The Board of the Presbyterian Home for Children approved its Executive Committee for 2025.

The Talladega-based Home is one of few organizations in the state caring for Alabama’s homeless boys and girls, along with their female caregivers in its Secure Dwellings Program, now in its 10th year. PHFC also serves young female adults in crisis, families in crisis through in-home intensive services, and children and youth in rural Wilcox County. In 2024, the Home joined the Caminos® program to ensure homes in the Southeast are safe for migrant children being placed with sponsor families.
Rev. Brandon Miles is Moderator for the Board. Miles is pastor at Spring Hill Presbyterian in Mobile. Before this calling, he served as pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Florence for 11 years. He is also vice chair of the Home’s Property Committee. Miles received a Master’s of Divinity degree from Austin Seminary in 2010 and later served as Family Ministry Coordinator at Oakmont Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. Miles and his wife Sarah have three young children.

Lisa deShazo is Vice Moderator and serves on the Governance Committee. deShazo, who grew up in Talladega, is a member of Government Street Presbyterian in Mobile, where she sings in the choir, plays handbells and oversees the Meal on Wheels program. deShazo has served as a member of the Board of Trustees in the past and is retired from the Department of Human Resources, where she worked in the child welfare program and the personnel department.
Mark D. Feagin of Homewood is Immediate Past Moderator for the Board of Trustees. Feagin’s professional experience is in the banking industry, where he worked for Regions Bank for 24 years as well as Iberiabank, JP Morgan Chase and Community Bank of Mississippi. Previously serving on PHFC’s Audit and Finance Committees, he is vice chair of the Development Committee. Feagin’s faith journey began at Shades Valley Presbyterian Church in Mountain Brook as a young boy. He and his wife are members of Asbury Methodist Church.

David Perry of Birmingham is Treasurer of the Board and chair of the Finance Committee. He serves as Chief Executive Officer for Concourse Financial Group, a subsidiary of Protective Life Insurance Company. Prior to joining Protective, Perry served as Director of the Finance Department for the State of Alabama and Chief of Staff to the Governor of Alabama. He also practiced law for several years with Maynard Cooper & Gale PC. Perry is a lifelong Presbyterian, is actively involved in his community, and graduated from Duke University (B.A.) and the Northwestern University School of Law (J.D.).

Joyce Pettis of Huntsville is Member At Large for the Board and serves on the Governance Committee. She is a retired English professor at North Carolina State University and has published and edited many anthologies, journals and reference books. In 1995, she won the College Language Association award for best scholarly book of the year. She is a ruling elder at Fellowship Presbyterian Church with many roles there, including amateur horticulturist for the church’s interior plants. She has served as moderator of Presbyterian Women at both the presbytery and church levels. Along with serving on the Home’s Board, Pettis serves on the board of The FAITH Initiative, a 501c3 nonprofit, as secretary and scholarship coordinator. She is married to Dr. Enoch C. Temple.
Carol R. Copeland of Athens was re-elected as the Board’s Secretary and chair of the Programs Committee. John Haley, Esq. of Birmingham remains as Legal Counsel and serves on the Governance Committee.
New members of the Board of Trustees for 2025 are Amy Dickerson of Hoover, Rev. Robin Palmer of Madison and Rev. Bob Phelps of Albertville.
Amy Dickerson grew up at South Highland Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, where she enjoyed working with PHFC children during VBS outreach visits and overnight camps. Her service on the Board of Trustees follows in the footsteps of her father, Al Hill, who recently retired from being on the Board. Dickerson has a background in Psychology and Counseling, small business ownership and volunteer work. She resides in Homewood and is the proud mother of three grown sons.
Rev. Robin Palmer is pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Madison, where she has served since 2003. She most recently served North Alabama Presbytery as the Moderator of the Executive Commission. Palmer is a former Moderator of North Alabama Presbytery, of the Board of Directors of the Vine Pastoral Counseling Center and of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Home for Children. She and her pastor husband, David, live in Huntsville and have two adult daughters.
Rev. Bob Phelps was recently elected Executive Presbyter for the North Alabama Presbytery. Prior to that, he served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Albertville and has served congregations in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida through the years. He and his wife, Deanna, have two adult sons and one granddaughter.


