TJ Ward

TJ Ward, President and CEO of TJ Ward and Associates, Inc., began his investigative career more than forty years ago as a law enforcement officer for the State of Georgia. Mr. Ward worked on the State Drug Task Force for nine of his fourteen years as an officer and was instrumental in the organization and implementation of the Aviation Division of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department. Prior to his career in law enforcement, Mr. Ward served in the United States Marine Corps.
In 1982, Mr. Ward began TJ Ward and Associates, Inc. and continued to work as a reserve law enforcement officer for twenty years. In addition to his investigative license, Mr. Ward maintains certification as a volunteer firefighter, an emergency medical technician (EMT), and a P.O.S.T.-certified law enforcement officer. Mr. Ward is also a licensed helicopter and fixed wing pilot and has worked with several law enforcement agencies on search and rescue missions, aerial surveillance, and officer transportation.
Mr. Ward has worked closely with former U.S. Attorney and Congressman, Bob Barr, in addition to working with more than 600 law firms in the southeast, assisting the FBI and ATF with criminal investigations, and working with numerous companies and corporations in the private sector in order to provide them with background information and fraud investigations on individuals within those organizations.
Mr. Ward also offers his services pro bono for missing persons and was the first investigator hired by the family of Natalee Holloway, who went missing in Aruba in 2005. He is an established resource for both local Atlanta media companies and nationally syndicated radio and television shows regarding civil and criminal investigations.

Dublin Laurens County Recreation Authority

In 1999 the City of Dublin Recreation and the Laurens County Recreation merged to become Dublin Laurens County Recreation Authority. DLCRA serves the community in a variety of ways- from recreation sports, the water park, and various parks and facilities. Facilities include Hillburn playground, Oconee Community Center, Stubbs park which includes a gymnasium, skate park and tennis courts, Spring dale, and the largest park, Southern Pines. Southern Pines has become the premiere recreation park in Georgia and the southeast. It has become the host of many state and regional softball and baseball tournaments. The park hosts soccer and football games as well. Southern Pines also has developed the Ag. and Expo Center which host several animal shows and special events. Lastly the newest addition to Southern Pines is the waterpark.

OFTC Update

Erica Harden is the President of Oconee
Fall Line Technical College. Prior to her appointment as President, Erica served as the Executive Vice President of Oconee Fall Line Technical College. She has over 29 years of experience in technical education. She began her career in 1990 serving in a variety of leadership positions at four technical colleges in Georgia and South Carolina. She currently serves on the Warren County Career Academy board, on the Washington County Extension Office Advisory Committee, and as an ex-officio member of the Heart of Georgia RESA and Oconee RESA. She is a member of the Dublin Rotary Club, and is a former member of the Heart of Georgia College and Career Academy Board.  
Erica is a past chairman of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, a TCSG Executive Leadership Academy Graduate, and a South Carolina Employee of the Year.  
Erica is a native of Vidalia, Georgia. She and her husband, John Wesley Harden, have one daughter, Mary Katherine Harden, who is a recent graduate of Presbyterian College. Erica is a graduate from the University of Georgia with a degree in journalism.  She and her family are active members of the Sandersville United Methodist Church. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family on their farm and cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs and the Presbyterian College Blue Hose.

Ron Shipman, VP, Southwest Region, Georgia Power

 Ron Shipman is vice president of Georgia Power’s Southwest Region. In this role, Shipman leads Georgia Power’s operations for 442,200 customers in a 59-county area that includes the cities of Macon, Columbus and Valdosta.
Since joining Georgia Power in 1984, Shipman has held a number of positions in the areas of nuclear chemistry, legislative affairs, area and distribution management and environmental affairs.
Shipman received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Morehouse College and an MBA from Shorter College. He has completed numerous leadership development programs including Leadership Georgia, the Regional Leadership Institute (RLI), and the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL). In the community, Shipman serves on the Board of Directors for NewTown Macon, the 21st Century Partnership and he is the 2018 Chair of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce.
Shipman enjoys music, swimming and the great outdoors. He also tries to play golf.

Gene Crafton A Personal Look at Polio

Gene A. Crafton was born in Dublin, Ga., in 1956, and by the age of 3 yrs. old contacted with the poliovirus and was paralyzed in the upper right arm.   He received specialized out-patient treatment at The Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute of Rehabilitation for over 12 years before being released.   By age 4, Gene and his family moved to Hawkinsville, Ga. for 20 years until 1980, when they moved back to Dublin, where Gene worked with father in the banking industry.   Gene was VP/loan officer at Morris Bank for 18 yrs., and owned Crafton Studios for 8 yrs.   Gene is a graduate of The Georgia Banking School and an honor graduate of the Georgia Banking Operations School. He has also has a:
• AA in Music MGC (76)
• BFA in Music UGA (79)
• AA in Photography NGTC (80)
• BA in Accounting GCSU (09)
• BA in Management/minor in Economics GCSU (10)
Today, Gene is retired and married to the former Teresa Helton with no children. He is past president of The Dublin-Laurens Co. Humane Society and Dublin Laurens Arts Council. He has been a member of the Dublin Exchange Club for 34 years and member of First Baptist Church Dublin for 39 years.

