SONJA GREENE

class of '11

Sonja graduated from Auburn University in 2011 with a Master’s degree in Business Administration. She has served on the board since 2011. Sonja serves as President of the board and is responsible for the general planning and administration of the club’s events and operations. You can contact Sonja with any questions or thoughts on the club’s events, or about how you can get further involved with the club.

She is the current owner of Greene Development Company Inc., a government contract company here in Huntsville, AL. Prior to entrepreneurship Sonja worked ten plus years in the Pharmaceutical Industry. She is married to Eric Greene and have two beautiful daughters, Taylor and Sydney. Although born and raised in Meridian, MS she feels like a native Alabamian, having been here for over 20 years.  Her favorite AU moment was during an International Business Class in Dublin with the best classmates ever.  She loves spending time with family, friends and working in the community.

woody gillespie

class of '93

Woody is a 1993 graduate of Auburn University with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing.  He has established a 20 year career in pharmaceutical sales and is currently with Alkermes, Inc.

Woody arrived in the Fall of 1989, just in time to witness the first Iron Bowl played at Jordan Hare. It was one of his favorite memories of Auburn, in addition to meeting and marrying his late wife, Jayna May.  Jayna was a lifelong Auburn Tiger and her brother Jesse May set up an endowed scholarship in her honor in the College of Science and Mathematics. Woody has followed in Jayna’s footsteps as a member of the Huntsville Madison County Auburn Club Board, and he considers it an honor to serve in the role.  

Woody’s daughter May Merrill Gillespie attends Auburn and is majoring in Psychology.  Woody and his wife Jill, are passionate tiger fans and are blessed to share the game day experience with May Merrill.  Faith, family, and football are three of Woody’s biggest passions, and he enjoys living these out with Jill.

Whitley Kelley

class of ‘12

Whitley is originally from Carbon Hill, Alabama, and graduated from Auburn in 2012 with a degree in cell and molecular biology. As a third generation Auburn student, she was a National Merit/Presidential scholar, served as a Camp War Eagle counselor and War Eagle Girl, and was a top 5 Miss Auburn candidate, in addition to her involvement in Greek Life and the Student Government Association. After a pit stop in Birmingham to earn a master’s degree in genetic counseling, Whitley moved to Huntsville in 2015 to join the Educational Outreach team at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, where she is currently a board-certified genetic counselor and a member of both the National Society of Genetic Counselors and the American College of Medical Genetics. She is incredibly grateful to have an opportunity to serve Auburn while in Huntsville. When she’s not discussing genetics, Alabama history, or Auburn football, Whitley loves traveling, trying new foods, working in her yard, and doting on her 11-year-old rescue cats, Liam and Neeson.

Sophia Moore

class of '91 & ‘14

Sophia is a native of the greater Huntsville area. She graduated with a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Athens State in 1991 and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Auburn University in 2014.

Sophia takes great pride in her family and work. She loves spending time with her husband Otis of 31 years and their 2 sons/daughter in law, Dion (Katrina) both graduates of Auburn University and Deonta graduate of the University of South Alabama. Sophia is active in the community and her church. She has worked in the service and sales industry for the past 30 years; from banking to real estate. Sophia is currently the owner and operating principle of D&D Floors and Moore.

John Dingess

class of ‘14

John attended Auburn from 2010-2014, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and a minor in Business-Engineering-Technology. John has since worked in the Aerospace industry for Lockheed Martin supporting future Space Exploration and Defense programs. This line of work has taken John all over the US from Huntsville to Philadelphia to Denver. John recently relocated back to Huntsville with his wife and lives in the historic Five Points.

As a senior in high school in Aurora Colorado, John had no idea where Auburn Alabama was but he quickly fell in love with everything Auburn had to offer within weeks of beginning school. His parents and siblings became diehard Auburn fans during his time in school and he was lucky enough to met and marry his college sweetheart, a third generation Auburn graduate. Orange and Blue now runs deep in his family and he looks forward to one day seeing his future children become Auburn graduates!

Nina Sani

class of ‘90 & ‘91

Nina (Anita Sani) Damian graduated from Auburn University in 1990 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and in 1991 with a Master’s in Communication. While working as an electrical engineer at Chevron Corporation in Houston, Texas, she earned a Juris Doctorate (cum laude) from South Texas College of Law in May 1998. She and her family moved to Huntsville, Alabama in October 2000. She has over 20 years of experience practicing law in both Alabama and Texas and is a registered patent attorney before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She is currently Associate General Counsel for Bristol Bay Shared Services, a subsidiary of Alaska native parent company, Bristol Bay Native Corporation. Her husband is also a graduate of Auburn University (BSEE 1991) and the University of Houston (MSEE 1993). They have 3 children: Luke, who graduated with a BSChE (Chemical Engineering) from Auburn in May 2018; Lexi, who will graduate with a BSN (Nursing) from Auburn in August 2019; and Sasha, who is currently a sophomore at Auburn.

Nina also has served in various capacities as a volunteer with the Junior League of Huntsville, at church, on the PTA boards of her children’s schools, various booster clubs, and in the legal community. She is excited to serve the local community on the Huntsville Madison County Auburn Club board!

