{Photograph} by felixmizioznikov/Getty
Civic Leaders | Authorities & Politics | Transportation | Utilities | Legends
CIVIC LEADERS
Leona Barr-Davenport
President and CEO
Atlanta Enterprise League
Leona Barr-Davenport is president and CEO of the Atlanta Enterprise League, Atlanta’s oldest minority enterprise improvement and advocacy group. As president, she works with the board of administrators to extend entry to enterprise alternatives for minorities, with particular emphasis on the event of companies owned or operated by African Individuals. In 2024, the Atlanta Enterprise League started the primary part of its renovation of the historic Ashby Theater, which opened in 1934 and was one of many first theaters to serve African Individuals within the metropolis. The mission is supported by the Historic Preservation Fund’s African American Civil Rights grant program of the Nationwide Park Service. Barr-Davenport has greater than 25 years of expertise in customer support, program improvement, organizational administration, and fundraising for associations and youth-oriented packages.
EDUCATION Benedict Faculty, Clark Atlanta College College of Enterprise (MBA)
HOMETOWN Johnsonville, South Carolina
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS Atlanta Hospitality Corridor of Fame (2019), Carver Faculty honorary physician of divinity (2014)
LESSON LEARNED Step one is displaying up.
Chris Clark
President and CEO
Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Chris Clark is the longest-serving president and CEO within the century-plus historical past of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Beforehand he served as commissioner of the Georgia Division of Pure Assets and as deputy commissioner for the Georgia Division of Financial Growth. In 2024, Clark acquired the Georgia Affiliation of Chamber of Commerce Executives Legacy Award, probably the most prestigious prize awarded by the group. Moreover, the Management Georgia graduate has often been named one in all Georgia Development’s 100 most influential Georgians and one of many Atlanta Enterprise Chronicle’s most influential Atlantans.
EDUCATION Georgia Southern College, Georgia Faculty & State College (MA)
FEW PEOPLE KNOW I’m an enormous, huge Parrothead. I’ve seen Jimmy Buffett over 25 occasions.
FAVORITE BOOK The Previous Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Montana
WHAT I’D TELL MY 18-YEAR-OLD SELF You’re fortunate they hadn’t invented digicam telephones but! Actual fortunate!
BUCKET LIST Fly-fishing in New Zealand
WHO’D PLAY ME IN A BIOPIC A younger Michael J. Fox
Jim Durrett
President and CEO
Buckhead Coalition
Government Director
Buckhead Group Enchancment District
Jim Durrett is president and CEO of Buckhead Coalition and government director of Buckhead Group Enchancment District (CID). Buckhead Coalition is an invitation-only membership group whereas Buckhead CID is an area authorities entity. Buckhead Coalition’s mission is to advocate on behalf of the neighborhood inside the metropolis of Atlanta and the metropolitan area. The mission of Buckhead CID is to create and preserve a protected, accessible, and livable city surroundings within the coronary heart of the Buckhead industrial space. In 2024, Buckhead CID acquired $10 million from the U.S. Division of Transportation’s Protected Streets and Roads for All grant program to assist assemble an elevated pedestrian and bicycle bridge throughout Lenox Highway the place it intersects GA 400. This work is a part of the Lenox Highway Full Protected Road mission, which is predicted to be full by January 2028. Durrett, a member of Management Atlanta’s class of 2013, serves on MARTA’s board of administrators, which he chaired in 2011, and on the HUB404 Conservancy board of administrators. He additionally represents MARTA on the Atlanta Regional Fee’s Transportation & Air High quality Committee.
EDUCATION College of Virginia, College of Georgia (MS)
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Jerry E. Gonzalez
CEO
GALEO
Jerry Gonzalez is the founder and CEO of GALEO, previously often known as the Georgia Affiliation of Latino Elected Officers, a statewide nonprofit and nonpartisan group with a mission to extend civic engagement and management improvement within the Latino neighborhood throughout Georgia. A local of Laredo, Texas, Gonzalez additionally leads the GALEO Latino Group Growth Fund, which promotes voter registration and schooling, neighborhood schooling, and management improvement, and the GALEO Affect Fund, which was established in 2019 to prepare the rising political energy of the Latino neighborhood in Georgia.
EDUCATION Texas A&M College, Georgia State College Andrew Younger College of Coverage Research (MA)
FIRST JOB Nearer at Wendy’s
LESSON LEARNED Social justice and racial fairness work is a marathon and never a dash. Tempo your self accordingly whereas striving for faster outcomes.
HOBBIES Journey the world with my husband
BUCKET LIST Journey to the Northern Arctic to see polar bears
WHO’D PLAY ME IN A BIOPIC Matthew McConaughey as a result of I want I had his hair
{Photograph} by David Kidd
Ryan Gravel
Founder
Sixpitch
Chamblee native Ryan Gravel is greatest recognized for his Georgia Tech grasp’s thesis, which introduced a imaginative and prescient for what would grow to be the Atlanta BeltLine. However he’s additionally a planner, designer, and writer whose work facilities on the cultural elements of city design, exploring how its intimate relationship with our lifestyle can illuminate a brighter path ahead for cities. The founding father of the city design consultancy Sixpitch and the ideas-focused nonprofit Generator, Gravel was the lead writer of the Atlanta Metropolis Design and is the writer of The place We Wish to Dwell: Reclaiming Infrastructure for a New Era of Cities.
EDUCATION Georgia Tech (MA)
FIRST JOB Typing bar codes into a pc within the again room of a music retailer at Ansley Mall. I assume it was Turtle’s, however I’m unsure.
FAVORITE MOVIE Blade Runner 2049
LESSON LEARNED The concepts we want are sometimes unpopular, undesirable, and underfunded.
BUCKET LIST Highway journey #2 throughout America with my household, from Los Angeles to Atlanta
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Kevin Inexperienced
President and CEO
Midtown Alliance
Kevin Inexperienced joined the Midtown Alliance as president and CEO in 2011. Beforehand, he was government director of the Clear Air Marketing campaign, a Georgia nonprofit working in partnership with transportation administration associations and private and non-private establishments to enhance air high quality and scale back site visitors. Inexperienced was previously vice chairman of environmental affairs for the Metro Atlanta Chamber and practiced regulation for a decade; his litigation expertise consists of state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the Southeast.
EDUCATION James Madison College, Emory College College of Legislation (JD)
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT I’m the drummer in my daughter Mia’s band.
FIRST JOB Delivering Sheetrock off a flatbed truck
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Vietnam (to date)
WHAT I’D TELL A RECENT GRADUATE When the alarm clock rings and also you aren’t excited to go to work, it’s time to do one thing completely different.
FAVORITE ATLANTA PLACE TO VISIT Oakland Cemetery (it’s unusually affirming)
Shannon W. James Sr.
President and CEO
Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance
Shannon James Sr. is president and CEO of the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance, a public-private partnership working to enhance the regional financial competitiveness of the world round Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport. A local of Albany, Georgia, James accepted the highest job at AeroATL in 2018 following a profitable 15-year profession in banking. Starting his profession as a part-time teller and customer support consultant, James later grew to become the primary African American accepted into the administration trainee program on the Park Avenue Financial institution, then went on to function vice chairman of economic banking for each SunTrust and BB&T.
