Josh Rogers President & CEO NewTown Macon

Josh Rogers leads the non-profit NewTown Macon, where he works to attract, leverage and invest in self-sustaining transformation for downtown Macon, Georgia.  Over his career, Rogers has become an innovator in using real estate to spark and sustain revitalization in communities desperate for reinvestment.   One of Rogers’ signature abilities is to use market forces to cause revitalization, especially by investing directly in real estate development in non-profit-owned projects.  Part of these strategies include infrastructure and programming, where Rogers has led such projects as reviving Macon’s soap box derby and installing the world’s largest pop-up bike lane network.  Rogers serves in several community leadership roles, including the boards for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, the Macon-Bibb Planning and Zoning Commission, the One Macon Steering Committee, the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce, the Mercer Innovation Center and the Grand Opera House. Rogers holds degrees from Mercer University and the University of York, England and resides in a historic home in downtown Macon with his wife, Meaghan and two young children, Jack and Ellie.

Fred O. Godbee President & CEO – EKG Security

Fred serves as the President and CEO of EKG Security with responsibility of all day to day operations to include long and short-term planning. Prior to Fred’s service at EKG, he had a 13 year career with Morgan Stanley & Co. During his career at Morgan Stanley, Fred was responsible for sales, trading, and account management of the Southeastern region of the U.S.
From 1991-2014, Fred served in the United States Navy. He served as a surface warfare officer onboard the USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) from 1991 through 1994. From 2004-2014, Fred served as a member of its SEAL Teams. During his military service, he served at three different SEAL Commands. He has conducted special operations globally with deployments in Europe and Asia.
Fred is a co-founder and former Director of the Navy SEAL Foundation, a 501.c.3 non-profit organization whose mission is to provide immediate and ongoing support to the entire Naval Special Warfare community.
Fred graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor in Industrial Engineering and received his Master in Business Administration from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Fred and his wife, Mandy, reside in his hometown of Vidalia, Georgia with their three sons, Barron, Thomas, and Jack. His oldest son, Barron, is currently serving our country as a Marine. They are members of the Vidalia First United Methodist Church.

Gary Ward Black, Sr. Commissioner of Agriculture

For over 38 years Gary W. Black has championed sound state and federal policies impacting food safety, science-based environmental stewardship and agricultural marketing. Now beginning his third term, Commissioner Black remains committed to fostering growth in Georgia's number one industry.
Black's love of agriculture was first sparked on his family's farm in Commerce. He became an active member of the Commerce FFA and was elected State President of the Georgia FFA Association in 1975. Black then attended the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences where he earned a degree in Agricultural Education and interned with United States Senator Herman Talmadge and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Nutrition.
Upon completing his degree at the University of Georgia, Black began his career at the Georgia Farm Bureau coordinating leadership development programs for young farmers.In 1989, he was named President of the Georgia Agribusiness Council. While at GAC, he was instrumental in establishing the AgriTrust of Georgia insurance program, agriculture promotions during the Centennial Olympic Games, and developing a strong reputation for agriculture advocacy in the legislative and regulatory arena.
Black was first elected to serve as the Commissioner of Agriculture in November 2010.He has improved career paths for employees and established high standards for customer service. Under his leadership, the Department’s food safety and animal health regulatory programs have received national acclaim and the Georgia Grown brand's economic impact can be seen in every corner of the state and beyond. His innovative vision to strengthen school nutrition has resulted in expanded markets for Georgia farmers and improved the quality of nutrition for Georgia students. In recognition of these successes, Commissioner Black was named Georgia Trend Magazine's Georgian of the Year in 2017.
Commissioner Black and his wife Lydia continue to raise commercial beef cattle on his family farm in Commerce. Both of his adult children work in the agriculture and food industries. The Blacks are active in the Sunday school and music ministries of Maysville Baptist Church.

Project Hummingbird a cooperative between small brewers and Oconee Brewing designed to reduce the cost of beer production.  Nathan and his wife, Jessica, are the proud parents of three daughters and a son.
About Oconee Brewing: The seed for Oconee Brewing Company was planted when John and Nathan McGarity heard a friend comment that Greensboro, Georgia would be a great location for a craft brewery. The father and son real estate team immediately saw the potential in the idea. Although still a quaint, small town of a little over 3,000 residents, Greensboro has a thriving day trip tourism industry, being part of the Lake Oconee area. Greensboro already had great restaurants and boutiques, and plenty of lakeside activities, but what they didn’t yet have was a craft brewery.
Oconee Brewing Company stepped in to fill that void, opening on May 6, 2017, after the McGaritys teamed up with partner and master brewer, Taylor Lamm. Together they transformed a 6,000 square foot, former cotton mill warehouse into a retail production facility with a tasting room that’s open to the public, and a unique event space that works perfectly for any occasion – corporate events, weddings and receptions, birthday parties, fundraisers, football viewing parties, and live concerts, and more.

Donald Avery Fairview Park Hospital

DONALD R. AVERY, FACHE, is the President/CEO Fairview Park Hospital, Dublin, GA. He has been at Fairview Park since May of 2008.. Raised in Peoria, IL, Don graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in 1978. He was stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base for 5 years and served as a pilot, instructor pilot, squadron operations officer and wing executive officer. He left the Air Force in 1984 and attended the University of Florida in Gainesville earning Masters Degrees in Business Administration and Health Science in 1986Don has been very active in his community, serving on and chairing multiple local boards, and in his church. He has also been involved in various professional organizations. Don has been married to Fara for 34 years and has a married daughter, Amelia, and two grandchildren. In his free time, he likes to travel, fly his airplane, read, play golf, do cross fit, and play tennis.

Geoffrey L. Duncan Lieutenant Governor, Georgia

A former professional baseball player and successful entrepreneur, Geoff Duncan was elected Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor in November of 2018.
Geoff graduated from Chattahoochee High School in Alpharetta where he met his wife, Brooke. Geoff and Brooke both attended the Georgia Institute of Technology where Geoff was a scholarship pitcher. After a successful career at Georgia Tech, Geoff was drafted by the Florida Marlins’ organization. Geoff spent six seasons playing baseball in the minor leagues, advancing as high as AAA before a shoulder injury forced his retirement in the early 2000s.
After retiring from baseball, Geoff and his wife Brooke started a small marketing firm in their living room. The company experienced tremendous success which allowed Geoff and Brooke to sell the business and move on to multiple other entrepreneurial ventures. Geoff most recently served as the CEO of a health technology startup.
Geoff’s faith inspired him to a life of leadership and prompted his upstart run for political office. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2012. During his time in office he authored several important pieces of legislation. These include HB 749 The Cargo Theft Act, HB152 Michael’s Law and most recently SB258 the Rural Hospital Tax Credit.