Chairman of the Board: Patricia Puckett, Executive Director, Statewide Independent LivingCouncil. Puckett is the Executive Director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia. Puckett serves on the National Board of Directors for the National Council on Independent Living and the Association of Programs in Rural Independent Living. Puckett is the former Chair of the Georgia Budget and Policy Center and was a business owner for 10 years.
Treasurer: Mitchelle Johnson, CPA, MBA.
Johnson is the retired CFO from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Georgia, Inc., where her positions included controller, Vice President Finance, Vice President Internal Audit, Corporate Secretary, and Vice President of Medicare Operations. She has served in numerous volunteer leadership positions in Atlanta including President of the Brookhaven Rotary Club and served on the board of Georgia Community Health Charities. As a retiree in the mountains, Johnson is the treasurer of the Rotary Foundation Club of White County, treasurer of Adair Mill Property Owners Association, and serves on the White County Property Tax Board of Equalization.
Secretary: Courtney I. Smith, Vice President and Community Affairs Manager, Regions Bank. Courtney Smith is a banking professional with experience working with multiple Lines of Business (LOBs) including Retail, Commercial, and Mortgage to achieve Community Development/Compliance goals. Courtney is responsible for Community Reinvestment (CRA) activities in Georgia and South Carolina Markets and is experienced in retail branch management, commercial lending, community outreach, and non-profit management. Courtney received his BBA in Marketing from the University of Tennessee- Knoxville, College of Business Administration and his MCRP, City and Regional Planning from The University of Memphis. An active member in community and civic affairs, Courtney currently serves on the United Way- DeKalb Advisory Board, Initiative of Affordable Housing Board of Directors, and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Decatur Alumni Chapter.
Board Member: Lynn Thogersen, MPH, Chief Financial Officer, Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network. Thogersen, who is the founder and former CFO for the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta, is the financial administrator of the Georgia Consumer Network. Thogersen serves on the Board of Healthcare Georgia Foundation and served as Women’s Caucus Chair for the American Public Health Association and she is a recipient of the Margaret Sanger National Award.
Board Member: Rosemarie A. Drake, Vice President of SBA Lending, Cornerstone Bank. Rosemarie recently joined Cornerstone Bank, currently ranked #2 SBA lender in GA YTD in 2011, as Vice President of SBA Lending. She was previously a Regional Account Manager for CIT Small Business Lending for over seven years. Rosemarie is a native of Philadelphia, PA and earned a BBA in business administration/accounting from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA). Rosemarie has held other senior corporate finance positions including Business Development Officer and Credit Analyst with Heller Financial, Inc., Syndication Specialist at Wachovia Bank of Georgia and Credit Analyst at National City Bank. Rosemarie was recognized as one of “Who’s Who for the Top 100 power brokers who lead Atlanta’s Financial Sector”, Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 2008. She serves on various boards and is the past Chair for Georgia Lender’s Quality Circle (2009-2010) and current member of Fulton County Economic Development Corporation. She attends Beluah Baptist Missionary Church in Decatur, GA and is a DeKalb County resident.
Board Member: Greg Lapointe, President, Western Banking Group, South Carolina Bank & Trust. Lapointe has served in various banking and banking leadership positions for more than 25 years. He is currently the President at Western Banking Group, South Carolina Bank & Trust. Lapointe earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Citadel and is also a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University. Additionally, Lapointe completed the Basic Economic Development Course at the University Of North Carolina School Of Government at Chapel Hill and completed the South Carolina Economic Developers School. An active member in community and civic affairs, Lapointe currently serves on the Executive Committee of The Midlands Business Leadership Group and the Executive Committee of the Midlands Housing Alliance and the Riverbanks Zoo Society Board.
Board Member: Lara Hodgson, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Nourish. Lara Hodgson is the CEO of Nourish, a brand of patented ready-to-serve baby bottles and spill-proof bottled waters for kids. Lara co-founded Insomnia, LLC, and an Atlanta-based firm specializing in investment, development and management of complex and innovative “world-changing” projects such as finding solutions for and funding large scale infrastructure projects globally. Lara served as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Dewberry Capital Corporation, an Atlanta-based commercial real estate development and investment firm. Prior to joining Dewberry Capital, Lara was the Executive Vice President of Dunk, performance footwear and apparel manufacturing/retail company built on the concept of mass customization and founded with Shaquille O’Neal & Mike Piazza. She built the operations, IT and sales & marketing groups and worked with the product development team in Los Angeles and the manufacturing team in Macao. Lara was the former Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Retail and Consumer Products Division of iXL (now Scient), an Internet strategy and consulting firm. She founded the division in 1999 and built it into one of the top performing groups within iXL. Lara is an internationally recognized speaker & facilitator, leading seminars on creativity, diversity and innovation management. Internationally, Lara has worked in Koriyama, Japan with the U.S. Defense Department’s EAGLE Japan Program and also served as the Ambassador to Lebanon for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Lara received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Aerospace Engineering with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Lara has served on the following boards: Flag Bank, Central Atlanta Progress, Georgia Tech’s Alexander Tharpe Fund, Society of International Business Fellows, HERO for Children and is Chairman of the Board of Atlanta Heights Charter School. Lara is a member of Leadership Georgia Class 2005, Leadership Atlanta Class 2004 and Midtown Leadership Class 2003. Lara teaches Real Estate Finance in Georgia Tech’s MBA Program. Lara is an appointee of the Governor on the GRTA Board (Georgia Regional Transportation Authority) and the RTC (Regional Transit Committee) and also serves on the Governor’s Education Advisory Council.
Board Member: Ray Christman, Senior Vice President, Trust for Public Land. Ray Christman is the Senior Vice President of the Mid-South Division for the Trust for Public Land. Previously, he was the Executive Director for Livable Communities Coalition. Christman retired in 2007 after eight years as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. He is active in local and national civic and charitable affairs, particularly in the fields of affordable housing and community development. He is past chair of both The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership. He served in 2008 as interim president and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and is also past chair of that organization. Christman chaired the Peachtree Corridor Partnership, and he also serves on the board and executive committee of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., a nationally recognized affordable housing and community development non-profit. Christman is also the current Chair for the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Capital Policy Advisory Group.
Board Member: Grace Fricks, MBA. ACE President and CEO.
Fricks is the founder of Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs and owner of a small business.