EDUCATION Valdosta State College
INSPIRING PERSON My mom
TOUGHEST CHALLENGE Turning into a father, as a result of I’ve by no means met my father
FAVORITE ATLANTA PLACE TO VISIT Heart for Civil and Human Rights
FAVORITE SONG ABOUT GEORGIA “Georgia” by Discipline Mob and Ludacris ft. Jamie Foxx
WHO’D PLAY ME IN A BIOPIC Michael B. Jordan
Kali Kirkham Boatright
President and CEO
Larger North Fulton Chamber of Commerce
Kali Kirkham Boatright is the president and CEO of the Larger North Fulton Chamber the place she has served since 2018. In 2022, the chamber acquired 5-Star Accreditation, with excellent scores in 5 of eight areas, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and opened new workplaces at 10000 Avalon in Alpharetta. The chamber celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2023. Previous to coming to North Fulton, Kirkham Boatright served as CEO of the Douglas County Chamber. She has at all times labored in nonprofit administration.
EDUCATION College of Missouri
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK Nonprofit administration in some ways selected me. I believed I’d grow to be a author, however I went to work for Golden Key proper out of school and thrived in an surroundings the place I wore many hats and labored with new leaders every year.
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Any nice meals & wine area, Bourdeaux, Tuscany, Napa, Paso Robles, Mendoza, you title it!
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED Nobody will get a trophy for not taking trip. You labored laborious, you earned it, so take each trip hour you earn to relaxation, chill out and recharge!
Katie Kirkpatrick
President and CEO
Metro Atlanta Chamber
Katie Kirkpatrick is president and CEO of the 165-year-old Metro Atlanta Chamber, which represents companies, schools and universities, and nonprofits throughout the 29-county Metro Atlanta area—the nation’s sixth-largest market. As president and CEO, she led the adoption of a brand new framework for the Chamber, specializing in the three strategic imperatives of economic system, expertise, and neighborhood. Earlier than becoming a member of the Chamber in 2007 as vice chairman of environmental affairs, she labored as director of environmental engineering for the poultry producer Gold Kist.
EDUCATION Auburn College
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT Main the Chamber’s efforts to reimagine downtown Atlanta, convening the area’s leaders and stakeholders to rally round a technique to rework it right into a neighborhood that helps a world-class leisure scene, a vibrant residing surroundings, and a bustling enterprise neighborhood.
FIRST JOB Teaching a neighborhood swim staff
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED Let 5 folks converse earlier than you converse once more to make sure you enable all voices and concepts to be delivered to the desk.
Veronica Maldonado-Torres
President and CEO
Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Veronica Maldonado-Torres is president and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The chamber, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2024, was chosen as host for the 2025 United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Nationwide Conference in Atlanta. With over a decade of expertise as a small enterprise champion and provider variety advocate, Maldonado-Torres is a catalyst of progress for each small companies and huge firms, bringing thought-leadership and innovation to the provider improvement house. Previous to becoming a member of the GHCC, she efficiently guided the event and progress of greater than 150 companies throughout a number of industries starting from $1 million to $100 million in annual income in her function as program director for the Georgia Mentor Protégé Connection.
FIRST JOB My first official job at 15 was as a hostess in a restaurant. That have served me properly. I really like making folks really feel welcome and valued.
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Cartagena, Colombia. My household hometown!
Rohit Malhotra
Founder and Government Director
Heart for Civic Innovation
Rohit Malhotra is the founder and government director of the Heart for Civic Innovation, which seeks to get rid of inequality by empowering folks to design public coverage from the bottom up. With a background in social entrepreneurship, digital communication, open information, and neighborhood organizing, Malhotra was an Ash Innovation Fellow within the Obama White Home’s Workplace of Administration and Funds, engaged on social influence bonds and pay for efficiency, and in 2015 was awarded the distinguished Echoing Inexperienced International Fellowship. In 2020, Malhotra was named to the Emory Alumni Affiliation’s annual class of 40 Beneath 40.
EDUCATION Emory College, Harvard College Kennedy College of Authorities (MA)
HOMETOWN Atlanta
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK I selected to work on the intersection of public coverage and finance as a result of I consider that our metropolis wants simpler options to deal with widening inequality in Atlanta. Inequality disproportionately impacts individuals who share pores and skin colour and a narrative with my household, and like my household, I really like my metropolis an excessive amount of to not combat for it.
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED Name your mother.
Nick Masino
President and CEO
Gwinnett Chamber and Partnership Gwinnett
Nick Masino is the primary GenX president and CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber and Partnership Gwinnett. He has shepherded in probably the most numerous board of administrators in Chamber historical past, reinvigorated its public coverage focus, applied a brand new strategic plan, and is at present overseeing a large renovation to Georgia’s largest Chamber of Commerce facility. He additionally led the Chamber to obtain its first-ever five-star accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (2022) and its first-ever international title for the Affiliation of Chamber of Commerce Executives Chamber of the 12 months (2023). Appointed by Governor Brian Kemp in 2024, Masino is a member of the Lake Lanier Islands Growth Authority. Earlier than becoming a member of the Chamber as chief financial improvement officer, he was an government within the staffing {industry}, whereas serving as Georgia’s youngest mayor within the Metropolis of Suwanee.
EDUCATION Ohio State College
FIRST JOB Dishwasher
HIDDEN TALENT I can sleep anyplace: planes, trains, boats, and so forth.
FAVORITE GEORGIA TEAMS Atlanta Vibe, Georgia Swarm, Gwinnett Gladiators, the Stripers, the Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Sharon Mason
President and CEO
Cobb Chamber of Commerce
Sharon Mason has held six completely different management positions with the Cobb Chamber of Commerce since 2005; she climbed to president and CEO in January 2018, bringing greater than 18 years of chamber and nonprofit management expertise to the place. Along with sitting on a number of boards, Mason serves on the Regional Enterprise Coalition government committee, the Council for High quality Progress board of administrators, and was named by Governor Nathan Deal to the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority Board (GRTA) in 2018 and continues to serve on this board.
EDUCATION Samford College
FIRST JOB Particular Instances Present Store in Snellville
FAVORITE TV SHOW/MOVIE/BOOK Parks and Recreation, Surprise Girl, all John Maxwell books
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATIONS Saint John, Saint Thomas, Saint Maarten
FAVORITE ATLANTA PLACE TO VISIT Chattahoochee River trails
William Pate
President and CEO
Atlanta Conference & Guests Bureau
As president and CEO of the Atlanta Conference & Guests Bureau, William Pate promotes one of many metropolis’s high financial drivers: tourism. He was vice chairman of the host committee that managed the 2018 Faculty Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship and a board member of the host committee for Tremendous Bowl LIII in 2019. In 2020, the American Advertising and marketing Affiliation’s Atlanta chapter awarded Pate its Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2019 he was honored because the Herman J. Russell CEO of the 12 months by the Atlanta Enterprise League. In 2023, by a present from Pate, the William C. Pate Chair in Strategic Communication within the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Georgia State College was established. Pate, an Atlanta Enterprise Chronicle Most Admired CEO for a number of years, is a member of Management Atlanta’s class of 2024.
EDUCATION Georgia State College (MA)
HOMETOWN Decatur
FIRST JOB Once I was 12 years previous, I raked leaves for Mrs. Brumbeloe at $2 an hour.
Anna Roach
Government Director and CEO
Atlanta Regional Fee
Anna Roach is government director and CEO of the Atlanta Regional Fee (ARC), which facilitates neighborhood and improvement methods to boost the metro area’s progress and high quality of life. Previous to becoming a member of ARC in 2022, she served because the chief working officer for Fulton County, the place she oversaw 4,500 workers in 38 departments with a funds of $1.2 billion. Roach additionally served as Fulton County’s chief technique officer and assistant county supervisor. A lawyer by coaching, Roach has held a number of key authorized management positions throughout her profession, together with assistant deputy common counsel for the federal government of the District of Columbia and administrative regulation decide within the metropolis of New York. She is a present member of the Rotary Membership of Atlanta and the American Bar Affiliation and serves as an advisory board member at Tyler Applied sciences and Avenu Insights and Analytics. Roach, the primary feminine CEO in ARC’s historical past, can also be a member of Management Atlanta’s class of 2024.
