2024 AMPC Board members
Bill Halter, President
After graduating Ohio State in 1977 Bill moved to Atlanta to attend Georgia Tech where he received his Master of Architecture and Urban Design. He has been an in-town resident ever since. He and his wife Paula built their house (Urban Cabin) in Springlake in 1999 and have enjoyed the character of this uniquely connected community from the moment they arrived.
Bill has served on the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, chaired the ULI (Urban Land Institute) Sponsorship Committee and is the 2018 Co-chair of the ULI Design of Excellence Committee as well as chair of the Springlake Landscape Committee working with the BJGC Foundation.
Bill is a partner with Cooper Carry Architects and directs the Office & Workplace practice area. Bill and Paula enjoy gardening and the outdoors and spending time at their lake house boating, hiking, kayaking, cycling and doing ‘projects’!
Kristi Epp, Treasurer
Kristi is a native of Jacksonville, AL and has lived in Atlanta since receiving her Masters of Accountancy from The University of Alabama in 2014.
Kristi joined the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy as Treasurer in 2020. She enjoys being outside and can often be found walking her dog, Daisy, around the park.
Kristi is a Certified Public Accountant and works as a manager in the tax department at Frazier & Deeter, LLC. She enjoys volunteering at the park and is also involved with other non-profits, including Kate’s Club and Passion City Church.
Elizabeth Medlin Hale, Secretary
A native of Winston-Salem, NC, Elizabeth has lived in Atlanta since graduating from Davidson in 1981. After eight years in finance, she became a stay-at-home mom and community volunteer. Her board service includes New American Pathways, Cherokee Garden Club, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, The Student Aid Foundation, and Camp Sunshine.
Elizabeth has lived on Peachtree Battle for over 20 years and is the upcoming Parks Committee Chair for the Peachtree Battle Alliance. She is actively involved in AMPC’s work with Georgia Audubon in the park.
Elizabeth’s hobbies include bridge, cooking, travel, gardening, and yoga. Married to Sheffield Hale, they have three grown sons.
John Adams
John is a native of Atlanta; he grew up in Argonne Forest, and attended Morris Brandon Elementary and The Westminster Schools. A graduate of Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering and Harvard Business School, John returned to Atlanta in 1990, where he is a life-long member of Trinity Presbyterian Church.
John’s two oldest children have many memories of enjoying the Beaverbrook park and playground; his family now lives right on Atlanta Memorial Park, where their youngest enjoys the new playground. John has a wide range of interests and enjoys serving his communities. He currently serves on the boards of the AMPC and PEDS, and is President of the Beersheba Springs Historical Society. Some of his more recent interests include solar panels, sidewalks, playgrounds, casual cycling, treehouses, real estate, travel, and operating a rural wedding venue.
John and his wife Anne are blessed with five children.
Kirk Billings
Kirk has lived next to Atlanta Memorial Park for over 15 years. He and his wife Nancy have three young children, and together they especially enjoy the park’s playground, paths and natural areas. One day, they hope that Peachtree Creek will be a clean waterway connecting many parts of Atlanta.
Having worked in the Atlanta real estate business since 2001, Kirk scouts opportunities to improve public and private property for the betterment of the community. He attended Vanderbilt and Emory Universities.
Kirk led AMPC as its President from 2016 thru 2018, and is particularly excited about the many collaborative projects underway in the park with Park Pride and others.
Margaret Buchholz
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Margaret has lived in Atlanta since 1998, after living in Colorado once she graduated from University of Georgia.
Margaret joined the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy in 2023. She lives on the park and can often be found at the playground, by the creek or on the Beltline with her husband, Chris and their daughter, Caroline who learned to ride her bike on the trails.
Margaret joined Turner Sports as an Event Producer in 2001, after working for several PR firms and sports marketing companies in Atlanta. In her spare time, she enjoys playing tennis, riding bikes and hiking with her family, and she loves that she can do all those things right outside her front door at Memorial Park.
Bob Caton
Bob and his family have lived a couple blocks from Memorial Park for the past 10+ years. Bob, his wife, Forrest, and two teenage daughters spend countless hours chasing balls at Bitsy Grant and walking their dog Ryder in and around Memorial Park’s trails and sidewalks.
Born at Piedmont Hospital, Bob has called Atlanta home for over 25 years. After graduating from Florida State, Bob returned to Atlanta in 1996 to earn an MBA from Georgia State. Over his 18 year enterprise software career, he has worked exclusively for Atlanta-based technology companies.
Bob has been an AMPC supporter since its inception. The Park’s vision to enable connectivity to all parts of Atlanta has captured Bob’s imagination and interest. When not volunteering or spectating his daughter’s activities, Bob enjoys biking on Atlanta’s streets & trails, backpacking in the North Georgia mountains and seeing live music.
Shannon Courtney
Shannon joined the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy in 2020. She enjoys walking the Beltline with her husband and two children. She also sits on the Wildwood neighborhood board.
Shannon received her BS from the University of Georgia and worked for over ten years in the non-profit industry. She is currently an independent consultant and has experience in event planning and fundraising for Ronald McDonald House Charities-Atlanta and Meals On Wheels Atlanta.