ASHLEY Walls Farish

class of ‘05

Ashley is a native of Madison and a 2001 graduate of Bob Jones High School. She graduated from Auburn in 2005 with a degree in Public Relations and Communications. Ashley has been on the Board since 2009. She has served as Vice President (2 years) and Scholarship Committee Chairperson (3 years).

Ashley is the Senior Sales Strategist for Alabama Media Group (AL.com & The Huntsville Times). She is happily married to Justin Farish, her longtime best friend. They have 2 Rottweilers, Brutus & Bella. They are an Auburn Family with great ties to Auburn and plenty of Auburn legacy family members. Her favorite things are traveling aboard, spending time with family and anything Auburn related!

TIFFANY NOEL

class of '91 and '93

As a native of Huntsville and a graduate of Grissom High School, Tiffany graduated from Auburn in 1991 with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and in 1993 with a Master’s in Business Administration.  After a few years working as an engineer at SCI in Huntsville, Tiffany moved to Washington, DC and spent over a decade working on Capitol Hill for Congressman Robert Aderholt.  Tiffany moved home to Huntsville in 2010, and is currently employed as the District Director for Congressman Mo Brooks. 

Tiffany had a lot of great Auburn experiences and is grateful for the life-long friendships from those years.  She remembers walking across the stage as a third generation Electrical Engineer from the Auburn College of Engineering.  But her favorite memory of her time at Auburn was the first ever Auburn-Alabama game played in Auburn.  Tiffany will never forget the orange and blue haze over the stadium from the paper shakers and the thrill of beating an undefeated Alabama team.

Jennifer Ivey

class of ‘13 & ‘14

Jennifer is a native of Huntsville and a 2009 graduate of Huntsville High School. She graduated from Auburn in 2013 with a degree in Elementary Education and again in 2014 with a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education. Jennifer has been on the board since 2019.

Jennifer is a fifth-grade teacher in the Huntsville City School System. She is a proud aunt to several future Auburn Tigers and a dog mom. She loves serving on the Board of the Huntsville-Madison County Auburn Club and volunteering in the community. Her favorite things are spending time with family, traveling, and anything Auburn-related.

Kelsey Bickett

class of ‘13 & ‘15

Kelsey (Hayes) Bickett grew up in nearby Guntersville and has proudly cheered for the Tigers for as long as she can remember! She manages the NASA Internship Program as an employee of the nonprofit federal contractor, Universities Space Research Association (USRA). She previously coordinated internships at both NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Stennis Space Center following roles in student affairs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Auburn University at Montgomery. She earned degrees in adult education and anthropology from Auburn and is currently a doctoral candidate in educational leadership and policy at Florida State University. Her career goal is to expand and improve educational opportunity while minimizing socioeconomic inequity, especially within her lifelong home of Alabama. Kelsey was also an inaugural member of the Auburn Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Council and loves serving the school which has provided her with a rewarding career, amazing friendships, and a passion for learning. She and her husband, Will, live in Harvest with their furry friends Ladybug and Tesla.

KATRINE BALCH

class of '92 and '96

Katrine has been on the Board since 2011, graduating from Auburn with a BA in Sociology in 1992 and again in 1996 with a Masters in Education. She works for a NASA contractor and does education activities for NASA. She married an Ole Miss grad and has two elementary aged kids. Her favorite Auburn moments involve working with Camp War Eagle as a graduate student. Sharing the AU family traditions and spirit with new students and their parents was a lot of fun. She enjoys traveling to Auburn games both on the road and at home. Since she is now also tied to the Ole Miss family, the family knows how to tailgate and does it up big when the two schools play each other.

Victoria Johnson Tice

class of '17

Victoria is a metro-Detroit, Michigan native. She graduated from Auburn with a master’s in rhetoric and composition in 2017. She earned her BA in Creative writing from Oakland University. Victoria has taught college courses in English literature and composition, read for small, independent presses, and written for Silicon Valley tech companies, national and regional medical groups, and several academic institutions.

Most recently, she served as Vice President of the Northern California Auburn Club. Her efforts in revamping the communication strategy led the club to win the third-place award for Most Outstanding Communication at the 2019 Auburn Club Leaders Conference. She’s thrilled to be on the Board, where she’ll continue refining club communications to foster Auburn spirit in Huntsville-Madison County.

Victoria is a freelance copywriter, content strategist, and a yoga teacher. She and her husband (also an Auburn alum) moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Madison in January 2020 with their two fur babies-and are now parents of a future Auburn Tiger.

Lauren Vandiver Pelto

class of ‘10

Lauren grew up on a cattle and cotton farm in Madison, Alabama and studied Agriculture Communications at Auburn University. During her time at Auburn, she got her start in politics interning for Congressman Mike Rogers. His staff reached out to her at Auburn with an offer, and when she got the job she cancelled all her classes for the semester and moved to Washington, D.C. the next week! After graduation, she returned to Washington as a staffer for Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District and lived there for the next six years.

Home beckoned to Pelto and when the opportunity arose she did not hesitate. Lauren is now the Program Manager for Government Relations in Alabama for TVA. She volunteers at Manna House in Huntsville, and also the Salvation Army’s local shelter. She also enjoys mission work with her church. Pelto and her husband Tommy, who met while both working in Washington, are newlyweds who enjoy traveling and spending quality time with their extended family, including rescue dog Millie.