Commission

Secretary Duane Parrish

Mr. Parrish, the current Director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SC-PRT) is a highly valued member of the commission. With an extensive background in tourism and hospitality, Mr. Parrish has a fresh perspective and provides unrivaled skills and tactics that propels the Commission towards its goal of shedding light on South Carolina’s role American Revolution through tourism.

Laurie Slade Funderburk

Ms. Funderburk has a decorated background having served as the Chairwoman of the General Assembly’s Women’s Caucus and on the House Judiciary Committee. Ms. Funderburk  will provide important talents and unique perspectives to the Commission to help it along its way to highlighting South Carolina’s importance in the American Revolution.

Dr. A. V. Huff, Jr.

Dr. Huff is the former President of the South Carolina Historical Association and the current chair of the South Carolina Commission on Archives and History. His role as a Professor of History and Dean at Furman University will also provide irreplaceable skills and talents to the Commission in all facets.

Pam Melton Cazel

Mrs. Cazel’s extensive background in marketing and sales for major Fortune 500 companies, coupled with her service to Cherokee County as the Executive Director of their History and Art Museum will provide irreplaceable skills and talents to the Commission. With strong roots in upstate, Mrs. Cazel is poised to be a necessary fixture for the Commission.

Senator Darrell Jackson

In addition to 30 years in public office, Senator Darrell Jackson is the Senior Pastor at Bible Way Church of Atlas Road. He has served on many boards around the state, including for Benedict College, Big Brothers Big Sisters and United Way of the Midlands.

Ken Scarlett

Kenneth Scarlett is the author of Victory Day — Winning American Independence, The Defeat of the British Southern Strategy, which received the 2023 Fraunces Tavern Museum Honorable Mention Award, along with the Pulitzer Prize book “The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams” by Stacy Schiff. Victory Day is an in-depth account of the last 31 months of the Revolutionary War centered in Charleston; and the forced British Army evacuation which liberated Charleston, and resulted in American Independence.

Ken is the President of Revolutionary Charleston 250 (www.revolutionarycharleston.org). He is the former president of Scarlett Surveys International and the Nathanael Greene Freedom Monument Foundation that produced the life-size statue of General Greene in Greenville, SC located at the Upcountry Museum. He has a Master’s Degree in Intelligence and Security from The Citadel, and a Business Management degree from USC’s Darla School of Business.

Ben Zeigler

Ben Zeigler, a native of Florence and a shareholder in the law firm of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., focuses his practice on public finance, economic incentives and nonprofit and government law. A graduate of The University of the South, Oxford University and Harvard Law School, Zeigler also serves as a member of the McLeod Health Board of Trustees, The South Carolina Golf Association Board of Directors, the Florence County Museum Board, and he is Chairman of the Board of the Wright Foundation for Southern Art and President of the Florence County Historical Society. He has previously served as Chairman of the Board of the Pee Dee Land Trust and the Francis Marion Trail Commission, and has served as a member of the South Carolina Supreme Court Commission on Lawyer Conduct, the South Carolina Eminent Domain Study Committee and the Vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, as well as the boards of the Francis Marion University Foundation and Florence County Progress.

Frank McClary (U.S.A. Ret. Col)

Frank McClary, a retired United States Army Colonel, is a native of Andrews, South Carolina, where he is currently mayor. He is a 1986 Benedict College graduate, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice and distinguished military honors from the Benedict Army ROTC program. He earned a Master’s in Strategic Studies from the Army’s Senior Service College. Mayor McClary led a distinguished military career with multiple assignments to foreign countries (Kosovo, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, and England) and throughout the United States, including two tours in the Pentagon, Washington, DC, and battalion command at Fort Jackson, SC. He planned and led combat operations with more than 20 foreign countries. His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit (3rd Award), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Bronze Star with Valor in combat, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (4th Award), Joint Service Accommodation Medal, Army Accommodation Medal (4th Award), the Army Achievement Medal (4th Award), the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (2nd Award), Expert Infantryman’s Badge, Parachutist Badge, Department of Defense Staff Badge, and the Department of the Army Staff Badge.