Breaking Ground 90 - New Council Members

Ryan Durham lives in Lawrenceburg and represents the South Central Tennessee development district. Ryan is an attorney with Boston, Holt, Sockwell & Durham, PPLC and graduated with a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Tennessee and a Bachelor of Science from Middle Tennessee State University. He is the Past Chairman of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and has served on the University of Tennessee College of Law Alumni Advisory Board and Legal Clinic Advisory Board.

Martez Williams lives in Nashville and serves on the Council as an at-large member. He has served on the Arc of Davidson County’s Family Support Council since 2015. Martez attended Wayne County Community College, Helena Dye School of Cosmetology and Pivot Point Cosmetology School. He worked as a van driver for E&A Solutions, providing transportation to medical appointments for low-income and elderly individuals, as well as individuals with disabilities. He graduated from the Council’s Partners in Policymaking program this past spring.

Gina Summer lives in Jackson and represents the Southwest Tennessee Development District. She works within the State library system to provide information systems technology support and consultation to public libraries in West Tennessee; through this position, she’s received training on assistive technologies and ADA compliance for public libraries. Gina is a 2016-2017 graduate of the Council’s Partners in Policymaking Leadership Institute™ and a 2015 graduate of Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Volunteer Advocacy Project training. She is the parent of a teenage son with autism and is active with Autism Resources of the MidSouth and The Arc MidSouth.

Sarah Kassas lives in Nashville and serves on the Council as a representative of a local non-governmental agency. Sarah works as a Bilingual Information and Referral Coordinator at Tennessee Disability Pathfinder. She has her Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Alabama and her Bachelor of Arts in English from American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. She’s had extensive experience teaching, mentoring and advising students learning English as a second language, including working as a lecturer at Qatar University and the University of Iowa. One of her main roles at Pathfinder is to provide case management support to immigrant and refugee clients who face language and cultural barriers in accessing disability services and other services they need.