Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle will be keynote speaker for Georgia Southern University’s Saturday, May 6, graduation for students receiving baccalaureate degrees.
The service is scheduled for 9 a.m. at Allen E. Paulson Stadium on Lanier Drive.
GS alumnus Ronny Just, governmental relations manager for Georgia Power, will speak at the separate ceremony for students receiving graduate degrees, 1 p.m. Friday, May 5, at Hanner Fieldhouse on Herty Drive.
Georgia’s 11th lieutenant governor and the first Republican to hold the office, Cagle was first elected in 2006 and is now serving his third four-year term.
After graduating from Johnson High School in Gainesville, Cagle had attended Gainesville State College and Georgia Southern. But after an injury prevented him from playing football, he returned to Gainesville and at age 20 started his first business, a tuxedo shop. At 28, he was elected to the state Senate, becoming Georgia’s youngest senator. He was re-elected five times.
Cagle founded Southern Heritage Bank in 1999. It later merged into other banks.
As lieutenant governor, Cagle launched the Georgia College and Career Academy Network, a partnership between local community leaders, school systems and Georgia’s technical colleges. Today, more than 20,000 students are enrolled in Georgia’s 40 College and Career Academies. Cagle has been recognized for his work to champion charter school systems, the German American Apprenticeship Program and the Lieutenant Governor’s Healthy Kids Challenge.
He is also author of the book “Education Unleashed.”
Ronny Just, as Georgia Power’s governmental relations manager, develops and implements the power company’s strategies to influence policymaking around energy and environmental matters. He also directs Georgia Power’s strategic research relationships with Georgia Southern University and the University of Georgia.
He recently reached his 32 anniversary working with Georgia Power. He was previously environmental Issues and air quality manager in its environmental affairs division. He also was the customer service manager for more than 14 business offices in northeast Georgia, serving more than 156,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers.
In the Atlanta community, Just is a board member for the Georgia Institute of Environmental Leadership and the Clean Air Campaign and co-chairs the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Energy and Environment Committee.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from Georgia Southern, and his wife, Kim, is also a Georgia Southern alumna.
Both spring commencement ceremonies can be viewed live at GeorgiaSouthern.edu/commencement, where more information is available.