Ric Felker
Ric is a native Atlantan who loves the outdoors. He enjoys tennis, hiking and beekeeping, and is nearing the end of a multi-year paddle of the Suwannee River from the Okefenokee Swamp to the Gulf of Mexico. Ric spends time in Savannah, and during the summer months he is a radio DJ in Telluride, CO.
Ric appreciates connecting good people with good ideas through Felker Investors as well as his civic work. Involved for many years with the North Carolina Outward Bound School, he currently serves on the board of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL) and the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy. Ric graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ric has lived close to Memorial Park for most of his life, and he led the creation of the Debbie’s Place tribute garden at the corner of Northside Drive and Wesley Drive.
Eric Franz
For the past six years Eric, his wife Debbie, and their daughter have lived half a block from Memorial Park and have enjoyed the walking trails, playground, and tennis courts at Bitsy Grant, where his daughter takes lessons. Eric loves outdoor areas and green spaces and walks the family’s doodle, Luna, throughout the Memorial Park trail system two to three times a week.
Eric has been excited to see all the remarkable changes and improvements to the park over the past few years and looks forward to helping Memorial Park to become the jewel of Atlanta parks.
Eric received his B.A. from Cornell University and his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He practiced law for two decades in Birmingham, AL before moving to the Atlanta area in 2014, and now works for the eMerge group at Troutman Sanders, LLP.
Richard Goldstucker
Richard grew up next to Atlanta Memorial Park, attended Morris Brandon Elementary and The Westminster Schools, and worked summers tending to the cart barn at Bobby Jones Golf Course. After attending the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering, he obtained a law degree from the University of Georgia and returned to the Atlanta Memorial Park neighborhood.
Richard is a partner on the intellectual property team at Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP. He is involved with other organizations around the city and state, including the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation.
Richard, his wife, Mariel, and two children have spent many hours at the Memorial Park playground and exploring the fairways of Bobby Jones Golf Course. Richard looks forward to continuing to improve the Park and its connectivity with neighborhoods throughout the city.
Chris Hughes
Chris is a native Atlantan that grew up in Druid Hills and now resides in Midtown with his wife Abby and son. He is the Principal Arborist with Brookwood Tree Consulting, a regional leader in urban tree management and his appreciation for the connections between people and trees initially drew his interest to Memorial Park.
Chris graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in horticulture and is an active member in the American Society of Consulting Arborists where he is among a select group recognized as Registered Consulting Arborists. Spare time hobbies include hiking and mountain climbing, mountain biking and film photography.
Kip Kirkpatrick
Kip is a longtime Atlanta resident. He and Harriet have lived a block from Atlanta Memorial Park for more than 40 years. Their kids grew up playing tennis at Bitsy Grant, golfing at Bobby Jones and fishing and picking up golf balls in Peachtree Creek.
Kip became increasingly concerned over the years with the overall decline of Atlanta Memorial Park. When asked to join AMPC’s efforts, he saw it as an opportunity to make a difference. Kip chairs the AMPC Advisory Board and coordinates the efforts of the AMPC Technical Advisory Group working with the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management to improve conditions in Atlanta Memorial Park.
A retired Alston & Bird attorney, Kip is one of the founders of Cobra Legal Solutions, a legal services support company with offices in Austin, TX and Chennai, India. He also currently serves on the Advisory Boards of Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute, CHRIS 180 and GAIN. Kip graduated from Emory University and University of Georgia School of Law.
Abbie McBurnette
Abbie joined the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy as Treasurer in 2018 and served as its Board President from 2020 through 2022. She enjoys playing tennis, and can often be found on the park playground with her husband and two young children.
Abbie worked for ten years as a Certified Public Accountant in the tax department of Frazier & Deeter, LLC. She is involved with other non-profits around the city, including the Junior League of Atlanta and the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
A native of Atlanta, Abbie has been a lifelong Bulldawg fan. She received her BA in Accounting and Marketing as well as her Master of Accountancy from the University of Georgia.
Loulie Tarbutton Reese
A native of Sandersville, Georgia, Loulie earned a BS degree in Human & Organizational Development and in Elementary Education from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Georgia State University. Loulie’s professional career includes positions with Robinson-Humphrey/Smith Barney, Korn/Ferry International, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and EarthLink.
Loulie is married to Frank Reese, a native of Albany, Georgia. Loulie and Frank, who have two children, resided in the Atlanta Memorial Park neighborhood for twelve years. She served on the Board of the Memorial Park Civic Association, and also served as its president. Loulie and her family have enjoyed countless hours volunteering in the Park including planting trees with Trees Atlanta and leading volunteer efforts with fellow neighbors.
A founding Board Member of AMPC, Loulie also serves as a Trustee at Young Harris College and a supporter of the Nature Conservancy of Georgia, where she was a Co-Chair of the Conservancy’s largest annual fundraiser.
2024 AMPC Advisory Board Members
- Paul Melvin, Chair
- Rich Arroll
- Ann Barrett, Founding Chair
- Aaron Bose
- John Crawford
- John Egan
- Cameron Glass
- Glen Jackson
- Seaborn Jones
- Kip Kirkpatrick, Past Chair
- J. Hardman Knox
- Richard Maddox
- John McCollum
- Garth Peters
- Teed Poe
- James Worrell