Developing 21st Century Civic Leaders with Excellence

One of today’s top leadership experts, John Maxwell, said the challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth. Over the past nine months, Y. Dyan Matthews, President of the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce (SFCC) and her team lead the effort to transform and expand the knowledge base of a robust pipeline of diverse civic leaders to serve South Fulton County and its eight cities in SFCC’s re-inaugural Leadership South Fulton (LSF) Program. The foundation of the Leadership South Fulton Program is to offer leaders the opportunity to cultivate and enhance leadership skills, increase community awareness, network and build relationships with other leaders in the County, and assess and resolve civic issues.

The 2019-2020 Leadership South Fulton graduates hailed from multiple industries, including airport operations, city, and county government, education, entrepreneurs, healthcare, hospitality, nonprofit, and utility. This year’s LSF program kicked-off at the world’s largest one-day simulcast leadership conference hosted by Leadercast South Fulton. The conference included world-renowned leaders: Gayle King, Andy Stanley, and Dr. Caroline Leaf, to name a few. The South Fulton Leadercast sponsors were the Development Authority of Fulton County, Georgia Power, and the ATL Design Group. Corporate, city, and business leaders came together to grow, develop, be empowered, inspired, and connect.

LSF participants’ learning experiences were comprised of presentations, interactive sessions, role plays, panel discussions, and hands-on activities presented by local, regional, and state leaders. Session topics ranged from diversity and inclusion, race relations, team building, economic development, servant leadership, with opportunities to explore behind-the-scenes tours of the education system, state government, and local government and public safety divisions.

The LSF program culminated with a capstone class project that correlated with session themes. Participants had an opportunity to turn concepts into workable projects and problem-solved by working in small teams to accomplish a broader mission, exploring the civic health of South Fulton County, and developing realistic solutions to increase impact and build a better community. The Leadership South Fulton Program experience inspires and encourages leaders to grow and blossom.

Congratulations to the 2019-2020 LSF Graduates: Adreene Allen, Rhonda Appleby, Eric Bell, Travis Bell, Stacy Blakley, Kimberly Dove, Cindy Givens, Genevieve Jones, Merlin Knight, Rashan Noble, Karen Phillips, Shayla Reed, Dr. Lisa Richardson, Dr. Catherine Rowell, and Dr. Gymiah Whitaker.

The mission of the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce is to create synergy for business development and expansion by attracting, retaining, and advancing the business interests of South Fulton.

For further information about Leadership South Fulton or questions about the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce, please contact Y. Dyan Matthews, dyan.matthews@southfultonchamber.com or 770-964.1984.