President’s Update – Jim Summerbell, AICP

As we bring in the New Year, we also bring in some new members to our Board of Directors, and some previous members will be taking on new roles. First of all, I want to thank Corey Hull, who now takes on the role of Past President. Over the past two years under his leadership we have made strong progress in engaging our membership and the broader planning community, in working closely with National APA, and in improving our overall financial standing.

In my coming term as President, I will be working closely with Corey and our new Board to continue his good work. New Board members include Allison Stewart-Harris as VP of Programs, Laura Beall as Secretary, and Jack Crowley will be our new Higher Education Representative. Like Corey, Lauren Blaszyk our past VP of Programs will be taking on a new role on the Board, as our District 3 Director. Join me in wishing these Board members success in their new roles.

This year we are planning two exciting conferences, and our new Vice President of Programs, Allison Stewart-Harris, and the Programs Committee will be leading the planning for those events. Please mark your calendars to join us in Gainesville for the Spring Conference on Wednesday, March 28, and on Jekyll Island for the Fall Conference, September 5-7. If you are interested in volunteering for the conferences or have a good idea for a presentation topic, please let me or Allison know.

In the coming year, the Board and I will be working not only to improve our local conferences, but also other educational and networking opportunities, I also propose that our chapter take on a more active role in crafting planning policy and advocating for planning solutions to the issues facing our communities. This is an exciting and challenging time to be a planner in Georgia, and each of us face a number of common issues that I hope we as a Chapter can come together to help solve.

Sincerely,
Jim Summerbell, AICP
President of the Georgia Chapter of APA