Finance and Administration welcomes three new team members

The Finance and Administration division is proud to welcome three new team members to the Southwest family.

Dwight Fryer
Manager of Restricted Funds

Dwight Fryer has joined Southwest as the new restricted funds manager where he will manage all grant and restricted funds for the college.

Fryer brings more than 25 years of business experience in accounting, finance, marketing and technology to the post. His most recent post was in higher education as the grants accountant and assistant grants writer at LeMoyne-Owen College where he was responsible for grant accounting and researching and writing grants. Fryer also has worked in corporate America with stints in transportation at FedEx, oil and gas at Koch Industries and manufacturing at Dover Elevator. He also has served as executive director for the Memphis Urban Debate League, a nonprofit whose programming delivered policy debate for Memphis and Shelby County middle and high school students.

Fryer holds a Master of Science in Information Systems and Telecommunications Management from Christian Brothers University and a Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting from The University of Memphis. In his private life, Dwight and his wife work with the National Meningitis Association as an advocate for immunization against bacterial meningitis. He is also a writer, speaker, storyteller and avid bird and nature watcher who enjoys anything in the great outdoors, especially flying kites.

Yvette Turner Rodgers
Executive Secretary

Finance and Administration also welcomes Yvette Turner Rodgers as executive secretary to Vice President for Finance and Administration Anita Lockridge. Rodgers will coordinate the flow of the vice president’s office to ensure the essential responsibilities are effectively and efficiently executed.

She brings 30 years of executive administrative assistant experience and strong organizational and leadership skills to the post. In her most recent position, she served as assistant to the presiding bishops of The Lord’s Tabernacle Holiness Church and provided administrative support to 22 pastors and their churches.

Rodgers attended Southwest where she majored in Business Administration. She graduated from the Lord’s Tabernacle Bible Institute and is credentialed as an evangelist. She and her husband, Tommie, have been married 39 years and have three children, two daughters-in laws and five grandchildren.

Jacqueline Saunders
Director of Purchasing and Auxiliary Services

Jacqueline Saunders has joined Southwest Finance and Administration as purchasing and auxiliary services director. Saunders will work closely with the College’s vendors, review and approve contracts, manage food service operations at all campuses and provide oversight of the College’s contracted bookstores. Saunders also will represent Southwest as a member of various purchasing organizations and serve as the College’s liaison to the Tennessee Board of Regents on purchasing and procurement matters.

Saunders is a certified public procurement officer who has more than 30 years of experience in governmental purchasing. Her most recent post was director of procurement services for the former Memphis City Schools, now Shelby County Schools. More than half her nearly 30-year tenure with Shelby County Schools was in a leadership capacity. Saunders has been lauded for her contributions and achievements in business and finance. The Memphis Minority Business Council named her Advocate of the Year in 2007 and 2009. The National Procurement Institute recognized her leadership and achievements as procurement director for Shelby County Schools in 2013 by bestowing upon her its prestigious Achievement in Excellence Award.

Saunders is a lifelong Memphian. She and her husband of 20 years, Eric, are the proud parents of four sons.