• R. Larry Brown, Chair
• Charles H. Farmer
• Nathaniel S. Goggans
• John King
• Linda W. Knight
• Dianne F. Neal

R. Larry Brown, Chair

R. Larry Brown recently retired as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for FedEx Express. In this position, he was responsible for all strategic aspects of Human Resources for a worldwide work force of over 138,000 employees operating in 210 countries.

The Jackson, Tennessee native earned his bachelor’s degree from Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Memphis School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review Staff, the Moot Court Board, and the National Moot Court Team.

Mr. Brown joined FedEx in 1987 as Managing Director, Litigation, after serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Western District of Tennessee for five years and being a supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC for two years.

He was also a Reginald Heber Smith (REGGIE) Fellow, and Managing Attorney with Memphis Area Legal Services.

Mr. Brown is Chairman of the Board of Partners in Public Education (PIPE), a board member of the Youth Education Through Sports (YES) Foundation, and Co-chair of the Memphis mentoring Partnership.

He belongs to the National Bar Association (NBA), and is a past president of the Ben F. Jones (Memphis) Chapter of the NBA. Mr. Brown also holds memberships in Omega Psi Phi, and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternities, and is past national President of Pro Duffers, USA. He has received the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Foundation Award of Excellence, and the Pi Beta Sigma African American Image Award. Mr. Brown is a two-time recipient of the Federal Express Five Star Award.

Mr. Brown was appointed by the Speaker of the Senate as a Democrat representative.

Charles H. Farmer

Charles H. Farmer is a graduate of Bethel College in McKenzie, Tennessee, and received his law degree from the Nashville School of Law.  He is a former County Attorney for Madison County and served as the Mayor of the City of Jackson from 1989 to 2007. He currently is in private practice with Spragins Barnett Cobb, PLC.

Mr. Farmer was appointed by the Governor as a Democratic representative.

Nathaniel S. Goggans

Nathaniel Goggans is an associate attorney with Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.  He practices in the firm’s litigation group, concentrating his practice on trucking litigation, property casualty defense, business and commercial litigation, product liability, and medical malpractice defense.  Mr. Goggans is admitted to practice in Tennessee and before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee and the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
 
Mr. Goggans received his law degree in 2003 from the University of Tennessee, where he received the Outstanding Trial Advocacy Participant Award in 2001 and was also selected to participate in the Prosecutorial Clinic.  He earned his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Bryan College in 2000.

A native of Chattanooga, Mr. Goggans is actively involved in his community.  He is a member of the Tennessee Trucking Association, the Transportation Lawyers Association, the Chattanooga Medical Group Management Association, and the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce.  Mr. Goggans participates in the Defense Research Institute’s Trucking Law and Medical Liability Committees.  He is also a member of the American, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Tennessee Bar Associations, the Christian Legal Society, and the Tennessee Defense Lawyer’s Association.

Mr. Goggans has served as a National Business Institute faculty member, writing and teaching on ethics and professionalism.  He is chairman of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Tennessee China Chamber of Commerce.  Mr. Goggans has served as Assistant Coach for Family Christian Academy’s American Mock Trial Invitational National Champion team.

Mr. Goggans was appointed by the Speaker of the Senate as a Republican representative. 

John King

Mr. King is a Lewis King shareholder whose primary current practice areas are in zoning, governmental contracting, commercial litigation, and administrative law; he represents clients in waste disposal, manufactured housing, and residential/commercial development businesses.  Mr. King represents clients on regulatory matters at the state and local levels.
Mr. King served as Commissioner of Revenue for the State of Tennessee from 1979-1980, with responsibility for the administration of all state tax laws, as well as providing fiscal impact analysis on legislative proposals submitted to the legislature.  As Commissioner of Revenue, he likewise served on the State Board of Claims and the State Board of Equalization.  He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (1981-1989), by appointment of the Governor.  Mr. King obtained his undergraduate degree in 1962 from the University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State University) and received his law degree in 1965 from the University of Tennessee.  He is a member of the American, Tennessee, Nashville, and Knoxville Bar Associations. Mr. King is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts including the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.  He is a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association and a certified mediator for the Federal District Courts, Eastern Division.  Mr. King was listed in Tennessee Business Magazine – Best 100 Lawyers in State, 2004 – 2008.

Mr. King was appointed by the Governor as a Republican representative.  

Linda W. Knight

Linda Whitlow Knight is a native of Jackson, Tennessee, where she attended public schools.  After attending Sweet Briar College for two years, Linda received her B.A., cum laude, from Vanderbilt University, where she majored in Political Science and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  In 1976, she graduated magna cum laude from Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama.  She served on the Law Review and the Moot Court Board, and was elected to Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. 

After practicing in Birmingham for four years, Linda moved to Nashville in 1980.  She  served as law clerk to former Supreme Court Justice Frank F. Drowota, and then entered private practice.  She has been with Gullett, Sanford, Robinson & Martin, PLLC and its predecessor, Martin & Cochran, since 1982.  Her practice concentrates on insolvency and commercial law and litigation.  She belongs to the American, Tennessee and Nashville Bar Associations and the Tennessee and Nashville Lawyers’ Associations for Women.  She has served as President, and six terms as Treasurer, of TLAW and as a Board member of LAW.  She was Secretary of the Nashville Bar Association in 2006, and has served on and chaired several committees.  Linda is a Hearing Officer for the Board of Professional Responsibility and is on the Board of the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society and the Bench-Bar Relations Committee of the Tennessee Judicial Conference.

Linda was one of the initial members of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women, serving from 1998 to 2004, and remains a member of the Board of the Tennessee Women’s Economic Council Foundation, Inc.  She has been a Board member of the Nashville Women’s Political Caucus.

Ms. Knight was appointed by the Speaker of the House as a Republican representative.

Dianne F. Neal

Formerly Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Ned McWherter and Chief Counsel to the Tennessee Public Service Commission, later Tennessee Regulatory Authority, Dianne left state government to become President and CEO of the Cumberland Science Museum, now Adventure Science Center, for an eighteen-month transition to streamline operations and encourage board and patron development.

Dianne was appointed to the Metropolitan Arts Commission, where she served for six years, two as Chairman.  Dianne was a charter member of the Nashville Sports Council, which she chaired in 1996.  She remains on the Executive Committee of the Council. Additionally, Dianne sits on the board of the Tennessee State Museum Foundation, the Belle Meade Plantation, Habitat for Humanity Advisory Board and the Advisory Board to the Women’s Fund for the Community Foundation.  In 1998, Dianne was asked to join the President’s Circle of the National Academy of Sciences, where she served until 2002.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, Dianne received a B.A. from Baylor University and an M.A. from Tulane University.  Dianne and her husband, Jim, live in Nashville, Tennessee.  Dianne has one daughter, Sarah, a teacher in Chicago.

Ms. Neal was appointed by the Speaker of the House as the Democratic representative.