William Ronald “Ron” Graham of Andalusia has been appointed to the University of South Alabama board of trustees, and outgoing board member John Peek, who served almost 12 years, has been named trustee emeritus.

Gov. Kay Ivey made the appointment, which became effective this month.

Graham is a 1990 graduate of the University of South Alabama College of Engineering, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He has worked for PowerSouth Energy Cooperative for 27 years.

As vice president of power supply, Graham is responsible for overseeing and directing the staffing and operations of the cooperative’s fuel procurement, energy resources, energy control and planning functions including establishing, reviewing, approving and managing division budgets and operating procedures; overseeing fuel and transportation procurement, purchased power, dispatch of PowerSouth’s energy resources and non-member sales; negotiating and administering fuel, fuel transportation, power supply and transmission contracts; overseeing energy control functions and ensuring compliance with NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation) guidelines and directives; and planning for the future power supply of PowerSouth’s member systems.

Graham has served as president of the Andalusia Rotary Club; chairman of the human resource, transportation, and policies and procedures committees of Bethany Baptist Church; president of the Andalusia High School Diamond Club; membership chairman of the Andalusia High School Booster Club; and president of the Andalusia Youth Football League. He has also been honored as a Rotary Club Paul Harris Fellow and the Boss of the Year by the Andalusia Office Professionals Association. Graham is a member of the Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway Association board and secretary of the Southeastern Federal Power Customers board.

Graham and his wife, Carolyn, also a USA alumnus, have two sons, Ross and Riley.

Peek, an Andalusia attorney, earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from USA in 1987, and a law degree from the University of Alabama in 1990.

During Peek’s time on the USA board of trustees, he served on the executive committee, student affairs committee, evaluation and compensation committee, long-range planning committee and health affairs committee, and was the first and only chairman of the audit committee to date.

He also led a small group which endowed a scholarship for graduate students, the Father James F. Dorrill Endowed Scholarship in English, in honor of Father Dorrill, priest, mentor and retired chairman of the English Department.
Peek is a life member of the University of South Alabama National Alumni Association, and is a former member and treasurer of its board of directors.
Peek said that during his tenure on the board, USA has become a significant student recruiter in Andalusia and Covington County.

“Though there have always been a few Covington County students at USA, when I came to the BOT, Covington County students numbered in the mid-single digits there,” he said. “And we went for years with zero Andalusia High School students going to South. I am grateful to have been able to engage USA in an effort to focus on this area and the result is that a lot more students from Andalusia, Opp, Straughn, Red Level, Florala and LBWCC are attending USA, many of them on scholarship, not to mention a student from this territory who received early acceptance to the USA College of Medicine.”

Peek currently serves the Alabama State Bar as a member of the Bench & Bar Task Force, the Future of the Profession Task Force, the Lawyer University Task Force and the Leadership Forum Selection Committee.
He is a member of the Andalusia Tennis Association, the Lower Alabama Arts Coalition Advisory Board, is a past president of the Crenshaw County Chapter of the University of Alabama National Alumni Association, and is a past member and treasurer of the LBW Community College Foundation Board.

He and his wife, Barbara, have three sons, Jacob, Ian and Adam, all current undergraduates at USA.