Meet our Board of Directors
Richard Esposito, Ph.D.
President
Richard is a veteran of the electrical utility industry and has served in various leadership role for the last 30 years at Southern Company. He is currently a R&D Program Manager in the Net Zero Technologies Group at the National Carbon Capture Center. Prior to Southern Company, he served as an environmental regulator in the Water Division at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. He has a diverse academic background with a B.S. and M.S. degree in Geology, M.S. in Environmental Management, and a Ph.D. in Engineering. He also serves on the Ph.D. research faculty, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UAB and serves as the committee chair for numerous students. He has published extensively and lectured internationally on a wide range of energy related issues. Richards favorite bird at the Center is Betty White as she is so very unique and majestic! He loves the outdoors, hiking, bird watching and has been associated with the AWC for approximately 30 years!
R. Scott “Scotty” Colson
Scotty is as Birmingham as it gets – his mom’s side of the family moved to this valley from South Carolina in the 1840s. He is a graduate of Hemphill Elementary, West End, UAB and Cumberland School of Law. He is a member of Alabama Bar, Birmingham Bar, Board of Sister Cities, US-Ukraine Foundation, Consular Corp College, Aletheia House, JBS Mental Health Authority, Governor’s Senior Games Board, Police Athletic Teams Board, and Alabama Wildlife Center. He worked with the assistant to the Mayor of Birmingham from 1983-2018 (5 elected and 3 interim mayors), Jimmy Hale Mission since 2018 and created their Continuum of Care Program and is currently the Coordinator of Community Relations. Scotty has been the Honorary Consul for Ukraine to Alabama since 2008 (a volunteer position).
Michael “Mike” McDevitt
Mike retired in 2021 after 39 years at Children’s of Alabama as the Executive Vice President for Facilities. Over his professional service years at Children’s, he was administratively responsible for numerous support areas including engineering, construction, information technology (CIO), telecommunications (PBX), security, food services, environmental services, and biomedical engineering. Following his retirement from Children’s, he served as a voluntary interim Chief Executive Officer at the Alabama Wildlife Center. His community service activities include serving as Chairman of the City of Leeds Zoning Board of Adjustments as well as being a board member for the Alabama Wildlife Center. He enjoys gardening on his small hobby farm in Leeds with his wife, Suzanne Blanchard.
Other Board Members:
Tracy Hill
Keith Feinman
Anna Shinbaum
Alvin Atlas, DVM
Brittany Muncher