Speakers

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, APR 18  at Noon.

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Rick Clark is Georgia Tech’s inaugural Executive Director for Strategic Student Access. In this role, he directs the Institute’s efforts to establish and advance relationships with educational leaders, schools and school systems, government agencies, and community organizations in pursuit of the Institute’s strategic vision for growing enrollment, expanding access, and ensuring affordability. Additionally, he partners with Tech’s development team to engage corporate sponsors, philanthropies, alumni, and donors to fund scholarships and advance student success initiatives.

For 15 years Rick led Tech’s undergraduate admission team serving as AVP and Executive Director. Under his leadership, the Institute dramatically increased brand awareness, improved overall academic class profile, and exceeded strategic enrollment goals.

Rick has served on regional and national councils and boards. He is currently a member NACAC’s Committee on Leadership in College Admission, and Past Chair of both the national Government Relations Committee and Georgia Tech’s Staff Council. He travels annually to U.S. embassies through the Department of State to discuss the admission process and landscape of higher education. Rick is part of Leadership Georgia, an organization that seeks to cultivate and connect leaders across the state.

Over the last eight years he has written a regular blog on the college admission process. He is the co-author of the book and workbook The Truth about College Admission: A Family Guide to Getting In and Staying Together, and co-hosts a podcast under the same name.

A native of Atlanta, he earned a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.Ed. from Georgia State University. Prior to coming to Tech, Rick served at Georgia State, The McCallie School and Wake Forest University.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, April 25 at Noon.

Kiwanis 5^th Tuesday Meeting!

Tuesday, Apr 30^th from 5:30 til 7:30 PM

Center for Puppetry Arts

1404 Spring St NW, Atlanta, GA 30309

A special evening for our club to enjoy light appetizers and adult beverages while hearing about the United States' largest organization dedicated to the art form of puppetry. It is one of the few puppet museums in the world. Exhibits will be open for viewing!

5:30 pm Reception Begins (Arrive any time after 5:15 pm)

6:30 pm Welcome and Remarks 😊

This will be in place of our regular luncheon

Free for Reg/Corp Members - $20 for Assoc/Satellite/Emer/Hon Members  $25 for Guests

~RSVP Deadline Thursday, Jan 25^th~

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, May 2 at Noon.

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CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, May 9 at Noon.

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Dr. Tim Lieuwen is a Regents’ Professor, the David S. Lewis, Jr. Professor and the Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech. In this capacity, he manages Georgia Tech’s overall strategy and external relations for its over 1000 researchers working in energy RD&D. He is also founder and CTO of TurbineLogic, an analytics firm working in the energy industry. Prof. Lieuwen is an international authority on clean energy and propulsion, and his work has contributed to numerous commercialized innovations. He has authored 4 books and over 400 other publications and serves on a variety of boards in the energy and national security industry. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and received many other major engineering awards.

Tim has been married to his wife Rinda Lieuwen for 28 years, and they are parents of four daughters. He serves as an elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and in his free time enjoys woodworking, running, and enjoying the outdoors.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, May 16 at Noon.

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Blake Schneider serves as the Director of the Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery (CYAAR) at Kennesaw State University.

Schneider received his Master’s in Communication Studies from the University of Alabama with an emphasis in group leadership, strategic intervention and social work. Serving in the Director position he has developed key partnerships, road mapped the immediate future of the Center and is in the process of creating a shared vision CYAAR moving forward.  As a former professor of public speaking, Schneider presents at local, state and national conferences, summits and workshops.

He currently assists in a consulting capacity for the Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE), providing technical assistance to start up Collegiate Recovery Programs. He serves on a variety of boards and committees including the Kennesaw State University Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery Advisory Board, the Kennesaw State University Mental Health Initiative Committee, the Tennessee Tech Advisory Board and the Kennesaw State University Beta Theta Pi Advisory Board. From the Summer of 2017 to the Summer of 2020 Schneider served as the Southeastern Representative for the ARHE. In this position, he took measures to help with the startup of collegiate recovery efforts in the Southeastern region while working to enhance collaboration and cohesion among Universities in the Southeast.

His goals include advancing the Center’s impact on addiction and recovery locally and amongst the field, making Collegiate Recovery accessible and open to all students that seek support, minimizing risk for students through innovative alcohol and other drug education prevention measures and ensuring the Center’s continued contributions to the field of recovery science research.

In his free time, Schneider likes to spend time with his dogs, discovering new music, traveling, exercising, meditating, and working with mentees from a 12-step fellowship.

INTRODUCTION:  Karen Carlisle

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, May 23 at Noon.

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Michael L. Thurmond is the CEO of DeKalb County, Georgia. He is also an attorney, author, and motivational speaker.

Thurmond’s book Freedom: Georgia’s Antislavery Heritage, 1733-1865, was awarded the prestigious Georgia Historical Society’s Lilla Hawes Award. In 2004, the Georgia Center for the Book listed Freedom as “One of the Twenty-Five Books All Georgians Should Read.” The third edition of his first book, A Story Untold: Black Men & Women in Athens (GA) History, was published in 2019. The following year, the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council awarded Thurmond a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the research and preservation of African American Georgia history.

cEO Thurmond, a sharecropper's son, holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and religion from Paine College and a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina’s School of Law. Thurmond also completed the Political Executives program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He earned the reputation of being a “turnaround expert” after transforming the culture and operations of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, the Georgia Department of Labor, and the DeKalb County School District.

In 1986, Thurmond became the first African American elected to the Georgia General Assembly from Athens/Clarke County since Reconstruction. In 1998, he was elected Georgia Labor Commissioner, becoming one of the first African Americans to be elected to statewide office in Georgia. He is married to Zola Fletcher Thurmond, and they have one daughter, Mikaya.

INTRODUCTION: Michael McPherson

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, May 30 at Noon.

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George Mattson served as a member of Delta Air Lines’ Board of Directors from 2012-2023, prior to his appointment as CEO of Wheels Up. He previously served as a partner and co-head of the Global Industrials Group in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs & Co. from 2002 to 2012, during which time his responsibilities included oversight of the Transportation and Airline practices. Since 2014, he has been the lead investor and Chairman of Tropic Ocean Airways, the nation's largest operator of seaplanes and a Wheels Up partner. Mattson brings 25 years of aviation experience to the role of CEO, as a strategic advisor, financier, business owner/operator and director.

Ambassador (ret.) Charles Shapiro is a senior advisor at The Pendleton Group and co-founder of Art of Diplomacy Travel.

At the U.S. Department of State, Shapiro held a number of senior positions including Ambassador to Venezuela, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, and Director of Cuban Affairs.  In 2011, he became president of the Institute of the Americas at the University of California San Diego and in 2014 moved to the World Affairs Council of Atlanta. While at the World Affairs Council, he taught international business at the Robinson College of Business at GSU.

Shapiro’s op-eds have been published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Miami Herald, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

Martin Dawe is a sculptor who works primarily as a commissioned artist in a variety of mediums.  Martin began his own custom sculpture studio in 1987 and incorporated as Cherrylion Studios in 1994. 

Martin was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.  He moved to the United States when he was a child and grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey, ten miles from Manhattan.  He studied at Boston University School of Fine Arts and received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Georgia State University.  He apprenticed for 8 years under Julian Harris, a distinguished sculptor, medalist, and Georgia Tech professor emeritus of architecture, who taught architecture at Georgia Tech for over 30 years. 

All Cherrylion’s work has been on a commission basis and the studio is not represented by a gallery.

INTRODUCTION: Tim Wright