The Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum  announced the distinguished recipient of the 2025 Legacy Leader Award will be Dr. Paul Pressly.

An educator, historian, and community leader,  Pressly has made an impact on the cultural and civic life of Savannah, building bridges between people, schools, and communities.

Pressly headed the Savannah Country Day School, created the Horizons program that touches the lives of over three hundred public school students each summer, and was active in shaping policy for independent schools on a national level. He served as chairman of the Board of the National Association of Independent Schools, as President-General of the Cum Laude Society, and as chairman of the SAT Committee for the College Board. He currently serves as chairman of the Board of Governors of Bethesda Academy and as a member of the boards of Horizons and Elevate, a program that places mentors in public schools.

An environmentalist, he served as director of the Ossabaw Island Education Alliance, a partnership between the Georgia Board of Regents, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Ossabaw Island Foundation. In carrying out the legacy of its original owner, Sandy West, the Alliance opened up Ossabaw, with its 26,000 acres and multiple ecosystems of unparalleled beauty, to students, researchers, and groups with an educational purpose.

While director, he authored two books on the history of early Georgia (On the
Rim of the Caribbean and Black Georgians and Spanish Florida), edited a volume on the environmental history of our coast (Coastal Nature, Coastal Culture), and produced a fourth volume on African American Life and Culture in the Georgia Lowcountry.

As community leader, Pressly has worked to build connections between public and private schools, several non-profits, and the many ethnic groups within a city and a coast rich in a heritage that is often overlooked. He served as chairman of Senior Citizens Inc., the Sarah Mills Hodge Foundation, president of the Rotary Club of Savannah, and on the boards of Georgia Historical Society, Armstrong State University Foundation, Telfair Museum, Davenport House, Rabun Gap Nacoochee School, Historic Savannah Foundation, American Red Cross – Savannah Chapter, Savannah Arts Commission, and others. 

The Legacy Leadership Award will be one of three awards presented  at the Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum, scheduled to take place on March 3-4, 2025, at Kehoe Iron Works at Trustees Garden. The two-day event will bring together established and emerging leaders together in an innovative environment promoting leadership development, networking and collaborative teamwork for the betterment of our growing Coastal Georgia region.

Past Forums have had over 400 attendees each year, including a wide array of diverse leaders from civic groups, non-profits, neighborhoods, government, and business.  Cost for the 2025 Forum is $490 and includes access to all speaker presentations/regional tours, lunch each day, morning coffee/afternoon beverage/snack bars, and invitations to additional special events being held during the forum.  

Major sponsors of the Forum include Georgia Southern University, Georgia Power, Georgia Ports, Morris Multimedia and Gulfstream Aerospace..