Leadership Atlanta Class of 2024

As I have shared many, many times on social media and I wrote about in all three Editions of "The Heart of Networking", the Fall of 1985 to the Spring of 1986 was the most dramatic, life changing season of my almost 71 years.

I was fortunate to be accepted into the Leadership Atlanta Class of 1986. I was challenged, confronted, pushed and shoved to see many things differently than I had ever thought of seeing them before.

I have always been a fiscal conservative and a social liberal so I was Woke: way before it became something the far right demonized. However, I had taken baby steps to address issues that were important enough to push all the chips to the center of the poker table and declare: "All In".

The people I met that year and in the classes since have literally become family and there are many that I know would give a body part to save my life and I would for them as well.

Leadership Atlanta is not a social club, nor a feel good networking group. Leadership Atlanta, if taken seriously, should be a life changing experience, much like a religious conversion.

The new class has just been announced and what a Powerful Group of Leaders. I am blessed to know a number of them. Excited for one that was one of my nominees. Another, I interviewed in the "alumni interview" phase of the process and two of these new inductees, that I did not know had applied, are my newest clients, which blows my mind.

To my knowledge, I don't recall creating a single client out of the over 1,000 graduates I have met over the past 37 years. As a life long sales person, some would wonder why I was involved in an organization for almost 4 decades and never tried to sell anything to anybody.

That is the magic of Leadership Atlanta and why regardless of your title, company or size of your house or bank account, everyone is there to better our community instead of our personal careers.

It is delightful to now learn that towards the end of my career, my two newest clients at Talent 360 Solutions were accepted into Leadership Atlanta without me knowing they were interested in LA or had even applied. Isn't Life Strange?

I am excited for each of these 86 fine folks and I look forward to seeing them all at Orientation and the Opening Retreat.

The Leadership Atlanta Class of 2024:

John Ahmann, president and CEO, Westside Future Fund

Ronald Applin, chief of police, Atlanta Public Schools Police Department

Marc Balizer, managing director, BlackRock

Cromwell Baun, first vice president of wealth management, UBS Financial Services Inc

Douwe Bergsma, chief marketing officer, Piedmont Healthcare

Brian Blake, president, Georgia State University

Stephanie Blank, president, The Naserian Foundation

Riley Blount, vice president, AT&T

Elizabeth Brown, partner, Alston & Bird LLP

Tiffany Callaway-Ferrell, vice president of operations, Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas Cos.

Lalohni Campbell, CEO, Per Se Media Group LLC

Tyler Courtney, managing principal, Cushman & Wakefield

M. Todd Croom, chief financial officer, Jackson Spalding

Sheldon Cummings, chief operating officer, Mailchimp

Courtney English, chief policy officer and senior advisor to the mayor, City of Atlanta

Russell Falkenstein, chief strategy, analytics & development officer, The Aaron's Co.

Alan Ferguson, president and CEO, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity Inc.

Frank Fernandez, president and CEO, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

Misty Fernandez, region director, Georgia Power

Kevin Gillespie, president, Red Beard Restaurants

Andrew Goldberg, vice president of corporate strategy, Cox Communications

Fernando Gonzalez, president of CPG Dixie, Georgia-Pacific

Derek Goshay, vice president of safety, sustainability and DEI, Genuine Parts Co.

Marshall Guest, senior vice president of public policy and public affairs, Metro Atlanta Chamber

John Hardman, president, chair and CEO, Untamed Planet / WildArk

Monique Harrison, head of brand of North America, Mercedes-Benz USA

Latonda Henderson, chief diversity officer, AMB Sports and Entertainment

Daniele Fallin Herfel, dean of Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Willie Hernandez, international general counsel, The Coca-Cola Co.

Jen Hidinger-Kendrick co-founder and senior director of community engagement, Giving Kitchen

Betsy Higgins, executive vice president and CFO, Oglethorpe Power Corp.

Ken Hodges, judge, Court of Appeals of Georgia

Julie Hower, chief audit executive, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Daniel Huynh, partner, Morris, Manning & Martin LLP

JP James , chairman and CEO, Hive Financial

Emily Johnson, senior vice president and head of global legal, UPS

Kristine Jordan, executive director, Jabian Consulting

Matt Keith, senior vice president of strategy and initiatives, Executive Bank of America

Kathryn Lawler, CEO, Saint Joseph's/Mercy Care

Georj Lewis, president, Clayton State University

Adam Mathes, president and owner, Prime Power Services

Wangui McKelvey, general manager of apps and endpoints, Microsoft

Ben Miller, partner, Bennett Thrasher

Aprille Moore, captain and unit commander, Fulton County Sheriff's Office

Mary S. Moore , founder and CEO, The Cook's Warehouse

James Nelson, head of North America product management and pricing, Invesco

Allison O'Kelly, CEO and founder, Corps Team

Ashani Collins O'Mard, senior vice president of strategic housing investments, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership

William Pate , president and CEO, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau

Adria Perez, partner, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

Jason Perry, Atlanta office managing partner, Grant Thornton LLP

Bert Reeves, vice president of institute relations, Georgia Tech

Steve Reis, senior partner, McKinsey & Co.

Amanda Rhein, executive director, Atlanta Land Trust Inc.

DeRetta Rhodes, executive vice president and chief culture officer, Atlanta Braves

Chris Rich , business development leader and founder, Hawque Protection Group

Anna Roach, CEO and executive director, Atlanta Regional Commission

David Roemer , CEO, Ideas United

Katherine Saez, Georgia regional president, Truist

Jason Saliba, deputy chief assistant district attorney, Cobb Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office

Zaffer Sange, chief transformation officer, Novelis

Kenan Sener, head of school, Fulton Science Academy

Ashoo Sharma, general counsel and vice president, Harry Norman, Realtors, A Berkshire Hathaway Co.

Pam Shipley, regional president, Kaiser Permanente

Mindy Shoulberg, senior vice president of leasing, Selig Enterprises Inc.

Temano Shurland, partner, Deloitte

Matthew Simpson, equity partner, Fisher & Phillips LLP

Pradeep Sinha, physician and owner, Atlanta Institute for Ear Nose and Throat PC

Richard Slaton, executive director, JP Morgan Chase

Roderick Smith, fire chief, City of Atlanta

Matt Sparks, senior vice president of airport customer service, Delta Air Lines Inc.

Larry Stewart, chair of board of commissioners, Atlanta Housing

Fabiola Charles Stokes , head of global sites strategy of North America, Google Inc.

James Summer, managing director, EY

Alpa Sutaria, senior vice president of strategy and sustainability, WestRock

Rob Todd, senior vice president and chief of acute care surgery, Grady Health System

Richard Valladares, shareholder and chair of business litigation, Greenberg Traurig LLP

Kanyatta Walker, vice president of Cisco IT, Cisco

Kathryn Walker, chief communications officer, Equifax

Janelle Williams, CEO and co-founder, Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative

Katherine Williams, chief compliance officer and vice president of human resources, Diaz Foods

Nicole Williams, portfolio innovation lead, UCB Pharmaceuticals

Jill Wilson, senior vice president of human resources, talent development and community affairs, Carter's

Thad Wilson, partner, King & Spalding LLP

Tory Winn, principal and managing director, Gensler

Rebecca Woods, partner and chair of Atlanta litigation practice group, co-chair commercial litigation practice, Seyfarth Shaw