Each spring, the University of Georgia’s Division of Development and Alumni Relations celebrates the Bulldog 100, which honors the 100 fastest growing organizations and businesses owned or led by UGA alumni.
The new list, which often includes alumni returning from the previous year, is released in February, and it’s followed by a banquet that draws honorees, all decked out in their red and black.
In 2025, an impressive number of those honorees graduated from the College of Pharmacy. In all, eight Pharmacy alumni-run businesses made the list, and six of them were independent pharmacies.
“We are incredibly proud of these Pharm Dawgs and the impact they are making in their communities and the pharmacy profession,” says Kelly Smith, dean of the College of Pharmacy. “Their recognition in the Bulldog 100 speaks to their entrepreneurial excellence and the innovation that defines our alumni.”
The careers of College of Pharmacy grads progress in all sorts of directions. Many work in large retail pharmacies or local and national health care systems.
Others start or run businesses that build on their education and address specific health care issues. Reed Liggin PHARMD ’94 is the CEO of Sliced Health, a cloud-based technology platform for health systems, and Dr. Naveed Tharwani PHARMD ’11 runs SynerGrx, a company that serves on-site clinical pharmacists. Both were ranked No. 8 and No. 28, respectively, in the 2025 Bulldog 100.
But most of the honored alumni own independent pharmacies located in small cities and towns across Georgia. They are frequently the only pharmacies within a 30-mile radius. And the pharmacists who run them are community leaders. They know their customers by name.
The College of Pharmacy helps provide the tools to get independent pharmacists started. Several alumni spoke of the college’s Certificate in Pharmacy Entrepreneurship, which prepares them to own and operate a pharmacy.
“That was invaluable,” says Matt Donato PHARMD ’14, the owner of Golden Isles Pharmacy in Brunswick. “You’d get in the weeds with pharmacies. They’d open their books for you. It really helped us understand the business side. I still have spreadsheets from some of the businesses we studied.”
An independent pharmacy is a business after all, but—at least for these UGA alumni entrepreneurs—there is a beating heart that powers them.
Lucas Brown PHARMD ’14
Friendly City Pharmacy
Tifton
2025 Bulldog 100 #13
Lucas Brown takes the nickname of his adopted hometown to heart. Brown, a native of Valdosta, moved to Tifton to take a job at a chain pharmacy after graduating from UGA. The position wasn’t without its positives—he met his wife, Christina, a fellow pharmacist, there.
But he was restless to go out on his own.
When he did open his own pharmacy, he didn’t want to name it after himself.
“Brown Pharmacy. We didn’t want to call it that,” says Brown, who served in the Marines before coming to UGA. “Who is ‘Brown’? What if we weren’t there or when it came time to retire?”
So instead, he and Christina leaned into Tifton’s nickname. Welcome to Friendly City Pharmacy. The first location opened in 2021, and since then, a second has come online. The Browns also own Colony Discount Drugs in Fitzgerald.
“Friendly City” also reflects Brown’s dedication to customer service with a personal touch. Good customer service isn’t limited to independent pharmacies, of course, but Brown does take his commitment to his neighbors seriously.
“If someone needs a prescription immediately, they can call me on my cell,” he says. “There is less red tape.”
In rural areas like South Georgia, access to pharmacies isn’t always guaranteed. That’s why Brown’s pharmacies offer free prescription delivery services, drug compounding, and compliance packaging, which organizes customers’ medications based on dosage and when they need to be taken. The payoff, according to Brown, is in the positive feedback he receives, as well as in how those grateful customers recommend Friendly City to their own friends.
Matt Donato PHARMD ’14
Golden Isles Pharmacy
Brunswick
2025 Bulldog 100 #55
Being an entrepreneur implies solitude or at least independence. But that doesn’t mean you can’t lean on others.
The friends and mentors Matt Donato met while at the College of Pharmacy—classmates like John Hyer (see page 25) and Lucas Brown—changed his life. And they continue to influence it in positive ways.
“Without being there and meeting those guys, I may never have had my own place to begin with,” Donato says.
Indeed.
Donato, a native of Brunswick, had always wanted to own his own pharmacy, so when he decided to take the plunge in 2017, Hyer was an early investor. The venture has been a huge success. Donato paid Hyer back years ago, and he now runs two Golden Isles Pharmacies in his hometown.
He continues to message Hyer and Brown on an almost daily basis. They bounce ideas off each other, discuss trends, and offer advice.
They also figure out ways to give back to UGA. In 2025, Donato; his wife, Jamanda; and John and Dorris Hyer created the Hyer-Donato Pharmacy Entrepreneurial Scholarship Fund in the College of Pharmacy. Ben (see page 24) and Lauren Ross created a fund as well.
