As a true not-for-profit health system, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital is operated by a volunteer board drawn from the community it serves. They serve without pay, volunteering time and expertise. They set policy, create goals, evaluate management’s performance, and ensure Phoebe operates in the best interest of the community. Below you can learn more about our volunteer governing board members for Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
Marvin B. Laster is an honor graduate of Albany State University and an honor graduate of Mercer University’s Stetson School of Business and Economics. Marvin is the owner of Legacy Construction + Consulting, LLC and the former Chief Executive Officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany.
Before moving back to Albany in 2015, he held several leadership positions at Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s national headquarters in Atlanta. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Albany State University Foundation and is President of the Albany Sertoma Club.
Karen Iler is a business partner at Woodford Plywood, Inc. and is a former member of the SB&T Board of Directors.
She has served on Deerfield-Windsor’s board, finance committee and executive committee. She is the mother of three children.
John “Buck” Davis Jr., MD, FACS is a board certified general surgeon who joined Albany Surgical, P.C. in 2007 after relocating his practice from Americus, Georgia due to a tornado.
Dr. Davis was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He received a B.A. in Zoology with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill then attended the University of Kentucky College of Medicine where he received his degree Doctor of Medicine with high distinction in 1983. He completed his Surgical Residency at the Medical College of Georgia in 1989. Dr. Davis is a member of the American College of Surgeons, Georgia Surgical Society, Southern Society of Clinical Surgeons, American Foregut Society, SAGES and Southeastern Surgical Congress. His wife is Lisa Davis, and he has 3 children: Buckley, Asher and Finley and a granddaughter, Lucy.
Derek Heard, MD has been a part the medical community in this area for 16 years.
He currently is a primary care physician and the Phoebe Physicians Medical Director of Primary Care. He served as the Chairman of the Southwest Georgia Diabetes Coalition and was named the 2017 Phoebe Physician of the Year.
Pamela Jackson is the Community Plans and Liaison Officer at Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany.
Founder and CEO of The Youth Becoming Healthy Project, Inc., she is involved in many community organizations, including executive board member of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, past president of Turner Job Corps Center Community Relations Council, past Strive to Thrive board member and volunteer tutor for Lee County Minority Female Mentoring Program.
Jay McAfee, MD is a board-certified radiation oncologist and partner with Radiation Oncology Associates.
He is Medical Director of the department of radiation oncology at the Phoebe Cancer Center, where he serves as Cancer Liaison Physician for the Commission on Cancer. Jay was born at PPMH and raised in Albany.
Chinyelu Ofodile, DO – affectionately known as Dr. Chi Chi – joined the Phoebe Family as a hospitalist in 2012. She currently serves as Assistant Director of Inpatient Medicine Services and joined the PPMH Board of Directors in 2024.
Dr. Ofodile graduated from Valdosta State University before earning her medical degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee, Georgia. She completed her residency at Virginia Tech Carilion Internal Medicine Program in Roanoke, Virginia. She and her husband, Chu Ofodile, have four daughters.
Jeretha Peters is the Branch Manager of Wells Fargo Advisors in Albany, GA.
She also serves on numerous boards and committees, including the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, Albany Community Together, Inc., and Leadership Albany. She also supports her community by volunteering in the local school system and facilitating financial literacy workshops. She is a devoted mother of two daughters.
Jenny Savelle is CEO of Bishop Clean Care, Inc.
She currently serves on the board of AB&T. In the past, she has served as Chair of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce and Treasurer of the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission. She and her husband, Jud, have three children.
Scott Steiner joined the Phoebe family in March, 2019.
He previously served as CEO of four Tenet hospitals in Detroit, MI. He began his career in healthcare administration as Director of Physician Network & Development for a hospital in East St. Louis, IL in 1992. Scott and his wife, Tracy have two daughters. Scott is a member of the Phoebe Health System, Phoebe Hospital, Phoebe Sumter, Phoebe Worth, Phoebe Health Ventures and Phoebe Physicians Boards.
Jimmy Webb has been farming in Leary, Georgia since 1986, and has been involved in the southeastern as well as the national agriculture industry.
He currently serves on many agricultural boards across the country, including Flint River Water Planning and Policy Center as treasurer, Georgia Delegate to the National Cotton Council, UGA Dean’s Advisory Council, Georgia Cotton Commission and others. Currently he is Vice-Chair of the Cotton Board.