Senator Saxby Chambliss served in the U.S. Senate for two terms and, before that, served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Georgia Trend magazine, which consistently named him one of its Most Influential Georgians, called him “a highly visible and well-respected presence in Washington,” and says he earned “a reputation as an affable but straight-talking lawmaker.”

During his tenure in the Senate, he served as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; the Senate Rules Committee; and his leadership and experience on homeland security and intelligence matters earned him an appointment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he served as vice chairman from 2011 to 2014, advocating for dramatically improved information sharing and human-intelligence-gathering capabilities. His previous role as chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security made him one of the leading congressional experts on those issues.

During the 109th Congress, he served as chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee and is the only senator since 1947 to have chaired a full standing Senate committee after serving in the chamber for just two years. He served as ranking member of the Agriculture Committee during the 110th and 111th Congresses.

He also served as the co-chair of the Senate Aerospace Caucus and the Senate Reserve Caucus, and as a member of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, the Juvenile Diabetes Caucus, the Caucus on Military Depots, Arsenals and Ammunition Plants, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and the Congressional Fire Services Caucus.

In 1998, Roy Barnes was elected to serve as the 80th Governor of the State of Georgia. During his term, he concentrated on education reform, health care reform, and remedies for urban growth and sprawl. He created the Georgia Cancer Coalition and served as Chair of the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern Governor’s Association, and the Education Commission of the States. He was defeated for reelection in large part because of his efforts to change the Georgia flag, a political decision for which he was honored with the 2003 John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Profile in Courage Award

A lifelong resident of Cobb County, Georgia, Roy Barnes received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and graduated with honors from the Lumpkin School of Law at UGA in 1972. Upon graduation, he went to work as a prosecutor in the Cobb County District Attorney’s office, where he stayed until opening his first law firm in 1975.

For over 40 years, Gov. Barnes has tried civil and criminal cases throughout Georgia and in neighboring states including a successful class action lawsuit against Fleet Finance that received national recognition in the early 1990s. His practice has concentrated primarily on civil litigation, where he has developed an expertise in consumer class action cases, medical malpractice matters, products liability law, general tort matters and commercial litigation. Gov. Barnes has appeared in more than 250 cases in the state and federal appellate courts.

Gov. Barnes has been a public servant nearly as long as he has been a lawyer. At age 26, he was elected the youngest member of the Georgia State Senate. He went on to serve a total of eight terms and was a member of the Appropriations, Rules and Transportation committees. In addition, he was Chairman of the Select Committee on Constitutional Revision, which rewrote the state’s constitution as well as Chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee. He also served as a floor leader to Governor Joe Frank Harris from 1983 to 1989. After an unsuccessful bid for the Governor’s Office in 1990, he was elected to the State House of Representatives, where he served for six years and was Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and Chair of the Subcommittee on General Law.

Governor Nathan Deal is a Sandersville native who joined the United States Army and earned the rank of Captain following his graduation from Mercer University with a law degree. He then began a private law practice in Gainesville, the hometown of his wife, Sandra Deal. While his wife taught in Hall County public schools, he began a career in public service, working as a prosecutor, judge, state senator and U.S. congressman for Georgia’s 9th District.

Gov. Deal spent 23 years in private law practice. He was inducted as assistant district attorney in 1970 in Northeast Georgia followed by a judicial appointment as a juvenile court judge in Hall County the following year, a position he served till 1972.

He first served as Member of the Georgia Senate from the 49th district from 1981 to 1993. He became a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives in January 1993, a tenure that spanned 17 years, during which time he rose to chair the Health Subcommittee on Energy and Commerce.

He became the 82nd governor of Georgia in 2011 and served two terms. As governor, he led Georgia to become the No. 1 state in the nation for business for six consecutive years — a first in Georgia history — and helped create more than 800,000 private sector jobs. During his tenure, Georgia’s job growth outpaced the national average, while its population jumped from 10th to 8th nationally. Deal was successful reforming several issues but the overhaul of Georgia’s Criminal Justice system one of the most significant and became a model other states followed, as well as the federal government.

Through meaningful tax reform, workforce development initiatives for those with all manner of capabilities, and investment in education and infrastructure, the state continues to grow local small businesses and attract top companies from around the world.

Shirley Clarke Franklin is the former mayor of the City of Atlanta (2002-2010). She held key executive positions in the administrations of Mayor Maynard Jackson and Mayor Andrew Young (1978-1991). Franklin’s executive experience includes 5 years with the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and 10 years as Executive Chairman of Purpose Built Communities. In these positions, Franklin developed and led day to day operations, policy, government and community relations functions from serving as Chief Officer for Operations, Chief Administrative Officer, Vice President for Local and State Government Relations, Commissioner for Cultural Affairs among other positions. Franklin started her public service career in Washington, D.C. as an intern and later served as an analyst in the US Labor Department of Office of Federal Contract Compliance in the late 1960’s.

Franklin’s business and civic engagement spans 5 decades, primarily in Atlanta and Georgia. Her business experience includes current service on the board of directors of Mueller Water Products and former service on Delta Air Lines board of directors. Currently, Franklin serves on the boards of the CDC Foundation, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Purpose Built Schools Atlanta and the Volcker Alliance.

Since her youth, Franklin has been involved in non-partisan and Democratic politics from community organizing to fundraising and political strategy. She served as the deputy campaign manager for the Andrew Young for Mayor Campaign and as the chair or as a member of the transition teams of Mayor Maynard Jackson, Mayor Andrew Young and Governor Roy Barnes. Franklin held numerous Democratic National Committee positions including as one of four Vice Chairs of the historic 2008 Democratic Party Convention and the Co-Chair of the DNC Platform Committee in 2016.

During her term as mayor, Franklin was known for her willingness to reach across the aisle to partner for the advancement of public policy to serve of all Georgians and Americans.