S. Herbert Rhea, president of Rhea Financial Corporation, earned a business administration degree from the UT College of Business Administration in
1948 and became a licensed Certified Public Accountant in 1950.  His distinguished professional career includes founding and serving as managing partner of Rhea and Ivy, CPAs; founder and president of SSM Corporation; and general partner in a Memphis venture capital firm. His leadership extended to the presidency of the Tennessee Society of CPAs (1963-1964); former chairman of the Thomas W. Briggs Foundation; chairman emeritus of Dixon Gallery and Gardens; and elder emeritus of Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis. He is a life board member of Rhodes College, receiving its Distinguished Service Medal in 1980 and an honorary Ph.D. in humanities in 1995. He was awarded the Cook Halle Award in 1994 and was named Master Entrepreneur by the Memphis Society of Entrepreneurs in 2001. We honor Herbert as an exemplary alumnus, a community leader, a valued friend of our college, and a role model for future business executives.