EDUCATION State College of New York, Faculty at Cortland; St. John’s College (JD)
A.J. Robinson
President
Central Atlanta Progress and Atlanta Downtown Enchancment District
Since 2003, Knoxville, Tennessee, native A.J. Robinson has been president of Central Atlanta Progress—a non-public enterprise affiliation and advocacy group began in 1941—and the Atlanta Downtown Enchancment District. Each teams are dedicated to creating the Atlanta neighborhood, particularly downtown, extra livable, important, and numerous. Beforehand Robinson was president of the true property firm Portman Holdings, the place he managed all elements of the agency’s actual property improvement processes, together with property and asset administration of SunTrust Plaza and AmericasMart.
EDUCATION Emory College, Harvard Enterprise College (MBA)
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT Being a founding father of the Heart for Civil and Human Rights
FIRST JOB Forklift driver for my father’s firm
Melinda C. Sylvester
President and CEO
Larger Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce/Melinda the Bridge Builder
Melinda C. Sylvester is the president and CEO of the Larger Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce, which she based in 2016. Sylvester’s chamber profession began when she led the Larger Southwest Louisiana Black Chamber of Commerce within the early 2000s. The St. Martinville, Louisiana, native can also be the founder and writer of Tel-Mel Media & Publishing Co. LLC and publishes Religion & Soul Information Journal. She additionally established the chamber’s Bridge Builders Accelerator Academy, which fosters financial progress with fairness, variety, and inclusion. She additionally does public relations and branding.
FAVORITE ATLANTA PLACE TO VISIT Tyler Perry Studios. It’s magical, simply going within the space for guests
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Senegal, Africa
NONPROFIT Larger Georgia Black Chamber’s “Bridge Builders”
WHO SHOULD PLAY YOU IN A BIOPIC Kerry Washington
Kathy N. Waller
Government Director
Atlanta Committee for Progress
Kathy N. Waller is the chief director of the Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP). ACP, based in 2003, offers management on key points essential to financial progress and inclusion for all Atlantans and consists of greater than 40 chief executives, college presidents, and civic leaders. Waller retired in March 2019 after 32 years with The Coca-Cola Firm the place she was the chief vice chairman, chief monetary officer, and president of Enabling Companies. As CFO, she led many sectors of the enterprise together with mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, and account and controls. Along with her C-suite function, Waller, a CPA, was the founding chair of The Coca-Cola Firm’s Ladies’s Management Council.
EDUCATION College of Rochester (MBA)
FIRST JOB At 16, I labored on the Georgia Division of Income within the Tag and Title Workplace.
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS Induction into the Junior Achievement Atlanta Enterprise Corridor of Fame established by the Atlanta Enterprise Chronicle and Junior Achievement of Georgia (2023), Savoy’s Most Influential Black Company Administrators (2016, 2017, and 2021), Lady Scouts of Larger Atlanta Altering the World Award (2015)
Kyle Wingfield
President and CEO
Georgia Public Coverage Basis
As an opinion columnist for 9 years on the Atlanta Journal-Structure, Kyle Wingfield wrote usually about state politics and coverage, focusing particularly on schooling and faculty selection, transportation, healthcare, and state and native taxation. In April 2018, he joined the Georgia Public Coverage Basis as president and CEO, gaining a hands-on function in serving to form public coverage on the state degree after having written about it for a few years.
EDUCATION College of Georgia
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT GPPF acquired State Coverage Community’s 2023 Bob Williams Award for Most Influential Analysis for our work on housing affordability.
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED Everybody wants an editor!
FIRST JOB I spent a summer time working within the eating corridor at a Boy Scout camp close to Rome. I made $35 per week—$32.32 after taxes.
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Jekyll Island
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
Liliana Bakhtiari
Council Member
Metropolis of Atlanta
Liliana Bakhtiari is serving a primary time period as a member of the Atlanta Metropolis Council, representing the residents of District 5. Bakhtiari is the primary queer Muslim particular person to be elected within the state of Georgia, and the primary nonbinary particular person elected within the metropolis of Atlanta. Bakhtiari identifies as gender fluid and makes use of “she/her” and “they/them” pronouns. Bakhtiari served as the general public affairs supervisor of Deliberate Parenthood Southeast and lobbied for voting rights with ProGeorgia. Moreover, Bakhtiari served as a advisor for Echo Market Analysis because it constructed out its Social Justice Division. In addition they collaborated with Companions for Dwelling to ascertain a resort program housing Atlanta’s at-risk unsheltered inhabitants throughout the pandemic. In 2023, Bakhtiari was named a David Bohnett Chief Fellow by LGBTQ+ Victory Institute and, in 2022, was named Subsequent Gen Chief of the 12 months by OUT Georgia Enterprise Alliance.
EDUCATION Georgia State College
HOMETOWN Lilburn, Georgia
HOBBIES Powerlifting, touring, yoga, driving my motorbike, something that entails being outdoors
FAVORITE ATLANTA PLACE TO VISIT Again deck at Dr. Bombay’s Tea Room
Sherry Boston
District Lawyer
DeKalb Judicial Circuit
District legal professional for the DeKalb Judicial Circuit since 2017, Sherry Boston oversees the prosecution of felony offenses filed within the Superior Courtroom of DeKalb County. She’s the second feminine district legal professional within the historical past of the workplace. Beforehand, she served as DeKalb County solicitor common—the elected official overseeing the prosecution of misdemeanor crimes—and was the primary girl appointed as municipal courtroom decide for the Metropolis of Dunwoody. Boston has additionally labored in personal apply dealing with 1000’s of misdemeanor and felony felony instances in metro Atlanta.
EDUCATION Villanova College, Emory College College of Legislation (JD)
FEW PEOPLE KNOW I’ve a twin sister. Sure, actually!
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Mexico
Jon Burns
Speaker
Georgia Home of Representatives
Georgia Home Majority Chief Jon Burns is the seventy fifth speaker of the state Home, changing long-time speaker David Ralston, who died shortly after stepping down in 2022. Majority chief since 2015, Burns has served within the state Home since 2005 and represents the 159th legislative district of Georgia that features Screven County and parts of Effingham and Bulloch Counties. He has sat on the Agriculture and Client Affairs; Appropriations; Financial Growth and Tourism; Ethics; Recreation, Fish & Parks; Guidelines; and Transportation Committees and has been an ex officio member of all different Home committees. He lives on his household farm in Effingham County.
EDUCATION Georgia Southern College, John Marshall Legislation College (JD)
Lisa Cupid
Fee Chairwoman
Cobb County
Lisa Cupid has served on the Cobb Board of Commissioners since 2013. A few of her accomplishments embody increasing transit service, enhancing citizen schooling and engagement, and advocating for enhanced public security measures. Cupid is an legal professional and former mediator, coverage analyst, and manufacturing course of engineer. On the Atlanta Regional Fee Board, she can also be a member of the Transportation & Air High quality Committee, the Ethics Subcomittee, and the Senior Coverage Group of the City Space Safety Initiative. She is the primary Black and first feminine chairwoman of Cobb County.
