Welcome New UMHEF Trustees

The United Methodist Higher Education Foundation is blessed to have at the core of its team an impressive board of trustees. Each trustee shares in the grand vision to make it financially possible for United Methodist students to be educated at a UM-related institution of higher education. At its annual meeting in September, the UMHEF board approved the nominations of the following new trustees.

Dr. Herman J. Felton, Jr. is the is the 17th President and CEO of Wiley College, a UM-related school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Edward Waters College, a Juris Doctorate from the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Administration and Supervision from Jackson State University. Dr. Felton is also co-founder of the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (H.E.L.F.), an organization ensuring that a pipeline of transformational, highly skilled and principled leaders are identified and cultivated to meet the needs, challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Tari Hughes has served as President and CEO of the Center for Nonprofit Management since December 2016. Before joining CNM’s team, Tari served as President of the Nashville Public Library Foundation for twelve years. Tari serves on the Metro Parks and Recreation Board, the Nashville Parks Foundation board, and the board of directors of Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association. In 2020-2021, she was appointed to the Governor’s Statewide Economic Recovery Group representing the nonprofit sector. She is an active member of the Nashville Downtown Rotary Club and is a Leadership Nashville and Leadership Middle Tennessee alumna.

Bishop Bruce R. Ough is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2000-2020 in the West Ohio Area then the Dakotas-Minnesota Area. In 2016, he became the President of the Council of Bishops to serve a two-year term. He is currently Executive Secretary of the Council of Bishops of The UMC, a position he has held since September 2020. He is also a member of the Council of Bishops Executive Committee. He serves on the Board of Trustees for Dakota Wesleyan University and the E. Stanley Jones Foundation. In 2020, Bishop Ough was named Distinguished Alum for Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and has received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Dakota Wesleyan University and United Theological Seminary.

The Reverend Dr. Javier A. Viera is president of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, where he also serves as Professor of Education and Leadership. From 2014-2020, he served as Dean of the Theological School at Drew University, where he also served as the university’s Vice Provost and as Professor of Pastoral Theology. Prior to his service at Drew, he held positions in university campus ministry and congregational ministry for two decades, leading rural, suburban, and urban congregations.  Dr. Viera is a graduate of Florida Southern College, Duke, Yale, and Columbia universities and hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico, the city where he was born and raised.

Please help us in welcoming Dr. Felton, Ms. Hughes, Bishop Ough, and the Rev. Dr. Viera to UMHEF’s esteemed board of trustees. We are grateful for the expertise and passion they’re sure to bring to our shared work in support of United Methodist students.