Cary, N.C. Resident Gabbard Elected to Mercer University Board of Trustees

MACON, GA (11/22/2013)(readMedia)-- Mercer University's Board of Trustees during its annual meeting on Nov. 22 elected O. Gene Gabbard, of Cary, N.C., to serve a five-year term on the institution's governing body. Gabbard is a private investor who works with new high technology start-up companies in the Southeast and Texas. He is a former member of the board from 1990-1995, has served on Mercer's National Engineering Advisory Board (NEAB), and is a lifetime member of the Mercer President's Club.

Gabbard has been a venture partner of Ballast Point Ventures in St. Petersburg, Fla., which specializes in providing expansion capital to small and growing businesses, since 2007. He is the former executive vice president and CFO of MCI Communications Corp.; past chairman of the board and CEO of Telecom USA; founder, board member and past president of Digital Communications; and director of Dynatech Corporation, ITC Holding Company and InterCel Inc. Gabbard also served as an adviser to executives of the Walt Disney Company from 1994-1996. He owns more than 20 patents.

Gabbard earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky in 1961 and went on to earn his Master of Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He became associated with Mercer in 1983 while founder, president and CEO of SouthernNet, a major long distance company based in Atlanta.

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