EDUCATION Georgia Tech, Georgia State Faculty of Legislation (JD)
Andre Dickens
Mayor
Metropolis of Atlanta
Andre Dickens is the 61st mayor of Atlanta. Since being sworn in as mayor in 2022, his accomplishments embody the institution of the Nightlife Division to deal with bars and golf equipment with a excessive historical past of crime, the reestablishment of the Pothole Posse to quickly reply to residents’ reviews, and main the profitable coalition to maintain Atlanta complete in opposition to a de-annexation effort. He has been a member of the Atlanta Metropolis Council and can also be a businessman, nonprofit government, engineer, speaker, deacon, and father. An Atlanta native, Dickens is the previous chief improvement officer for TechBridge, a nonprofit that drives neighborhood influence by bringing inexpensive know-how and enterprise experience to different nonprofit organizations. In 2018, he cofounded TechBridge’s Know-how Profession Program, which prepares unemployed and underemployed folks for careers in know-how by educating high-demand abilities whereas serving to members land jobs in IT departments throughout Atlanta. In 2023, the Atlanta Regional Fee board elected Dickens to function chair of its board of administrators. He’s the primary Atlanta mayor to function ARC board chair.
Carmalitha L. Gumbs
Councilwoman
Metropolis of South Fulton
Carmalitha Gumbs is a member of the South Fulton Metropolis Council. All through the pandemic, Gumbs labored to ensure seniors had entry to meals and different provides whereas sheltering in place. The winner of a number of awards and a frequent featured visitor speaker, Gumbs was acknowledged by State Rep. Sharon Beasley-Teague for her excellent public service and her function in guaranteeing the welfare of the residents of Georgia.
EDUCATION Norfolk State College, Strayer College (MBA, MPH)
FIRST JOB Within the nation working at a potato grader
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK I really like folks. I really like being a useful resource, and I’m enthusiastic about my neighborhood.
LESSON LEARNED Everybody and every thing just isn’t for you, and you can’t pressure it.
FAVORITE MOVIES Grease, Grease 2
Ann Honious
Superintendent
Chattahoochee River Nationwide Recreation Space
Ann Honious has labored for the Nationwide Park Service for many of her profession, and he or she has been the superintendent of the Chattahoochee River Nationwide Recreation Space (CRNRA) since 2021. As superintendent, she represents the Nationwide Park Service for overseeing the operations and administration of the CRNRA. There are energetic tasks, similar to the brand new boardwalk at Cochran Shoals, in fixed improvement. The park is at present working with companions to rehabilitate Paces Mill and implement a portion of RiverLands. With over 3 million guests a yr, CRNRA is among the nice out of doors locations within the Atlanta area. Beginning her profession overseeing customer providers and as a historian, Honious designed and developed Dayton Aviation Heritage Nationwide Historic Park for its opening in 2003.
EDUCATION Colorado Faculty, The George Washington College (MA), College of Dayton (MS)
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT Writer of What Goals We Have on the Wright brothers
FEW PEOPLE KNOW I’ve been to all 50 states.
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK Love of america and historical past
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Eloisa Klementich
President and CEO
Make investments Atlanta
Eloisa Klementich is president and CEO of Make investments Atlanta, Atlanta’s financial improvement authority. As CEO, she is main an financial mobility technique which has generated 4,493 new jobs and $1.2 billion in whole capital funding, supported 1,942 small companies, and created 1,420 inexpensive housing items throughout town in 2023. Beforehand, she labored as particular assistant for financial improvement on the U.S. Financial Growth Administration and served as California’s assistant deputy secretary for financial improvement and commerce. She additionally labored as a advisor for former Mexican president Vicente Fox. In 2024, Klementich was acknowledged as a high CEO in Georgia Titan 100.
EDUCATION Pitzer Faculty, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (MBA), College
of California, Los Angeles (MA), College of La Verne (DPA)
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED From my father: “Nothing lasts perpetually.”
BOARD MEMBERSHIPS Worldwide Financial Growth Council, the Ladies’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, Atlanta Technical Faculty, the Westside Future Fund, Atlanta Rising Markets, Inc.
Nicole Love Hendrickson
Fee Chairwoman
Gwinnett County
Nicole Love Hendrickson was elected chairwoman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners in 2020, making her the primary African American to carry this place. In her function, she leads the board in setting the route and formulating insurance policies for county authorities, overseeing the creation and adoption of the county’s greater than $2 billion funds, and guaranteeing Gwinnett’s providers attain all its practically a million residents. Hendrickson is energetic on a number of native and statewide boards together with the Atlanta Regional Fee, main the launch of its Native Leaders Housing Motion Committee, which is answerable for creating a region-wide plan to deal with the Atlanta area’s housing affordability challenges. Different board memberships embody the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Affiliation of County Commissioners of Georgia’s Coverage Steering Committee.
EDUCATION College of Rhode Island, College of Georgia (MSW)
HOMETOWN Windfall, Rhode Island
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS Georgia Development 40 Beneath 40 (2022), Congressman Hank Johnson’s Trailblazer Award (2021), Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce Public Service Award (2017)
Daybreak Luke Arnold
Government Vice President and Chief Working Officer
Make investments Atlanta
As government vice chairman and chief working officer of town’s official financial improvement company, Daybreak Luke Arnold oversees Make investments Atlanta’s neighborhood improvement, finance, info know-how, human sources, operations, and funding providers departments. Beforehand, she served because the group’s senior vice chairman of neighborhood improvement, answerable for offering management and strategic route within the profitable execution of a shared imaginative and prescient of complete neighborhood improvement, high quality inexpensive housing, and financial progress in Atlanta’s 10 tax allocation districts. Arnold additionally managed and operated Make investments Atlanta’s multifamily and single-family housing bond portfolio of roughly $1.8 billion and greater than 20,000 items of housing.
EDUCATION Spelman Faculty, Georgia State College (MBA)
HOMETOWN LaGrange, Georgia
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK After having been homeless for a brief time period, then residing in substandard housing, I made it my life’s mission to make sure that persons are capable of have first rate, protected, sanitary, and inexpensive housing.
Jaideep Majumdar
Chief Procurement Officer
Division of Procurement Metropolis of Atlanta
Jaideep Majumdar is the chief procurement officer for the Metropolis of Atlanta, bringing over 25 years of world expertise in company procurement. Identified for his strategic management, he has efficiently managed procurement capabilities throughout numerous industries, together with main firms similar to GE, Delta Air Traces, Capgemini, and Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Majumdar is acknowledged for revitalizing organizations by creating and executing modern procurement methods, enhancing provider administration, and fostering high-performance groups. A sought-after speaker, he has shared his experience with organizations such because the Council for High quality Progress, the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Make investments Fest, the Ladies’s Enterprise Enterprise Nationwide Council, and the Nationwide Minority Provider Growth Council.
Training: Manipal Institute of Know-how, The Catholic College of America (MEng)
Hometown: New Delhi, India
Notable achievements: Chief Procurement Officer of the 12 months award by the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, George Lottier Rising Star Award by the Georgia Minority Provider Growth Council
Scott McAfee
Decide
Superior Courtroom of Fulton County
Scott McAfee is a decide for the Superior Courtroom of Fulton County. McAfee was first appointed to his place by Governor Brian Kemp in 2023 after Chief Decide Christopher Brasher retired in December 2022. McAfee received an election to serve a full four-year time period in 2024. Previous to this place, McAfee served as Georgia’s inspector common. Moreover, McAfee labored for eight years as an assistant United States legal professional for the Division of Justice within the Northern District of Georgia and as an assistant district legal professional in Fulton County. As an assistant United States legal professional, McAfee investigated and prosecuted main drug trafficking organizations, fraud, and unlawful firearms possession. Within the Fulton County District Lawyer’s Workplace, McAfee dealt with a whole bunch of felony instances starting from armed theft to homicide.
