Events

Will Crossley is the fifth president of The Piney Woods School.  In July 2014, he returned to Piney Woods as the first alumnus to serve in this capacity in the school’s 107-year history. 

Trained in both education and civil rights, in 2013 he was selected as a Senior Executive Service Appointee by the President of the United States.  In that capacity, Will served as Senior Advisor in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.  Prior to his presidential appointment, Will was Chief Counsel for the Democratic National Committee, where his work included managing voting rights litigation on behalf of the national party.  Formerly, he was also a senior litigation attorney at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, during which he held a diverse portfolio of government investigations, white collar defense, business litigation and civil rights matters.

Earlier in his career, Will served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorale Damon J. Keith, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Honorable Julian Abele Cook, Jr., U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Michigan.  Immediately following law school, he was awarded the Barton Postgraduate Legal Fellowship at the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University School of Law.

He is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fratenity, Inc.

Will holds a Bachelor of Arts (with Honors) in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago, a Master of Education in School Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law.  Before his legal career began, Will was a policy analyst in the Georgia Governor’s Office, an educational researcher and an elementary school teacher.

Will is married to the former Monica Akuamoah, and they have two daughters, Kayla and Christin.

Colleen M. Munkel is the Director of Business Development for Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services, which is located in South Mississippi. Ms. Munkel manages and drives the marketing, public relations, and business development activities of the organization including its National Service Center, which is the admissions department for Pine Grove’s specialty and outpatient treatment programs. Additionally, Mrs. Munkel is responsible for the organization’s digital media strategy, Alumni Program, and Outreach Offices, which are located throughout Pine Grove’s service area within Mississippi and the greater Mobile, Alabama regions. Mrs. Munkel developed and implemented Pine Grove’s fundraising initiative, named Giving Back. She is responsible for building and cultivating relationships with Pine Grove’s referral sources and media representatives. She also works to spearhead and organize community-wide educational events that address mental health and addiction treatment, earning Pine Grove local and regional honors for these outreach initiatives. Mrs. Munkel also led Pine Grove’s 35th Anniversary Celebration in 2019, supervised the launch of Pine Grove’s redesigned website, and leads the organization’s branding initiatives.

Previously, Mrs. Munkel worked in public relations, physician recruitment, and broadcast news. She anchored and reported the daily news for network affiliates in the upper Midwest and South, including WDAM-TV right here in the Pine belt. She has earned local and regional awards for her accomplishments in public relations and journalism. Mrs. Munkel earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and her Master of Arts degree from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

Mrs. Munkel and her husband, Leif, who works with Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association, live in Hattiesburg, MS. They have a five-year-old son, Sander, who keeps both of them very busy!

Laurel native, Wes Brooks is the Development Coordinator for the DuBard School for Language Disorders at The University of Southern Mississippi. As Development Coordinator, he is responsible for all fundraising, donor cultivation and development, coordination and management of all fundraising campaigns, community outreach, and public relations.

In addition, Wes currently serves as Communications Director for Westminster Presbyterian Church of Hattiesburg, is co-chair of the Hattiesburg ADP’s Leadership Pinebelt Steering Committee, Past President (2014-2015) and current P.R. & Communications Chair of the Rotary Club of Hattiesburg, and when there is no pandemic and everyone is healthy, he enjoys playing music with his band The 6550's (Sixty-Five Fifties). 

Wes, his wife, the former Shane Phillips, and their son, Campbell, reside in Hattiesburg.

Randy is the director of the Mississippi Judicial College. He previously served on the Mississippi Supreme Court, as a Chancellor for the Sixteenth Chancery Court District, and as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives. Randy received his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law where he served as LSSB President. He has an undergraduate degree in accounting and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

While a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court, Randy served as co-chair of the Supreme Court’s Commission on Children’s Justice. He also served as chair of the Rules Committee on the Legal profession. He is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College School of Law. He is a member of the Mississippi Bar, American Bar Association, Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Read the Clarion-Ledger article on the release of Randy Pierce's fourth novel, Missy, here. 

Education

B.A., University of Southern Mississippi

M.A., University of Southern Mississippi

J.D., University of Mississippi School of Law