board, and she serves on the University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Theatre Advisory Board’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”