Training: Emory College, College of Georgia (JD)
Lauren “Bubba” McDonald
Commissioner
Georgia Public Service Fee
Following 20 years as a state consultant, Lauren “Bubba” McDonald was appointed to the Georgia Public Service Fee in 1998 by Governor Zell Miller, after which reelected in a particular election later that yr. He held the seat till 2002. McDonald returned to the fee in 2008 and served as chairman. He was reelected to the fee in 2014 and 2020. He’s additionally a member of the Nationwide Affiliation of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Committee on Electrical energy and an government member of the Nuclear Waste Technique Coalition.
EDUCATION College of Georgia
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT Began funeral home based business with son in 1997 and now personal three funeral properties.
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK Zell Miller talked me into it.
FIRST JOB Soda jerk in Commerce Drug Firm
FEW PEOPLE KNOW Received first place in Georgia boys choir solo at age 12
FAVORITE ATLANTA PLACE TO VISIT The Varsity
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Robert J. Murphy
Particular Agent in Cost, Atlanta Discipline Division
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Counting greater than 27 years of regulation enforcement expertise, Robert J. Murphy serves as particular agent in command of the Atlanta Discipline Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. He leads a whole bunch of particular brokers, job pressure officers, intelligence analysis specialists, diversion investigators, and different workers assigned to Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Murphy started his profession in 1991 as an officer within the Orlando Police Division.
EDUCATION Florida State College
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS Three-time recipient of the U.S. Division of Justice Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Process Pressure’s Nationwide Case of the 12 months Award
INSPIRING PERSON I used to be working at Publix supermarkets by faculty. A Tallahassee Police Division officer who labored safety on the Publix talked me into doing a ride-along one night time, and I used to be hooked.
WHO’D PLAY ME IN A BIOPIC Kevin Bacon
Bee Nguyen
State Director
Workplace of U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock
The Democratic nominee for Georgia’s Secretary of State in 2022, Bee Nguyen was named state director for U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock in 2023. On this function, she is answerable for advising the senator and managing his Georgia-based staff. She had been the primary Asian American Democratic girl elected to the Georgia Normal Meeting, serving Home District 89, the seat previously held by Stacey Abrams. She’s additionally served as a nationwide coverage adviser for New American Leaders, which promotes the political participation of first- and second-generation Individuals. Previous to being elected in 2017, Nguyen served as chief of workers for Georgia Consultant Sam Park. She’s additionally labored for the resettlement company Boat Individuals SOS, the Federal Emergency Administration Company, and the Georgia Funds & Coverage Institute. Nguyen is the founding father of Athena’s Warehouse, which helps highschool women in Atlanta.
EDUCATION Georgia State College (MA, MPA)
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK Because the daughter of refugees, I’ve spent my life making an attempt to honor the brave legacy of my dad and mom. Whereas I do know that is an not possible feat, the work I do is rooted in my household story.
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Russell Okay. Paul
Mayor
Sandy Springs
Elected mayor of Sandy Springs in 2013, Russell Okay. “Rusty” Paul brings greater than 40 years of presidency expertise to the job. A former state senator, he was elected to Sandy Springs’ founding metropolis council in 2005 and has served on town’s constitution overview fee and improvement authority. Paul additionally labored for the primary Bush administration’s Division of Housing and City Growth as assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental relations.
EDUCATION Samford College
FEW PEOPLE KNOW I’m a chick-flick aficionado; I’m hooked on the Hallmark Channel.
FIRST JOB Choosing cotton at age six
LESSON LEARNED Politics is a staff sport, and you must construct relationships, on the lookout for frequent floor with individuals who disagree or have a special set of options than yours.
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION My cabin on the farm on which I grew up [near Birmingham]—land that has been in my household since 1880
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Robb Pitts
Chairman
Fulton County Board of Commissioners
Robb Pitts was elected in 2017 as chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, having beforehand served on the board from 2002 to 2014. Pitts additionally served 20 years on the Atlanta Metropolis Council, together with a stint as president from 1997 to 2001. As a Fulton commissioner, he advocated for diversification of income sources to alleviate tax burdens on property homeowners. Pitts can also be a former faculty professor and a registered actual property dealer.
EDUCATION Ohio College, Academia Hispano Americana, Kent State College, La Universidad Interamericana, Emory College (MA)
HOMETOWN Haddock, Georgia
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK I wished to impact constructive change and be certain that taxpayers obtain the providers they pay for in a more cost effective and environment friendly method.
Sheikh Rahman
State Senator
Georgia State Senate
Senator Sheikh Rahman, a Democrat, is the primary immigrant and first Asian American to serve within the Georgia State Senate. He’s additionally the primary Muslim Georgia Legislator. Elected in 2018, he represents the fifth Senate District within the coronary heart of Gwinnett. Rahman is the previous chairman of the Gwinnett Senate Delegation. Within the Georgia State Senate, he serves as a member of the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Financial Growth and Tourism, Authorities Oversight, Pure Assets and the Atmosphere, and City Affairs. Rahman is a nationwide advisor for the Alliance of South Asian American Labor (ASAAL) and is serving as an inaugural board member of AAPI LEAD, a nationwide group of federal, state, and native elected and appointed Asian American officers. Rahman grew up in Bangladesh, the place his nation was devastated by the Bangladesh Liberation Warfare of Independence in 1971. At 13, Rahman was kidnapped at gunpoint as a prisoner of struggle. He got here to America in 1981, turning into a citizen in 1995.
EDUCATION College of Georgia
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS Islamic Audio system Bureau of Atlanta 100 Most Influential Georgia Muslims (2022)
Doug Shipman
Atlanta Metropolis Council President
Metropolis of Atlanta
Elected president of the Atlanta Metropolis Council in November 2021, Doug Shipman involves public workplace after a protracted historical past of demonstrated management in Atlanta for Atlantans. His work has been acknowledged by many civic, civil-rights, and human-rights organizations, together with the Atlanta Enterprise League, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Atlanta City League, the Junior League of Larger Atlanta, and the Buckhead Rotary Membership. His civic appointments have included the Atlanta Cyclorama Process Pressure and the Xernona Clayton Road renaming fee. Shipman joined the council after serving three years because the CEO of the Woodruff Arts Heart. Previous to the Woodruff, Shipman served eight years because the founding CEO of the Nationwide Heart for Civil and Human Rights. Earlier than being named its CEO, Shipman led the middle’s $100 million fundraising marketing campaign, and efforts to design, construct, and launch the middle. He additionally supported the trouble to safe and pay for the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Assortment at Morehouse Faculty.
EDUCATION Emory College, Harvard Divinity College (MTS), Harvard Kennedy College (MPP)
HOMETOWN Bull Shoals, Arkansas
Lee Thomas
Deputy Commissioner, Movie, Music & Digital Leisure
Georgia Division of Financial Growth
Lee Thomas is a deputy commissioner on the Georgia Division of Financial Growth and division director of the Georgia Movie Workplace. She’s helped Georgia grow to be one of many high filming places on the planet, with $4.4 billion in direct spending throughout the fiscal yr 2022, a file for the state. A local Atlantan, Thomas pursued doctoral research in New York earlier than returning to town in 1996 to work for the Georgia Movie and Videotape Workplace as a mission supervisor, turning into a location specialist for the workplace in 1998 and director of the movie division in 2010.
EDUCATION College of Georgia, Georgia State College (MA), New York College
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT Georgia Development Georgian of the 12 months (2019)
INSPIRING PERSON Jimmy Carter
FEW PEOPLE KNOW We owned a restaurant and campground in Rabun County from 2010 till January 2020. It was initially an journey renovating and working it, nevertheless it grew to become means an excessive amount of to deal with!