Michael (Mike) R. Muldowney District Governor 2019-2020

Mike graduated with a BS degree in Food Technology from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA.  He began his career in the food processing industry with a small vegetable processing company in Baltimore, MD and Greenwood, DE.  In the remaining career of 37 years he worked with products such as breakfast cereals and other breakfast foods, pet food, Kool Aid, and salad dressings both in quality control and production management positions.  The last 25 years of his professional career was working in the seafood processing business as VP of Operations.  He and his family have lived in Maryland (2X), Pennsylvania (2X), Illinois (3X), Michigan, Massachusetts, and finally St. Simons Island.  After retiring from King & Prince Seafood Corp. in Brunswick, GA, he and his wife opened 2 picture framing stores, one on St. Simons and the other in Brunswick. They closed the business after 11 years to retire once again.
Over the years, he has been involved in many nonprofit organizations.  He is past president of the United Way of the Golden Isles, past board member of the Brunswick- Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce,  past president of Coastal Coalition for Children, past board member of Junior Achievement of greater Boston, and a past SCORE counselor and a member of several other committees in his communities.
Mike joined the Rotary Club of St. Simons Island in 2001 and served on the club’s Board of Directors in 2005 to 2007 and was club President in 2011-2012.  He served on the St. Simons Island Rotary Scholarship Fund from 2006 to 2015, 2009 to 2015 as the Chair. He is a Bruce/Tharpe Fellow for his contributions to the clubs Scholarship Fund.  As an active member of the club, he co-chaired a literacy program in the local Pre-K classes, organized club socials, coordinated the Red Badge program, played a key role in the Veterans Walk project on St. Simons Island and has served on many committees helping to serve the local community. Mike and Nancy were a GRSP Host Family in 2013-14 and he served as a Trustee to GRSP from 2013-2017.  To support District 6920 activities, he was the 2018 District Conference Chair and an Assistant Governor from 2015 to 2018. 
He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, a Sustaining Member and a Will Watt Fellow.  Nancy is also a Paul Harris Fellow. A native of northern New Jersey,

Terry Evans Atlanta Braves Chaplan

Terry is the Southeast Director for Unlimited Potential and also serves with Baseball Chapel as the chaplain for the Atlanta Braves. He is the son of Michael and Lee Ann Evans and brother of Donna Evans. He graduated from Trinity Christian School in 2000 and went on to attend Middle Georgia College for two years before signing to play professional baseball. He obtained an associates degree in business from Middle Georgia College and a M.A. in Ministry Studies from Grace College and Seminary.  

Terry was drafted as an outfielder by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001, traded to the Los Angeles Angels in 2006, made his Major League Debut with the Angels in 2007, signed with the San Francisco Giants in 2011 and then the Kansas City Royals in 2012 before retiring from an eleven year professional career.  Some of his highlights include: (i) In 2006, he became the eighth player in Minor League Baseball history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a single minor league season, (ii) In 2007, his first Major League hit was a home run, and (iii) he was selected to the Triple-A All-Star team twice (2007 & 2009).  
He has been married for 11 years to his wife Tanner [Cochran], and they have four children, Asher (10), Jude (8), Isaac (5) and Arlie (3). They currently live in Woodstock, GA where they are active members of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA. 

Georgia College GEM Program

Harold Mock directs Georgia College’s leadership programs and is assistant professor of history. A specialist in international affairs and transatlantic relations, he is currently writing a book entitled Dangerous Power: An International History of German Unification, 1969-1993. Dr. Mock’s research and teaching interests include civil-military relations, particularly related to nuclear strategy and defense planning in western Europe. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia, where he previously served as Bradley Research Fellow. Additionally, Dr. Mock holds a master’s degree in history from Virginia and bachelor’s degrees in political science and history from Georgia College.

MGA School of Aviation

Adon Clark is the Dean of the School of Aviation at Middle Georgia State University.  His primary responsibilities include the administration of academic and operational activities, as well as the oversight of course schedule planning, faculty evaluation, faculty development, and curriculum development as well as FAA compliance. He has also served as Department Chair and Instructor in the Aviation Maintenance/Avionics Technology within the institution under Middle Georgia College and Georgia Aviation Technical College prior to the consolidations.  
Adon’s distinguished military career in the United States Air Force included multiple assignments internationally as well as stateside, including Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The pinnacle of Adon’s military career was serving as the Crew Chief for the United States Air Force Demonstration Squadron “Thunderbirds.”  
His aviation career spans more than 30 years. He is a FAA rated Pilot and Mechanic. Along with his Air Force career he has worked in agricultural aviation, corporate aviation, general aviation, and commercial airline aviation.  
He is a graduate of Mercer University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Science and Social Science Education and Georgia College & State University with an MBA.   Adon and his wife, Kristie, and two children live in Ocilla Georgia.

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.