Lori Grice, owner of Lori Grice Photography, and Kendria Lee, executive associate for Government and Community Relations at Georgia Southern University, were selected as Bulloch County participants in the Leadership Southeast Georgia class of 2017.
        The five-month program is designed to equip and empower community leaders to effectively work promoting positive growth while improving the quality of life in the Southeast Georgia Coastal Region.
        Beginning in January 1999, leaders representing the business, local government and education communities in 10 southeast Georgia counties set about the difficult task of creating a regional strategic plan for community and economic development.
        All of the participants live and work within Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh and Screven counties, which together are known as Georgia's Coastal Region.
        The members of the LSEGA Class of 2017 are:
Lori Grice, Lori Grice Photography (Bulloch)
Kendria Lee, Georgia Southern University (Bulloch)Brad Brookshire, Ameris Bank (Bryan)
John Petrino, Georgia Ports Authority (Bryan)
Gary Sanchez, AT&T (Bryan)
Christy Sherman, Richmond Hill CVB (Bryan)
Terry Landreth, Camden Bicycle Center (Camden)
Charles Bowen, The Bowen Law Group (Chatham)
Carol Coppola, Sun Trust (Chatham)
Alfred McGuire, Woodville Tompkins Technical & Career High School (Chatham)
C.A. Miller, C.A. Miller Enterprises (Chatham)
Chris Nowicki, Gulfstream (Chatham)
Lynn Tootle, Gro-Masters (Chatham)
Mike Tucker, Coastal Workforce Services (Chatham)
Mark Wilcox, Seacrest Partners (Chatham)
Jennifer Abshire, Abshire PR (Chatham)
Sheila Burtz, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (Effingham)
Phillip Scroggin, Hargray (Effingham)
Ryan Thompson, Thomas & Hutton (Effingham)
Randy Mayfield, Georgia Power (Evans)
Heard Galis, Phillipps Galis Insurance (Glynn)
Christy Jordan, Southeast Georgia Health System (Glynn)
Tonya Miller, Glynn County (Glynn)
Joey Strength, Hunter Maclean (Glynn)
Rick Townsend, College & Career Academy (Glynn)
Chuck Moss, U.S. Army Garrison Fort, Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield (Liberty)
David Southerland, U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield (Liberty)
Elise Stafford, Coastal Manor (Long)
        "We have almost every county in the region represented, and they are a diverse group from various ages and experience," said Lee Beckmann, a graduate of LSEGA's class of 2013 and current vice chair for the 2017 Board of Directors.
        Beckmann is also the manager of governmental affairs with the Georgia Ports Authority. "I look forward to working with this group and watching their ideas develop into meaningful projects for our region."
        Participants were nominated by the alumni of the Leadership Southeast Georgia program and by community business leaders in the coastal region. They will spend one weekend a month in surrounding counties learning about topics that affect the region such as healthcare, education, economic development and transportation.
        Georgia Power, A Southern Company, and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation are the presenting sponsors for this year's class. Other sponsors include Carriage Trade Public RelationsTM, Cecilia Russo Marketing, HunterMaclean, Seacrest Partners, Rives Worrell, Savannah Economic Development Authority, Camden County Development Authority, the Savannah Chamber of Commerce and Thomas and Hutton.