Ten years ago Michael Hightower, now 53, was an energetic Fulton County commissioner known for his ability to work with people across the political spectrum to get things done. But in 2000, he was caught up in a corruption scandal…
The times, they were a-changin’ when Tom Land-rum arrived at the Univer-sity of Georgia in 1968. “The 1960s leading into the mid-1970s was an exciting, extraordinary time to be on a college campus,” he says. “I felt like a firsthand…
In 1970, Bob Lewis was a 20-year-old Georgia State college student who had just lost his job, one he described as “the best job ever.” “I was a tour guide at the Carling Brewery in Atlanta,” he laughs. Since his…
The satisfactions of running a successful family business far outweigh the challenges, this year’s winners say. It helps to be enthusiastic – even passionate – about what you do. The 2010 Family Business Award recipients were selected by the Cox…
When Suzanne Doonan, managing director of the Historic Riverside Cemetery Conservancy, looks outside her office, she sees and senses peace. “There’s nothing spooky about this place to me,” says Doonan. “I have a sense that the spirits here are completely…
Steve Penley has a bias that shows up in his art, but he is unapologetic. “My bias is toward the greatness of America rather than cynicism,” he says. “As an artist, I give my perspective. Perhaps it’s over the top,…
With 54 years of experience in the food distribution business, Gene Sutherland, 74, president and owner of Sutherland’s Foodservice, Inc., doesn’t need economic forecasts to know what’s going on with the economy. “In tough times people buy more eggs and…
C.J. Stewart was overcome by emotion as he introduced Jason Heyward, the highly touted Atlanta Braves pros-pect, at a November 2009 luncheon. Choking back tears, Stewart described Heyward’s accomplishments on the field but more importantly the young ballplayer’s commitment to…
Give Johnny Lastinger credit, the guy knows how to find a need and fill it. Case in point: Lastinger’s publication, Valdosta Magazine, mailed quarterly to 2,500 regular subscribers to update them on the interesting people, places and goings-on in Valdosta,…
On the surface, it appears incongruous: a correlation between sculpting and commercial real estate. But as sculptor and commercial realtor Frank Mann explains it, it makes good sense. “From sculpting, I know I’ve become a better listen-er,” says Mann, a…
Tim Lowe III knows the reputation engineers have. “Engineers aren’t considered the liveliest bunch,” he says. “The technical disciplines naturally attract people who tend toward introversion.” That being the case, Lowe, 58-year-old managing partner and chairman of the board of…
Attorney John Yates, 53, originally from Charlotte, NC, couldn’t have imagined that taking a basic computer class as a high school sophomore would lead to a 27-year career in technology law. And he certainly couldn’t have envisioned blogging and Tweeting…
From her years in the Tri-Hi-Y Club growing up in Millen, to raising her son, John, and daughter, Jamison, to chairing the board of directors for Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC) in Savannah, Pannell, 58, has sought ways to fill…
Despite standing front and center as senior vice president of communications for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (MACOC), Esther Campi, 36, claims she’s actually an introvert. “People who know me laugh when I say that,” she says. “I guess…
In wine LINGO, Martha Ezzard could be described as “rounded,” a term defined as “well-balanced and complete,” but how does Ezzard describe herself? “By profession I’m a writer and lawyer,” she says, “Both [husband] John and I are risk-takers that…
One of the hottest seats in the Georgia House of Representatives during this year’s session belonged to Rep. Vance Smith, Republican from the 129th District. No surprise, considering that Smith chaired the House Transportation Committee, and transportation funding and governance…
It was a stealth visit to Mercer University’s campuses in Macon and Atlanta that soothed Bill Under-wood’s initial reluctance to become the university’s president. “I’d been contacted by [then president] Kirby Godsey about becoming the president, but I told him…
Immediately after Luke Morgan graduated from the University of Georgia in 1975 with his business degree in hand, he returned to Douglas, the small town in Coffee County where he was raised. “I’ve never regretted it,” says Morgan, executive vice…
His second year on the job in 2008, Culpepper “Cully” Clark, dean of the prestigious Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, bought a television station. Technically, the University of Georgia Research Foundation, a UGA-affiliated…
In November 2004, Eric Tanenblatt helped launch Hands On Georgia, a network organizing community volunteer efforts statewide. The launch coincidentally followed a contentious electoral cycle, George W. Bush vs. John Kerry, and at the time Tanenblatt said he hoped promoting…
Sure it’s a tough time, but Bill Young, Jr., chairman of the University of Georgia Foundation, is optimistic. “We’re looking at things over the long haul,” he says. The foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, was created by alumni in 1937…