“Pharmacy school, any school really, is expensive,” Donato says. “We did this as an entrepreneurial-type scholarship because it’s what we love. Anything we can do to help students, we’ll do.”
Mary Nagel PHARMD ’16, Ben Ross PHARMD ’08, Starr Clark BSPH ’87
Clark Drug Company
Waynesboro
2025 Bulldog 100 #47
Ben Ross is a busy guy.
He owns or co-owns three Bulldog 100 pharmacies across the state: Ross Drug (No. 78) in Sylvania (a store that was founded by his father, Sonny BSPH ’74), Coastal Drug Company (No. 56) in Midway, and Clark Drug Company in Waynesboro.
It’s a resume that earned Ross the Michael J. Bryan Award, which recognizes a returning Bulldog 100 honoree who exemplifies entrepreneurial spirit and sustained business growth, in 2025.
Ross also has a keen sense of picking partners. One of his co-workers in that first job in Sylvania was Mary Nagel’s husband, Pete. In addition to the Bulldog 100 pharmacies, Ross and the Nagels are partners in several other pharmacies, including one in Lyons, where Mary spends most workdays.
“We all work where we’re from,” says Mary, who was also a multi-business honoree through her co-ownership of Coastal Drug. “I’m from Vidalia, which is right next to Lyons. I loved Athens and would have stayed forever if I could, but I wanted to come home.”
That hometown touch was front-of-mind for Nagel and Ross when they explored the acquisition of a pharmacy in Waynesboro, south of Augusta. Ross reached out to Starr Clark, who’d worked for pharmaceutical chains for 30 years.
“He could have pulled me through the phone, I was so excited,” Clark says.
Since then, Clark Drug has made the Bulldog 100 multiple times and solidified its place in town.
“We have our pulse on the community,” Ross says. “We do it all, and we know our customers. We go to church with them. We coach their kids in Little League. We support schools and every community activity. We love our communities.”
John Hyer PHARMD ’12, Dorris Hyer PHARMD ’12
King’s Hometown Pharmacy
Blairsville
2025 Bulldog 100 #29
John and Dorris Hyer bought their first pharmacy in Murphy, North Carolina, in 2013. A year later, they bought another in nearby Hayesville. They expanded to a third pharmacy in 2019, this time across the Georgia border in Blairsville. At the time the Hyers bought each location, they were surviving but not thriving.
That changed.
“The support from the communities we serve has allowed us to grow and keep the pharmacies modern and current,” John says.
The couple met while attending UGA. Before coming to Athens, John—like Lucas Brown—served in the Marine Corps and began college at Georgia Southern University; Dorris attended Valdosta State University after high school.
They got married the same month they graduated in 2012 and then immediately started post-graduate residencies in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“Halfway through, I knew that wasn’t what I wanted for my career. The dream was to own a business,” John says. “So I started my hunt to buy a pharmacy. It didn’t matter where I found it. If it was the right opportunity, I was buying it!”
Dorris was a bit slower to embrace entrepreneurship but didn’t want to go the hospital route or work for a chain pharmacy. She did both to make ends meet the first few years, though. Once the Hyers’ pharmacies were able to support another pharmacist role, Dorris joined full time.
The Hyers now live in Murphy and spend the majority of their time managing the businesses behind the scenes.
“Transitioning from being in the stores every day, to more of the business development work is difficult,” John says. “That’s the toughest part of business ownership. But it’s the only way to lead and manage. You trust your team.”
Teaching Beyond Athens
Whether it is through educating a class or working with colleges, spreading innovation and knowledge is pivotal. Through the year-long Graduate Certificate in Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy students are able to enhance their skillsets and specialties while still receiving academic support.
UGA’s Postgraduate Year 1 Pharmacy residency program in Albany promotes learning and growth while preparing students for their careers ahead. Students complete their residency at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
The program allows students to earn graduate credit, explore different interests, and work directly with UGA faculty for research and teaching. Upon completion of the program, students will receive the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Pharmacy in addition to their residency certificate.
“The benefits of this program to me are the ability to have mentorship along the way from a faculty advisor at UGA as a student. I did not have a lot of teaching experience, so my mentor is teaching me how to teach,” says Dr. Meghan Riney PHARMD ’21, who completed the graduate certificate program during her Albany residency.
Mentors are also able to check in with students and make sure they are fulfilling their requirements. The Albany extension prepares future health care workers for diverse patient care, practice management, leadership, and education while also making sure students feel supported and understood.
In addition to the Albany location, UGA has residency programs in Athens, Augusta, and Savannah, with each offering a distinctive experience for future health care providers.—Maura Rutledge