Southeast Region Alumni Profiles

Atlanta

C.W. Copeland (Westminster School, ’82)

C.W. Copeland brings more than 15 years financial services experience as a Financial Advisor with Retirement Solutions, Inc.  Among his areas of concentration, C.W. specializes in Retirement and Estate planning.  C.W. is particularly focused on offering services as they apply to financial education and how it can aid individuals in planning for a secure retirement, asset protection, family wealth transfer and for their children’s education. 

Prior to his affiliation with Retirement Solutions, Inc., C.W. served as a Professor with Clark-Atlanta University (1998-2012) where he taught Finance and Insurance classes in the School of Business.  He has also worked at Citizens Trust Bank (Atlanta, GA) where he developed their Financial Planning Division; Consumer Credit Counseling Service (Atlanta, GA) where he was Director of Community Outreach & Education; and as a Financial Planner for Prudential Preferred Financial Services, New York Life Insurance, and American Express Financial Advisors.

C.W. received a Ph.D. degree in Financial Planning from the University of Georgia and holds a Masters of Science from Georgia Tech, and a Bachelors of Science from Tuskegee University.  He holds Series 7 & 65 Securities licenses as well as Life, Accident, Health, Property and Casualty insurance licenses and is a member of a number of industry associations.

C.W. has co-authored several books and has served as a financial columnist for many newspapers and magazines.  He has been a regular guest on radio and television shows across the Country; including shows such as CNBC’s Money Club, WAOK’s Solutions & Remedies, and TBN’s Public Report.

C.W. is a strong member of the community and has served as an “education specialist” for the Fulton County Pension Board, Board Chair for the Community Power Federal Credit Union and serves on the Boards of several public and private non-profit organizations.  C.W. resides in Atlanta, GA, with his wife, and their 2 children.

Melanie Larkins (The Thacher School, ‘95)

Melanie Larkins is currently a Manager at Dance 411 Studios in Atlanta, which is also partnered with Bloc South, a dance talent agency. It is the largest dance booking agency in the country. They work with some of the top names in the industry.

Previously, Melanie worked as a Sales Manager for Kuoni Tours, a Swiss-based company with offices in over 20 countries. The company focuses on destination management. She was responsible for a budget of over 6,000,000 Swiss Francs per year, which equates to (depending on the exchange rate of the day) just under USD $6,000,000. Her focus was on group sales for existing clients and assisting with Latin American clientele (mostly Brazilian and Argentine). She speaks Spanish fluently and has excellent skills in Portuguese.

As an A Better Chance Scholar, she attended the Thacher School in Ojai, California, which is a private boarding school. She received a commendation for her work in the arts and received Varsity letters in Dance, Basketball, Track & Field, and Lacrosse. While at Thacher, she participated in a summer home-stay program in Caceres, Spain, for which she received a scholarship because of her status as an A Better Chance Scholar. After Thacher, Melanie attended University of California - Berkeley where she played on the Division I Women's Lacrosse team. She participated in a year-long study abroad program to Barcelona, Spain. Upon her return, she worked as an Ambassador for the Study Abroad office to promote study abroad programs and to act as a resource for potential participants. She graduated from Berkeley with a 3.5 GPA and received a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Spanish & Portuguese Language and Literature. She had various internships while at Berkeley including work at Centro Legal de la Raza (a center focusing on tenant-landlord issues in the Latino community of San Francisco) and the Ecology Center of Berkeley.

Tasha McCall (Suffield Academy, ‘92)

Tasha McCall is a Vice President in Digital Channel Management with SunTrust Bank. In her role as a Digital Sales Product Manager, she is responsible for driving profitable new sales through the online, mobile, and tablet channels.  She has 15+ years of experience in financial services, eCommerce, and product management.  Tasha has significant experience managing digital and software products through their full product life-cycle from ideation to sunset.  Prior to joining SunTrust Bank, Tasha worked at Ceridian Corporation in Atlanta, GA and managed several HR/Payroll products, including a MasterCard® branded payroll debit card product.  Before Ceridian, Tasha managed a diverse portfolio of online products, including an online auction payments product and an online rent payments product at CheckFree Corporation in Norcross, GA.  In 2002, Tasha earned her M.B.A in Finance from Columbia Business School, New York, NY as a Robert E. Toigo M.B.A. Fellow.  As a M.B.A student she completed her internship in Goldman Sachs & Co.’s Private Wealth Management division in New York, NY.  Prior to attending Columbia Business School, Tasha worked as a Mutual Funds Relationship Manager at The Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, NY and a Mutual Funds Research Analyst at The Carson Group, a NY-based consulting firm.  Tasha earned her B.A. in Political Science and a Teaching Certificate in History from Yale University in New Haven, CT.   Tasha is from South Bronx, NY.  She graduated from Suffield Academy as an A Better Chance, Inc. scholar in 1992.  

During the same time, her identical twin sister, Tesha Winslow, attended Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, CT as an A Better Chance, Inc. scholar.  Both sisters went on to graduate from Yale University and Columbia Business School in the same years and they both currently work for SunTrust Bank.

Tasha resides in Sandy Springs, GA, is married with two kids, ages 9 and 7, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.  Tasha enjoys client relationship management, mentoring youth, and spending time with her family, including her nieces and nephew, and friends.

Jae Scarborough (Westminster School, ’99)

Jae Scarborough is a 2003 graduate from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor's in Business Administration; he majored in Marketing. Since graduating, Jae has worked in marketing, interactive media sales, and social media for the City of Atlanta, Monster.com, Relate Media Group, and Yahoo!. While working with the City of Atlanta, Jae served as Public Information Officer for the Mayor’s Next Step Youth program and as Director of Marketing & Business Development for the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency. Leaving government to pursue corporate experience, Jae transitioned to Monster.com where he helped to establish interactive media sales and operational platforms for Monster and their online partners. While at Monster, he sold and managed online interactive media advertising campaigns, effectively meeting budget requirements and time-sensitive deadlines.  At Relate Media Group, he developed, sold, and implemented strategic communication methods for politicians through interactive social media. He now works at Yahoo! as a Senior Optimization Strategist, managing business and accounts across the Yahoo! Network Plus platform. When not working, Jae serves on the University of Notre Dame’s Alumni Board and volunteers with A Better Chance. He is married to his best friend of 16 years, Jessica Cooke Scarborough, and is father to their baby girl, Rikki Joelle.