Three alumni were elected to the Wofford College Board of Trustees in June at the South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, held in Greenville, S.C. They are Steven W. Mungo ’81, president and CEO of Mungo Homes in Irmo, S.C.; Joshua S. Whitley ’05, attorney with Smyth Whitley LLC in Charleston, S.C.; and Joyce Payne Yette ’80, chief legal officer of Promontory Financial Group LLC in Washington, D.C.

The three replace William R. Cobb, Jordan M. Glatt and Jerry Richardson ’59. Additionally, the board of trustees unanimously granted trustee emeritus status to Richardson; he joins the late Roger Milliken as one of only two people granted that status.

At its May meeting on campus, the board re-elected these officers for the 2017-18 year: R. Michael James ’73, chair; James M. Johnson ’71, vice chair; and Costa M. Pleicones ’65, secretary.

Re-elected to new four-year terms on the board are D. Chris Goodall ’79; Corry W. Oakes III ’89; Pleicones; and William H. Willimon ’68.

Steven Mungo, a native of Columbia, S.C., has been active in his family’s homebuilding business since graduating from Wofford in 1981. He became CEO of Mungo Homes in 2009. In recent years, Mungo Homes has been recognized as one of the best homebuilders in the country, and the company is consistently at the top of the list of companies of its kind. The company currently ranks as the 35th largest builder in the United States. Mungo is in the South Carolina Housing Hall of Fame. He is an unlimited general contractor and one of the first certified master builders in South Carolina. He is a past president of the South Carolina Home Builders Association as well as the Home Builders Association of Greater Columbia. He serves on the Federal Reserve’s South Carolina Advisory Board, National Bank of South Carolina State Board and the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Advisory Board. He spent nine years on the Lexington Medical Center Board of Trustees, serving as chairman three times; he currently serves on the Lexington Medical Center Foundation Board. He is a former member of the Medical University of South Carolina Board of Visitors, EdVenture (chair) and the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington counties. He also served as the honorary wing commander of the 169th Fighter Wing of the South Carolina Air National Guard. 

Whitley, a native of the South Carolina Lowcountry near Pinopolis, served as president of Campus Union at Wofford and was active in numerous other campus activities. He was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating with honors from the College of William and Mary, he clerked for the Hon. Dennis Shedd ’75 of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Upon entering private practice with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd PA in Charleston, Whitley was selected as second chair to a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the largest environmental case in history — the Deepwater Horizon BP Gulf Oil Spill, helping to litigate one of the most complex cases in U.S. history. Whitley is a permanent member of the U.S. Judicial Conference for the Fourth Circuit. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance and past president of the board of directors of Charleston Stage at the Dock Street Theatre. He has served as a member of the Wofford Terrier Club Board of Directors and the National Alumni Executive Council. He serves on Berkeley County Council and is chairman of finance for the council.

Yette, a native of Tryon, N.C., earned degrees in economics and government from Wofford and graduated summa cum laude. She was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa, and was among the first group of female resident students at the college when she enrolled in 1976. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1983 and joined Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C., one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious law firms. She later served as associate general counsel for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Yette is chief legal officer of Promontory Financial Group LLC, a strategy, risk management, regulatory-compliance consulting firm in D.C., with a focus on the financial services industry. IBM recently purchased the firm, and she now serves as its chief legal officer. Yette served as a Wofford trustee from 1986 to 1998. She is a founding director of the Black Alumni Association at Wofford and serves on the Capital Campaign Steering Committee. In D.C. she serves as director of the Council on Legal Education Opportunities and on the Neighborhood Legal Services Advisory Board.

By Laura Hendrix Corbin