New Orleans native Joselyn Baker is an enthusiastic spokesperson for her adopted home state of Georgia, where she came to attend college at Oglethorpe University and never left. Baker, 39, currently serves as senior vice president of communications for the…
“From the time I was 10 years old, I knew I wanted to be an architect,” says Norman Davenport Askins, who fulfilled his childhood aspirations on an international scale, having designed and restored buildings from Atlanta to the White House…
It takes something awfully special to draw a guy out of retirement after a 40-year career in both the public and private sectors; at least that’s what Glenn Cornell thinks. “I always said, after I left the state in 2004,…
Though Kristin Connor, executive director of CURE Childhood Cancer, interacts with families facing the dreaded disease on a daily basis, it’s difficult for her to view her life as anything but blessed. “I think I’m the luckiest person in the…
A plaque bearing a quote by Danish playwright Henrik Ibsen sits on Bill Huff’s desk. “Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel,” it reads. “It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health;…
When she was 11 or 12 years old, Stacia Hendricks, now 50, lived with her family in Pacific Grove, a coastal town near Monterey, Calif. “Every day after school I’d take the dogs out for their walk,” she says. “Every…
The phrase “people power” routinely punctuates Tom Malone’s conversation. Malone, 69, is the retired president and chief operating officer of Milliken & Co., who in 1983 became the first non-family member to ever hold that job. He remains an enthusiastic…
Some years ago, attorney and part-time writer Abe Schear came to an unsurprising realization. “I figured out that my clients and friends would rather read about baseball than leases,” he says. Schear, 56, a partner in the Atlanta law firm…
Combining family and business successfully is more art than science, and even under the best of circumstances it can be tricky. Yet this year’s group of Family Business Awards winners shows how well the combination can work. The 2008 recipients…
Eldridge W. McMillan, 73, a member of the State University System’s Board of Regents, tells a remarkable story regarding his first teaching job in Atlanta in 1954. “I was supposed to teach at Price High School,” he says. “But the…
Matt Towery, 48, defies pigeon-holing. He’s an outspoken semi-pundit who doesn’t socialize much with anyone, let alone political types. He’s a free-thinking conservative whose business partner, Pierre Howard, trounced him in the 1990 lieutenant governor’s race. He benefited from the…
INNOVATION AND TRANSFERABILITY Thanks to constitutional mandates, revenue constraints and public demand, Georgia’s 159 county governments have been forced into an era of innovation and cooperation that is taking them far afield of their political boundaries in the delivery of…
A small – but high quality – gallery in Highlands, NC, found an unlikely arts patron in longtime Atlanta attorney and businessman Bob Fisher. After 25 years practicing law (five years at King & Spalding and another 20 years in…
Robin Rhodes was the youngest of four children in her family, thus it fell to her to “Run, go get the paper.” Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that for the past 21 years, Rhodes has been involved in the business…
At 74, Wayne Shackelford just won’t slow down. Immediately following his retirement from Geor-gia’s Department of Transportation (DOT), where he served as commissioner from November 1991 until May 2000, Shackelford became senior vice president for business development at Gresham, Smith…
During the three days before Thanksgiving, Joseph “Butch” Thompson, 63, will roll out three smokers and spend hours hovering over some 900 turkeys. The former Cobb County commissioner and president and owner of Butch Thompson Enterprises, a site preparation contracting…
Tom Bell, CEO of Cousins Properties Inc., has a theory about why busy people seem to get more done. “I think it has to do with a person’s demeanor and skill set,” he says. “The more you do and the…
ARCADIS’ Wassim Selman draws on past service to solve tomorrow’s problems
AT&T Georgia President Sylvia Anderson says today’s consumers want choices.
There’s no substitute for a good story, and Jim Bishop’s life is a just that. A successful lawyer practicing in Brunswick for his entire career, Bishop was named by Gov. Sonny Perdue in late 2006 to the University System of…
Former Georgia-Pacific President Lee Thomas helped create Georgia’s energy strategy
Jim Brown brings 30 years of luxury resort experience to his role at Sea Island.
Mercer Reynolds relishes his role of developer and caretaker of his family’s land.
Meet the winners of the 2007 County Excellence Awards sponsored by the Association County Commissioners of Georgia and Georgia Trend. This year’s top county awards go to Johnson, Randolph, Crisp, Dawson, Troup, Chatham and Carroll; Wilkinson, Baldwin, Johnson, Laurens and Washington share an award for a joint project.
Carroll County: Adding Greenspace
Teresa Lasseter brings real-world experience to her work with the Farm Service Agency.
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