Association for the Blind Announces New Board Members and Officers for FYE 2021

The Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired South Carolina’s (ABVI) Board of Directors recently elected new members and officers for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. The officers will hold the following positions until June 30, 2021:

– Chair – Robert M. Baldwin, CPA, Managing Member, Baldwin and Associates, LLC

– Vice Chair – Carol S. Clement, Controller, Clement, Crawford and Thornhill, Inc.

– Secretary – Kristen Gayeski Tinkler, OD, Optometrist, Carolina Eyecare Physicians, LLC

– Treasurer – Joe Waring, Chief Financial Officer, Evening Post Industries

Clay W. Hershey is the Immediate Past Chair. He served as the Chair for two years. B. Karl Jantzen is serving as Board Member Emeritus. ABVI also welcomed two new Board members, Hon. Karl L. Brady, Jr., and Samuel R. Clawson, Jr.

Brady is the Charleston City Councilmember for District 5, representing outer West Ashley and Johns Island. He also serves as the Major Gifts Officer for Carolina Youth Development Center. Previously, he served as the Director of Development for The Salvation Army in North Charleston, and prior to that, as the Major Gifts Officer at Trident United Way. Brady is a 2006 Teach for America – Atlanta alumni, a 2009-2010 School Board Fellow with the Center for Reform of School Systems and a 2017 Public Leaders Fellow with Leadership for Educational Equity. Brady also serves on the Boards of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of the Lowcountry, the Association of Fundraising Professionals – SC Lowcountry Chapter and the Rotary Club of Charleston. Brady holds a BA in History and Political Science from Wake Forest University and holds an MS in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Leadership from Northeastern University. He is a Certified Fundraising Executive and a Certified Nonprofit Professional. Brady and his wife Kate live in West Ashley.

Clawson is an attorney with Clawson Fargnoli, LLC, a law firm he co-founded in 2017. Clawson’s work focuses on individuals who have suffered life altering injuries or death due to the wrongful acts of others. Previously, he spent nearly a decade working at a well-respected, multi-state law firm with a focus on litigation and institutional insurance defense work. A native of Charleston, Clawson graduated from Porter Gaud School before attending the University of the South (Sewanee), the University of South Carolina (USC) and the State University of New York Maritime College. Clawson is a member of the South Carolina Association for Justice, American Association for Justice, Charleston County Bar Association and Colleton County Bar Association.

To view a full list of our Board members, please visit http://www.abvisc.org/who-we-are/.

The Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired South Carolina’s (ABVI) mission is to enrich the quality of life of the blind and visually impaired. Through our Own Your Life program, ABVI helps adults who are blind, visually impaired or have a progressive eye condition in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester Counties learn new approaches to daily life. Own Your Life offers two tracks: Personal Independence teaches adults how to navigate daily life with a visual impairment, while Vocational Rehabilitation helps clients who are ready to learn the adaptive skills needed to enter or re-enter the workforce. To learn more about ABVI’s services, visit www.abvisc.org/services.