Speakers

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Larry Nelson is a professional golfer who has won 41 professional tournaments around the world.  10 of these wins were events on the PGA Tour including the 1981 and 1987 PGA Championships and the 1983 US Open.

Nelson was a member of 3 Ryder Cup Teams with a 9-3-1 record and a successful designer and re-designer of golf courses throughout the world.

Nelson is inducted into the Atlanta, Alabama, Kennesaw Stat University and Georgia Sports Hall of Fames.  In 2006, he was  inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and in 2011 received the PGA of America’s Distinguished Service Award.

Nelson was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, grew up in Acworth, Georgia, attended North Cobb High School, Southern Tech (on a baseball and basketball scholarship), then drafted into the Army, serving as an infantry squad leader in Vietman.  He graduated from Kennesaw State in 1970 with a pre-engineering degree, started playing golf that spring of 1970 and qualified for the PGA Tour in fall of 1973.  He married his childhood sweetheart Gayle in 1967.

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W. Todd Groce is President & CEO of the Georgia Historical Society, the independent educational and research institution responsible for collecting and teaching Georgia and American history. Dr. Groce was born in Virginia and grew up there and in Memphis, the capital of the Mississippi Delta. He holds three degrees in history, including a PhD from the University of Tennessee and a certificate in leadership development from the US Army War College. For over 30 years he has been an educator, administrator, and author, raising over $100 million for educational programs, capital projects, and endowment. He has published two books on the Civil War era and has written over 100 articles and book reviews for publications ranging from academic journals to the New York Times. A frequent lecturer on the history of the American South and US military history, Dr. Groce has made numerous television appearances on C-SPAN, the History Channel, Georgia Public Television, and the BBC. He is past president of the Rotary Club of Savannah, a graduate of Leadership Georgia, and serves on the board of directors of the Georgia Chamber and the Jepson Scholars Program, which advances global leadership through study at the University of Oxford. For more than a decade now, he has been listed by Georgia Trend and James magazines as one of the “Most Influential Georgians.” In 2023, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp appointed him to the Georgia US250th Commission, of which he serves as vice chair. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, Sep 26 at Noon.

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KCA 2024-2025 Officer and Director Installation

Kathy Colbenson, President

Katie Kirkpatrick is the president and CEO of the 165-year-old Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC). Kirkpatrick is known for her public policy prowess, courageous leadership, and more than seventeen years of purpose-driven impact through her work at MAC.

As president and CEO, she led the adoption of a new framework for the Chamber, focusing on the three strategic imperatives of economy, talent, and community. She also catalyzed the Chamber’s historic ATL Action for Racial Equity initiative – a long-term effort that leverages the power of the region’s business community to advance racial equity. Most recently, she leads the organization’s efforts to reimagine Downtown Atlanta, convening the region’s leaders and stakeholders to rally around a strategy to transform it into neighborhood that supports a world-class entertainment scene, a vibrant living environment, and a bustling business community.

Previously MAC’s chief policy officer, Kirkpatrick served as the link between the metro Atlanta business community and local, state, and national governments. She also galvanized the Public Policy team’s priorities in business climate, talent development and education, infrastructure, and thriving community.

Kirkpatrick joined MAC in 2007 as vice president of environmental affairs, previously serving in numerous roles directly related to environmental policy and water-related issues. Kirkpatrick later served as MAC’s senior vice president for business higher education, leading the execution of key initiatives strengthening the region’s higher education and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Before joining MAC, she served as director of environmental engineering for Gold Kist, Inc., with responsibilities in regulatory compliance, treatment system design, strategic planning, and more.

Kirkpatrick currently serves on the GRACE Commission, comprised of public officials, law enforcement, businesses, and nonprofit organizations committed to ending human trafficking in Georgia and the City of Atlanta. She sits on the boards of Atlanta Committee for Progress and Central Atlanta Progress and is an executive committee member of Learn4Life – an initiative working to advance educational outcomes for students in metro Atlanta. Kirkpatrick is also Chair of the Atlanta Track Club Foundation and a current member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, the Buckhead Coalition, and the International Women’s Forum.

Each year since 2021, Kirkpatrick has been named one of Georgia Trend magazine’s 100 Most Influential Georgians as well as Atlanta Magazine’s Atlanta 500, which ranks the top leaders in the region. In 2024, she joined an advisory group coordinated by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to help guide resiliency planning for the City of Atlanta’s water infrastructure.

A proud graduate of Auburn University, Kirkpatrick is a registered professional engineer in several states and a member of the school’s 100+ Women Strong group of successful female engineering alumnae as well as the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council – a group of alumni working to support the vision and goals of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. Kirkpatrick is an alumna of Leadership Atlanta, a program designed to propel established leaders to further serve their communities. She is also a member of the Momentum Advisory Collective, which is working to expand Café Momentum’s transformative internship program for justice-involved youth.

Kirkpatrick lives in Atlanta with her husband, Dow, and has two sons, one currently a student at the University of Georgia and the youngest at The Lovett School, where she can be found with her camera or working the concession stand at a baseball game.

INTRODUCTION: Thornton Kennedy

INTRODUCTION: Mason Stephenson

INTRODUCTION: Mason Stephenson

Scholar in Residence, Center for Middle Georgia Studies, Middle Georgia State University

INTRODUCTION: Michael McPherson

INTRODUCTION: 

INTRODUCTION: Kathy Colbenson

INTRODUCTION: Karen Sheldon

As Executive Director of Future Borders Coalition, Laura Dawson works with a binational coalition of government and industry leaders in order to build better borders for travel and trade. In recognition of this work, she was listed as one of Canada’s Top 50 Foreign Policy Influencers of 2024 by the Hill Times in recognition of her work to advance Canada-U.S. economic relations.

The Future Borders Coalition (FBC) is dedicated to building a better Canada-U.S. border for travel and trade. A bi-national organization, FBC promotes a cohesive vision of the U.S.-Canada border based on the principles of efficiency, safety, and security. Members include travel and trade industry leaders from across all modes of transportation, as well as academic researchers and think tanks. FBC brings practical expertise and research to generate evidence-based recommendations vetted by industry leaders. This combination is a powerful tool for constructive engagement with key decision-makers on the most pressing issues affecting the border.

Prior to her appointment to FBC, Dr. Dawson led the North America office of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Institute, facilitating public sector digital transformation. Other posts include director of the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., founder of Dawson Strategic, and senior economic advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Canada. Dawson serves on the teaching faculty at the Master of Public Policy program at McGill University in Montreal and is a board member of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. In addition, Dawson was jury co-chair for the Government of Canada’s 2022 New Frontiers in Research Fund and was named 2021 Person of Distinction by the Public Affairs Association of Canada. Dr. Dawson holds a PhD in Political Science from Carleton University. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

INTRODUCTION: Jill Thornton

INTRODUCTION: Karen Sheldon