Arlington's Thomas Elected to Mercer University Board of Trustees

MACON, GA (11/22/2013)(readMedia)-- Mercer University's Board of Trustees at its annual meeting on Nov. 22 elected James W. Thomas Jr., of Arlington, Va., to serve a five-year term on the governing body. Thomas is a partner with Arnold and Porter LLP. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Mercer in 1993 and is a member of the Mercer President's Club.

Thomas is a partner with Arnold and Porter's litigation practice group, which represents public corporations, financial institutions, accounting firms, and corporate directors and officers and members of management in general civil litigation, securities fraud, class actions, shareholder derivative and breach of fiduciary litigation, and actions by bankruptcy trustees. He also represents these clients in connection with regulatory investigative and enforcement matters instituted by government agencies, with particular emphasis on matters involving the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). He previously served as law clerk to Judge Vanessa Rutz of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals from 1999-2000.

Thomas earned his Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School, where he was book review editor for The George Washington University Law Review from 1998-1999. He is a contributor to "Banking Regulation 1st Edition" and co-author of a chapter in "A Guide to Forensic Accounting Investigation."

Also joining the board for new five-year terms were Heather Darden, corporate counsel at RaceTrac Petroleum, from Atlanta; A.V. Elliott, founder of Elliott Machine Shop, from Macon; O. Gene Gabbard, businessman, from Cary, N.C.; William J. (Bill) Ireland Jr., senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Dalton; Spencer B. King III, physician, professor of medicine and director of the Andreas Gruentzig Cardiovascular Center at Emory University, from Atlanta; Zell Miller, former U.S. senator and Georgia governor, from Young Harris; the Honorable Hugh P. Thompson, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, from Milledgeville; and the Honorable Marc Treadwell, judge, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, from Forsyth.

About Mercer University

Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,300 students in 12 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing, health professions, and continuing and professional studies – on campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah – and four regional academic centers across the state. The Mercer Health Sciences Center, launched July 1, 2012, includes the University's medical, nursing, health sciences and pharmacy schools. Mercer is affiliated with four teaching hospitals – Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The University also has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. It operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. www.mercer.edu