Michael L. Thurmond
CEO
DeKalb County Authorities
Since being sworn in as CEO in 2017, Michael L. Thurmond’s major mission is restoring belief in county authorities. Thurmond accomplished his final time period as CEO on the shut of 2024. His different priorities have included adopting a balanced funds, guaranteeing correct water payments, eradicating blight, providing summer time youth employment, enhancing worker compensation, and fulfilling the federal/state sewer consent settlement. Thurmond, a former member of the Georgia Normal Meeting and the primary African American elected to a statewide workplace with out prior appointment, has earned the popularity of being a “turnaround knowledgeable” after basically remodeling the tradition and enhancing operations of advanced organizations such because the Georgia Division of Household and Kids Companies, the Georgia Division of Labor and the DeKalb County College District. Thurmond can also be an completed writer and has been acknowledged as a Georgia Public Library Champion of the 12 months.
EDUCATION Paine Faculty, College of South Carolina College of Legislation (JD)
Fani T. Willis
District Lawyer
Fulton County District Lawyer’s Workplace
Fani T. Willis is the district legal professional for Fulton County. She is the primary girl to serve within the place. As a profession trial lawyer with deep and broad prosecutorial expertise, she has led over 100 jury trials and has prosecuted a whole bunch of homicide instances. Willis has prosecuted many different critical crimes, together with crimes in opposition to ladies and kids. Her 19 years of expertise as a prosecutor have given her a deep dedication to focusing her workplace’s prosecutorial efforts on probably the most harmful offenders and eradicating them from society. She has additionally served as chief decide of town of South Fulton.
EDUCATION Howard College, Emory College College of Legislation (JD)
FIRST JOB Cashier at Bradley’s division retailer in Laurel, Maryland
MOST INSPIRING PERSON My dad, who was a Black Panther, civil rights activist, and felony protection legal professional.
FAVORITE BOOK AND MOVIE The Godfather
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Pat Wilson
Commissioner
Georgia Division of Financial Growth
As commissioner of the Georgia Division of Financial Growth, Pat Wilson leads the company answerable for creating jobs and funding alternatives in Georgia by enterprise recruitment and growth, workforce improvement, and worldwide commerce and tourism, in addition to the humanities, movie, and music industries. Earlier than being appointed to the place in 2016 by Governor Nathan Deal, Wilson served because the group’s chief working officer, and was beforehand director of presidency affairs within the administration of Governor Sonny Perdue.
EDUCATION College of Georgia
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT Georgia has been named the primary state within the nation for enterprise for ten consecutive years by Space Growth journal.
FIRST JOB Choosing peaches
FEW PEOPLE KNOW I really like karaoke.
HOBBIES Baseball, soccer, softball, and my children’ sports activities at Northside Youth Group
FAVORITE BOOK Within the Backyard of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Household in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson
TRANSPORTATION
Allison Ausband
Government Vice President, Chief Buyer Expertise Officer
Delta Air Traces
On this function, Allison Ausband oversees the end-to-end buyer expertise that features the Innovation and Buyer Expertise groups and the 56,000 staff members in Delta’s Airport Buyer Service, In-Flight Service, and Reservations and Buyer Care divisions who ship these experiences. Beforehand, as senior vice chairman of in-flight service, Ausband led a world staff of greater than 20,000 flight attendants and supervisory and help personnel, in addition to Delta’s onboard international meals and beverage operations. Beneath Ausband’s management, Delta’s in-flight service staff achieved all-time buyer satisfaction scores. She beforehand served as vice chairman for reservation gross sales and buyer care. Ausband started her profession at Delta in 1985 as a flight attendant. She can also be government vice chair of the College of Georgia Basis Board of Trustees.
EDUCATION College of Georgia
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Saint Barthélemy
NONPROFIT I lead Delta’s efforts within the combat in opposition to human trafficking.
WHO’D PLAY ME IN A BIOPIC Diane Lane
Ed Bastian
CEO
Delta Air Traces
As CEO of Delta Air Traces since 2016, a greater than 25-year firm veteran Ed Bastian helms a staff of 100,000 international professionals. Beneath his management, Delta has grow to be the world’s most awarded airline, named high U.S. airline by the Wall Road Journal, most admired airline worldwide by Fortune, and most on-time international airline by FlightGlobal. In 2018, Fortune named Bastian among the many World’s 50 Best Leaders. In 2019, he was elected to the membership of the Council on Overseas Relations. Bastian was named among the many High 10 CEOs of 2021 in Glassdoor’s Staff’ Selection Awards as a frontrunner who excelled at supporting their folks all through a world pandemic. Lastly, in 2023, Chief Government journal introduced that Bastian was named Chief Government of the 12 months by his peer CEOs, and he was named 2024 Georgian of the 12 months by Georgia Development.
EDUCATION Saint Bonaventure College
HOMETOWN Poughkeepsie, New York
FEW PEOPLE KNOW I used to be 25 earlier than I first stepped foot on an airplane.
NONPROFITS Rally Basis for Childhood Most cancers Analysis, Polaris Venture
Ed Elkins
Government Vice President and Chief Advertising and marketing Officer
Norfolk Southern Company
With over 35 years of service at Norfolk Southern, Ed Elkins serves as government vice chairman and chief advertising and marketing officer of the freight transportation firm that has been in operation since 1827. Elkins leads Intermodal, Automotive, and Industrial Merchandise enterprise divisions whereas overseeing Actual Property, Discipline Gross sales, and Buyer Logistics enterprise teams. Appointed CMO in 2021, Elkins’ journey with Norfolk Southern started in 1988 as a highway brakeman after serving in america Marine Corps. He then progressed as a conductor, locomotive engineer, and reduction yardmaster earlier than taking up roles in operations and intermodal advertising and marketing, huge expertise throughout the group that offers him a novel perspective on the complexities of rail logistics. Past his company roles, Elkins serves as vice chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and sits on the board of the East Lake Basis.
EDUCATION College of Virginia, Previous Dominion College Strome Faculty of Enterprise (MBA)
Mark George
President and CEO
Norfolk Southern Company
As president and CEO of Norfolk Southern Company, one of many nation’s largest freight transportation corporations, Mark George oversees all enterprise areas, constructing a customer-centric and operations-driven group the place every thing begins with security. Since becoming a member of Norfolk Southern in 2019 as chief monetary officer, George has performed an important function in guiding the corporate by important strategic shifts. His management has strengthened the corporate’s deal with productiveness, price administration, and security by leveraging over 30 years of expertise in monetary administration and enterprise improvement throughout industries. Previous to becoming a member of Norfolk Southern, he served as the worldwide CFO for each the Otis Elevator Firm and the Provider Company from 2008 to 2019. George additionally serves on the board of administrators for Junior Achievement of Georgia.
EDUCATION Central Connecticut State College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (MBA)
Collie Greenwood
Normal Supervisor and CEO
Metropolitan Atlanta Speedy Transit Authority
Collie Greenwood is common supervisor and CEO of MARTA. A 35-year transit veteran with expertise starting from frontline operations to government management, Greenwood joined MARTA because the chief of Bus Operations and City Planning in July 2019 and was appointed deputy common supervisor of Operations and City Planning in 2020. In October 2022, the MARTA board of administrators named him common supervisor and CEO. On this function, Greenwood will lead MARTA’s largest and most bold growth and modernization program since its founding over 40 years in the past. Greenwood will work carefully along with his senior management staff to develop and ship main capital tasks to boost the client expertise, together with the addition of recent railcars and electrical buses to the MARTA fleet. Previous to becoming a member of MARTA, Greenwood served as chief service officer of the Toronto Transit Fee in Canada. Greenwood is an energetic member of the American Public Transportation Affiliation, serving as vice chair of its Requirements Growth Oversight Council. Greenwood started his transit profession as a bus operator in his hometown Mississauga, Ontario.
