After five months of training, Leadership Southeast Georgia announces the 2016 graduating class. Leadership Southeast Georgia is a regional program designed to equip and empower community leaders to effectively promote positive growth while improving the quality of life in the Southeast Georgia Coastal Region.

This year, 28 participants spent one weekend a month in surrounding counties learning about topics that effect local counties such as healthcare, education, economic development and transportation.

All of the participants live or work within Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh and Screven counties, which together are known as Georgia’s Coastal Region.

The graduates of the LSEGA Class of 2016 are:

Steven Asplund, GeoVista Credit Union (Bryan)
Robbie Cheek, Thomas and Hutton (Camden)
James Coughlin, Camden County Joint Development Authority (Camden)
Patti Downs, Pinova Holdings, Inc. (Glynn)
James Ervin, Ft. Stewart (Liberty)
Julie Gerbsch, Armstrong State University (Chatham)
Wade Herring, Hunter Maclean (Chatham)
Drew Hunt, Savannah Chamber of Commerce (Chatham)
Willis Keene, Citizens State Bank (Camden)
Dinah King, Georgia Power (Effingham)
Cecilia Russo, Cecilia Russo Marketing, LLC (Chatham)
Leigh Ryan, World Trade Center Savannah (Chatham)
Jesse Bentley, Evans General Contractors (Chatham)
Phyllis Taylor, Ft. Stewart (Liberty)
Margaret VanHouten, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (Liberty)
James Wilburn, Georgia Institute of Technology (Chatham)
Michelle Pfeffer, Claxton-Evans County Chamber (Bulloch)
Barbara Prosser, Effingham College and Career Academy (Effingham)
Ben Taylor, Bryan County (Bryan)
Dawn Morgan, Collins Construction (Chatham)
Kathryn Downs, Glynn County (Glynn)
Paula Kreissler, Healthy Savannah and Wound Care Clinic ESU (Chatham)
Nick Puhala, USI Insurance Service (Chatham)
Mark Bennett, Gulfstream (Chatham)
Randy McCall, Chatham County Health Department (Chatham)

The following class members will receive a participation certificate for the efforts in the LSEGA 2016 class:

Mandy Harrison, Darien-McIntosh County Chamber (McIntosh)
Shauntia Lewis, City of Brunswick (Glynn)
John Scott, Brunswick Glynn Development Authority (Glynn)

The presenting sponsor of the leadership program was Georgia Power. The silver sponsor was Evans General Contractors. The graduation session was sponsored by Savannah Economic Development Authority.