Rosa Tarbutton Sumter of Atlanta has been elected to the Board of Trustees at Emory University. 

A third-generation Emory alumna, Sumter is a native of Sandersville, Georgia, and graduated from Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in history and art history from Emory.

After an eight-year career in marketing at Norfolk Southern Corporation, she retired to become a full-time mother, and has remained active as a community volunteer and philanthropist. 

Sumter sits on the board of directors of the Sandersville Railroad company, her family’s 125-year-old short line railroad company. A member of the Emory College Alumni Board since 2013, she has served on its development committee and as an “All in a Day” ambassador. 

Sumter has been a committed volunteer at her children’s schools, including Trinity School, The Schenck School, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and The Galloway School.

Since 2014, Sumter has been involved with the National Charity League, a mother-daughter philanthropic organization focused on providing outreach to Atlanta nonprofits, such as Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Agape Youth and Family Center, The City of Refuge, and Buckhead Christian Ministry.