EDUCATION College of Waterloo
Jan Lennon
Interim Airport Normal Supervisor
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport
As chief of the world’s busiest and most effective airport, Jan Lennon oversees all aspects of airport governance, together with operations and a multibillion-dollar capital enchancment program designed to pave the way in which for Atlanta’s progress over the following 20 years. Lennon has greater than 25 years of management in public security and safety, disaster administration, and corrections. She spearheaded many modern public security and safety and operations packages on the airport, most notably having created a complete program to mitigate and scale back insider threats. She additionally developed and launched the Division of Aviation’s first Human Trafficking Consciousness Marketing campaign. Earlier than turning into the interim airport common supervisor, Lennon served because the airport’s deputy common supervisor of Operations. Previous to becoming a member of the Division of Aviation, she had a profitable profession in corrections, which included a tour of obligation as a deputy warden at a regional jail in Virginia.
EDUCATION North Carolina Central College, Coppin State College (MS)
Roderick McLean
Vice President and Normal Supervisor, Air Mobility & Maritime Missions
Lockheed Martin
Roderick McLean is vice chairman and common supervisor of the Air Mobility & Maritime Missions line of enterprise at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Marietta, answerable for the C-130 Hercules transport, which was commemorated for the seventieth anniversary of its first flight with a decision by the Georgia Senate in 2024; the C-5 strategic airlifter, and different plane. McLean can also be website common supervisor for the greater than 5,000-employee Marietta facility. Since becoming a member of in 1994 as a radar techniques engineer, McLean has held quite a lot of roles within the firm, most not too long ago as vice chairman and common supervisor of Lockheed Martin’s F-16/F-22 Built-in Fighter Group packages in Fort Value, Texas. He serves on the board of administrators for the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
EDUCATION North Carolina A&T State College, Georgia Tech (MA), College of Maryland Robert H. Smith College of Enterprise (MBA)
HOMETOWN Jacksonville, North Carolina
FIRST JOB Drove a college bus in highschool at 16 and a half years previous
HIDDEN TALENT I get pleasure from enjoying classical music on the piano.
Russell R. McMurry
Commissioner
Georgia Division of Transportation
In 2015, Russell R. McMurry was appointed by the State Transportation Board as commissioner of the Georgia Division of Transportation—the $3.5 billion, nearly 4,000-employee state company answerable for constructing, sustaining, and working the Tenth-largest transportation system within the nation. The Georgia DOT launched its podcast in November 2022 and McMurry talked about his life and profession within the inaugural episode. McMurry started his profession with the division in 1990 as an engineering trainee and has served in quite a lot of roles together with building mission supervisor, district engineer, director of engineering, and chief engineer. The American Highway and Transportation Builders Affiliation named McMurry its Trailblazer of the 12 months in 2024.
EDUCATION Georgia Southern College
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT Georgia Development Georgian of the 12 months (2018)
FIRST JOB At 13, stocking cabinets and taking stock for a building-supply firm
FEW PEOPLE KNOW I race motocross. I started driving on the age of 10 and nonetheless journey at the moment.
Jeremy Rainwater
Chief Government Officer, Americas
TK Elevator
As CEO Americas for TK Elevator, Jeremy Rainwater leads the event and implementation of TK Elevator’s general technique and operations within the firm’s $4 billion North and South American companies, with over 16,000 workers in 17 international locations and throughout a number of traces of enterprise, together with manufacturing and new set up, modernization, in addition to service and restore. Rainwater, who additionally serves on the International Senior Management Group, joined TK Elevator in November 2022. A graduate of Harvard College’s Superior Administration Program, Rainwater additionally serves on the board of administrators and government committee for the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
EDUCATION Cardinal Stritch College, Rutgers College (MBA)
FIRST JOB Umpire for Little League Baseball
WHY I CHOSE THIS WORK I grew up in a household of hard-working elevator mechanics and performed aggressive sports activities up by faculty. I see a whole lot of similarities in sports activities and enterprise, so I knew pretty early that I wished to be in enterprise and lead groups to success.
FAVORITE GEORGIA PRO SPORTS TEAM Atlanta Braves
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS My two unbelievable daughters
UTILITIES
Michael Braswell
President, Retail Power
Southern Firm Gasoline
Michael Braswell is president of retail vitality for Southern Firm Gasoline, answerable for guaranteeing the growth and continued success of the corporate’s retail vitality operations in a number of states. Braswell can also be CEO of SouthStar Power Companies, which serves practically 700,000 clients; in Georgia it conducts enterprise as Georgia Pure Gasoline. A Dunwoody native, he has greater than 30 years of expertise within the pure fuel {industry} and has labored in each regulated and nonutility environments.
EDUCATION Georgia Tech, Georgia State College (MBA)
FIRST JOB On the Georgia Tech Analysis Institute whereas I used to be a scholar at Georgia Tech
HOBBIES I’m a bicycling and train fanatic.
FAVORITE MOVIE The Shawshank Redemption
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Antigua
Pedro Cherry
President and CEO
Atlanta Gasoline Mild
Pedro Cherry, president and CEO of Atlanta Gasoline Mild, is an energy-industry chief with greater than 20 years of expertise in finance, operations, exterior and governmental affairs, customer support, and financial and enterprise improvement roles in home and worldwide arenas. A local of Windsor, North Carolina, Cherry took the helm of Atlanta Gasoline Mild in August 2020. Previous to that, he spent nearly 10 years in numerous positions at Georgia Energy, rising to the place of government vice chairman of customer support and operations. In 2024, the Atlanta Enterprise Chronicle named Cherry one in all its Most Admired CEOs.
EDUCATION Auburn College (MBA)
FIRST JOB Choosing tobacco on the farms of North Carolina in the summertime
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED All the time be a scholar of the enterprise.
FAVORITE HOBBIES Golf, touring, watching faculty {and professional} sports activities
FAVORITE SPECIAL OCCASION RESTAURANT Canoe
Bentina Chisolm Terry
President and CEO
Southern Linc and Southern Telecom, Inc.
Bentina C. Terry is president and CEO of Southern Linc and Southern Telecom, Inc., Southern Firm subsidiaries that present mission important LTE community wi-fi and darkish fiber networks and providers to Southern Firm electrical utilities and public sector clients. Terry has held senior government positions at Georgia Energy and different Southern Firm subsidiaries and commenced her profession training regulation with Troutman Sanders in Atlanta. Previous chair of the board of administrators for Management Atlanta and The Beltline Partnership, she serves on the board of the Worldwide Ladies’s Discussion board—Georgia, and is a member of a number of organizations together with The Hyperlinks, Included and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Included. Moreover, Terry was named one in all Atlanta Enterprise Chronicle’s Ladies of Affect for 2024.
EDUCATION North Carolina State College, College of Michigan Legislation College (JD)
HOMETOWN Fayetteville, North Carolina
FIRST JOB Promoting ladies’s garments within the mall
Kimberly S. Greene
Chair, President, and CEO
Georgia Energy
Kim Greene was named chair, president and CEO of Georgia Energy in 2023. She leads Georgia Energy in serving its 2.7 million clients throughout the state. The corporate is the biggest subsidiary of Southern Firm, one of many nation’s main vitality suppliers. Previous to her present place, Greene served for 5 years as chair, president and CEO of Southern Firm Gasoline. On this function, she ensured the supply of fresh, protected, dependable and inexpensive pure fuel to greater than 4.3 million utility clients in Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia, and to over 600,000 retail fuel clients served by SouthStar Power Companies in 10 states. Greene serves on quite a few boards together with boards for the Atlanta Committee for Progress, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the Georgia Analysis Alliance, the Rowen Basis, Kids’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Woodruff Arts Heart, and the Georgia Historic Society. Moreover, Greene is a member of the Alabama Engineering Corridor of Fame.
