New Trustees

New Trustees 2022-2023

Harpeth Hall salutes trustees whose terms concluded at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Thank you Jon Meacham, Matt Miller, Rachel Reeves Settle '94, Jack Wallace, and Mandy Haynes Young '85 for your years of trustee service. We welcome the following new trustees beginning in 2022-2023 and congratulate two new honorary trustees.

New Trustee: Shani Dowell

Shani is the CEO and founder of the app Possip and is the first African American woman to raise $1 million for a start-up in Tennessee. Her app, which is a combination of the words positive and gossip, is a parent engagement platform that provides a measurable feedback loop between parents and schools and is founded on trust, learning, and transparency. Possip is used in over 350 schools in 17 states, including Metro Nashville Public Schools. A native of Houston, Shani went to Howard University in Washington, D.C. and then to business school in California. She joined the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), where she met her husband Randy, who is the executive director of KIPP Nashville. Shani and Randy are current Harpeth Hall parents of Selah, a rising 7th grade student at Harpeth Hall, and a son at Nashville Classical School.

New Trustee: Benjamin S. Gambill III

Ben is a 1997 graduate of Montgomery Bell Academy and a member of the school’s board of trustees. He earned his undergraduate degree in business administration and history with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. Ben is the founder, CEO, and managing partner of Tiger Eye Capital in New York City, an investment management firm established in 2009. Ben’s mother, Katie Gambill, served as a Harpeth Hall trustee from 1998 to 2004, and his sister Scottie Gambill Ryan graduated in 2002. Ben and his wife, Mary Carlisle, who is the co-founder of Next Peak Global, moved from Manhattan to Nashville in 2020. Ben and Mary Carlisle are parents of Carlisle, a rising 8th grade student. They have three other children, son, Drake, and daughters Harrison and Emmeline. Ben also serves on the board of trustees for the Tiger Foundation in New York City and previously served on the board of the honors program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. New Trustee: John Morris, M.D.

John is the associate chief of staff of Vanderbilt Health System. He is professor of surgery and biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt and adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He began his career at Vanderbilt in 1984. Dr. Morris has founded multiple Vanderbilt programs: LifeFlight, the Level 1 trauma center, and Acute Care Surgery. He has published over 150 medical articles and supervised multiple scientific grants. He previously served on the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2002 and has served as a vital member of the school's medical advisory team as Harpeth Hall navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his wife Julia, who is the deputy general counsel for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, have three daughters, two of whom are graduates: Jessie Morris Adams, Ph.D. ’00 and Sarah Morris Garner, MSN ’03. Miller Morris Robinette, MPH, attended Harpeth Hall’s Middle School and graduated from Ensworth in 2012. Jessie serves as Harpeth Hall’s public purpose director.

New Trustee: Reid Patton ’14

Reid is a 2014 graduate of Harpeth Hall and received the Katie Wray Valedictorian Award at commencement. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a certificate in innovation and entrepreneurship and graduated magna cum laude from Duke University before beginning her career at Facebook, now Meta. Currently, she is a product manager at Meta, helping to build the metaverse and is primarily focused on digital fashion and creators. She previously built and scaled Facebook Neighborhoods. Reid served on Harpeth Hall’s National Advisory Council from 2019 to 2022. Her mother, Robin Ingram Patton ’84 served on the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2014, and her grandmother, Martha Ingram, serves as a Harpeth Hall honorary trustee. Reid’s grandmother, Hortense Bigelow Ingram, for whom the Upper School is named, was a founding Harpeth Hall trustee. Her aunt is Stephanie Currey Ingram ’82, and her Harpeth Hall cousins are Christina Chapman ’10, Martha Ingram ’15, and Virginia Ingram ’15. Reid lives in San Francisco.

New Trustee: Barbara Keith Brown Payne ’85

Barbara Keith graduated from Harpeth Hall in 1985. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Vanderbilt University in 1989. After a six-year stint in international insurance brokering in New York and London with Marsh, Barbara Keith has been a full-time Nashville realtor since 1995, specializing in residential

real estate with Pilkerton Realtors. She served as an ex officio trustee from 2019 to 2021 during her term as president and president-elect of the Harpeth Hall Parents Association. She has also served on the Head’s Young Alumnae Council, the Distinguished Alumna Selection Committee, and has been an Annual Fund leader and reunion class chair for multiple years. Barbara Keith and her husband, Richard, who owns The Wine Chap, are parents of Susanna Payne ’23. They also have two sons, Jamie Payne and Brown Payne, who graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in 2016 and in 2020, respectively. Barbara Keith’s grandmothers, Harriet (Happy) Hoffman Brown ’32 and Bobbie Leake Glasgow ’36 were graduates of Ward-Belmont. Barbara Keith’s mother is Susie Glasgow Brown ’60. Her aunts are Elizabeth (Lee) Russell Brown ’60, Emily Glasgow Bruno ’64, Jane Wallace Brown ’64, Candace Floyd Glasgow ’71, and former Harpeth Hall faculty member Hilrie Brown. Her Harpeth Hall niece is Liza Brown ’24.

New Trustee: Amy Richards

Amy earned a Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University in 1997, and she earned a J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2001. She was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 2001 and worked in the labor and employment litigation group at Bass Berry and Sims. She currently serves as co-chair of the Explore! Community School and East End Preparatory School boards of directors, which are affiliated with the Martha O’Bryan Center. She also serves on the boards of directors for both the Tennessee Innocence Project and Friends Life Community. She and her husband, Clay, who is the founder and former CEO of NaviHealth, are parents of Kennedy, a rising 9th grade student. Their son, Claiborne, is a junior at Montgomery Bell Academy and their son James attends Oak Hill School.

Honorary Trustee: Reese Witherspoon ’94

Reese Witherspoon, a member of the Class of 1994, received Harpeth Hall’s Distinguished Alumna Award in 2016. Witherspoon is an award-winning actress, founder, producer, and bestselling author. She won an  Academy Award for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in “Walk the Line” and was later nominated for her performance in “Wild,” which she also produced. Reese starred in beloved films “Sweet Home Alabama, Legally Blonde”, and “Election” as well as award-winning television series “Big Little Lies,” “The Morning Show,” and “Little Fires Everywhere.” In 2018, Reese released her first book, “Whiskey in a Teacup,” which was an instant New York Times bestseller. She will release her highly anticipated children’s book “Busy Betty” on October 4, 2022. Reese continues to utilize her platform to drive the production of female-centric content with Hello Sunshine, a cross-platform media brand and content company, which she founded. Hello Sunshine is also home to Reese’s Book Club and the newly launched RBC App. Hello Sunshine is part of Candle Media, an independent, creator-friendly home for cutting-edge, high-quality, categorydefining brands and franchises. Reese is an advocate and activist for women’s issues across the globe. Reese’s Harpeth Hall nieces are Abby James Witherspoon ’24 and Draper Witherspoon ’25.

Honorary Trustee: Amy Grant ’78

Amy Grant is a member of the Class of 1978, a former Lady of the Hall, and a 1996 Distinguished Alumna. She began her career in Christian music while she was a student at Harpeth Hall and was recently described by CBS as “Christian music royalty.” She has earned six Grammy Awards and numerous Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and has had three multi-platinum albums, six platinum albums, and four gold albums. In recognition of her extraordinary success in both pop and Christian music, Amy has been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well as the Music City Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2021. Amy previously served on the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2000 and has performed at numerous school events, including the school’s Milestones Gala in 2000 and 150th Anniversary in 2016. Amy and her husband, Vince Gill, who is a renowned musician, are champions of worthy causes and well-known philanthropists in Nashville. Amy has four children —Matt Chapman, Millie Chapman Long, Sarah Chapman Besenius, and Corrina Gill. Amy’s sisters all attended Harpeth Hall: Kathy Grant Harrell ’70, Mimi Grant Verner ’72, and Carol Grant Nuismer ’77. Her Harpeth Hall nieces include Grace Verner Woods ’97, Caroline Harrell Epps ’98, Mimi Verner Stricker ’99, Katie Harrell Murphy ’01, Claire Nuismer ’06, and Sally Anne Harrell ’07.