EDUCATION College of Tennessee, College of Alabama at Birmingham (MS), Samford College (MBA), Harvard Enterprise College (AMP)
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Kevin Greiner
President and CEO
Gasoline South
Kevin Greiner has served as Gasoline South’s president and CEO for the reason that firm’s founding in 2006. Gasoline South is among the Southeast’s largest vitality entrepreneurs, offering pure fuel to almost 500,000 residential, industrial, and industrial clients in aggressive markets in 14 states. Gasoline South additionally operates a rising wholesale vitality advertising and marketing operation and is an proprietor/investor in a number of photo voltaic vitality tasks. Since its founding, Gasoline South has doubled its buyer base, whereas rising its gross sales volumes and workforce by 400 p.c.
EDUCATION Wesleyan College, College of Michigan (MBA, MS)
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT YMCA of Metro Atlanta Volunteer of the 12 months (2017); board chair there in 2021
FIRST JOB Working in a bagel store on Lengthy Island
HOBBIES Taking part in tennis and baseball, and driving my bike
Venessa Harrison
President
AT&T Coastal States
As president of AT&T’s Southeast Coastal Area, Venessa Harrison is answerable for creating the general strategic route of AT&T’s public coverage, financial improvement, and neighborhood engagement actions throughout the states of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Named to her present place in 2022, Harrison works carefully with state and native policymakers and enterprise and neighborhood leaders to foster an surroundings that welcomes funding and innovation, focuses on bringing new applied sciences that drive innovation and create jobs, and offers instructional and financial alternatives that empower to enhance the standard of life for all. Previous to her present place, Harrison served for 3 years as president of the Georgia area and 6 years as president of AT&T North Carolina. A local of Raleigh, North Carolina, Harrison started her telecommunications profession as a phone operator.
EDUCATION College of Phoenix
WHAT I’D TELL MY 18-YEAR-OLD SELF All the time be genuine and bear in mind: Women
compete, ladies empower.
{Photograph} courtesy of particular person
Michael L. Smith
President and CEO
Oglethorpe Energy
Michael L. Smith has served as president and CEO of Oglethorpe Energy, one of many largest vitality producers in Georgia, since 2013. Smith will retire from Oglethorpe Energy this month after a distinguished profession of 40 years within the vitality {industry}. He beforehand labored for Georgia Transmission as senior vice chairman and chief monetary officer, and later as president and CEO. Previous to that, he was the primary government director of the Committee of Chief Threat Officers, a nonprofit commerce affiliation integrated in 2002 to compile greatest practices and requirements for risk-management actions for the vitality {industry}.
EDUCATION Louisiana State College (MBA)
FIRST JOB Labored offshore in Gulf of Mexico oil fields
FAVORITE BOOK A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
LESSON LEARNED Each downside has an answer.
FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION Eire
Christine Whitaker
President, Central Division
Comcast
Christine Whitaker is president of Comcast’s Central Division, headquartered in Atlanta. The division is dwelling to roughly 16,000 Comcast workers with greater than 21 million mixed video, high-speed web, voice, dwelling safety, and cellular clients all through the 12 states that comprise the Central Division. A 25-year veteran of the cable {industry}, Whitaker most not too long ago served as senior vice chairman of finance and administration for Comcast’s Northeast Division. Whitaker has been repeatedly named one of many Most Highly effective Ladies in Cable by Cablefax: The Journal and acknowledged as a Surprise Girl by Multichannel Information. Whitaker was named one in all Atlanta Enterprise Chronicle’s Ladies of Affect for 2023. Whitaker has accomplished government education schemes for telecommunications by Harvard Enterprise College and Stanford Graduate College of Enterprise.
EDUCATION George Mason College
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED From Ginni Rometty, former IBM chairman, president, and CEO: “The concepts of progress and luxury don’t co-exist.”
Christopher C. Womack
Chairman, President, and CEO
Southern Firm
Chris Womack is chairman, president, and chief government officer of Southern Firm, one of many nation’s main vitality suppliers serving 9 million clients nationwide. Previous to his present function, since 2021 he served as chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Energy, main Southern Firm’s largest subsidiary. A local of Greenville, Alabama, Womack joined Southern Firm in 1988 and has held a number of management positions inside Southern Firm and its subsidiaries. Previous to becoming a member of Southern Firm, Womack labored on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Home of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He’s previous chair of the board of the East Lake Basis and is on the nationwide board of First Tee. In 2022 the Atlanta Enterprise Chronicle named Womack one in all its Most Admired CEOs.
EDUCATION Western Michigan College, American College (MPA)
FIRST JOB Capitol Hill legislative aide
HOBBIES Fishing, searching, gardening
LEGENDS
Nathan Deal
Deal served as a prosecutor, decide, state senator, and U.S. congressman for Georgia’s ninth District earlier than being elected Georgia’s 82nd governor in 2010 and reelected in 2014. Beneath his management, Georgia was acknowledged as the highest state for enterprise 5 years in a row. Deal’s tenure was marked by efforts in transportation, felony justice reform, and schooling reform.
Pat Epps
In 1965, Epps purchased a small fixed-base operation at DeKalb Peachtree Airport and launched Epps Air Service. He grew the unique facility right into a hub serving native and worldwide companies. His many honors embody the Nationwide Enterprise Aviation Affiliation’s American Spirit Award and Lifetime Achievement award. Epps has additionally been inducted into the Georgia Aviation Corridor of Fame.
Shirley Franklin
Inaugurated in 2002, Franklin grew to become Atlanta’s 58th mayor. She was not solely town’s first feminine mayor, but additionally the primary African American girl to helm any main Southern metropolis. A former protégé of mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Younger, she helped deliver the Olympic Video games to Atlanta. She acquired the John F. Kennedy Profile in Braveness Award in 2005.
Keisha Lance Bottoms
In 2018, Bottoms took workplace as Atlanta’s sixtieth mayor—solely the second girl to carry town’s highest municipal authorities seat. She’s additionally the one mayor in metropolis historical past to have been elected to all three branches of presidency, serving beforehand as a decide and metropolis councilmember. She served as an advisor on worldwide commerce to President Biden.
Patrise Perkins-Hooker
Previously the county legal professional for Fulton County, Perkins-Hooker is now an administrative associate with Johnson & Freeman, LLC. In 2014, she grew to become the 52nd president of the State Bar of Georgia—the primary African American and third girl to fill that function.
Kasim Reed
Reed served two phrases as Atlanta’s 59th mayor, starting in 2010. Previous to that, he spent 11 years as a member of the Georgia Normal Meeting, first elected in 1998 as a state consultant, then serving from 2002 to 2009 within the state Senate. He’s now a associate with the McDermott Will & Emery regulation agency.
Leah Ward Sears
Now in personal apply with Smith, Gambrell & Russell, Sears was the primary girl to function a decide on the Superior Courtroom of Fulton County. 4 years later she was appointed, after which elected, to grow to be a justice on the Supreme Courtroom of Georgia—the primary girl and youngest jurist ever to obtain that title. From 2001 to 2005, she grew to become the presiding justice of the Georgia Supreme Courtroom, finally being named chief justice.
Andrew J. Younger
A protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Younger was a frontrunner of the SCLC. He helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He was Georgia’s first Black congressman since Reconstruction. President Carter tapped him to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He served two phrases as mayor of Atlanta and helped deliver the 1996 Olympics right here. His accolades have included the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Morehouse Faculty’s Andrew Younger Heart for International Management is known as for him, as is Georgia State College’s Andrew Younger College of Coverage Research.
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