The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce is hosting its 2022 Leadership Columbia County Executive Forum on January 26-28, sponsored by Georgia Power, Augusta Industrial and Queensborough National Bank & Trust.

The Executive Forum is a three-day, condensed awareness program covering all aspects of the community. The forum targets senior level executives who may not have the time to invest in the Chamber’s traditional 10-month Leadership program. The goals of the program are to give the participants a better understanding of our community, the current state of our economy, government, military, education and workforce, and the future plans concerning growth and quality of life across the region. The class will also have opportunities to make connections and create alliances with other leaders in the program. Their spouses are invited to attend as well.

Highlights of the program include a tour of Amazon; visiting the site of the new Greenpoint development; an overview of Columbia County operations, including traffic, and law enforcement; non-profits and quality of life aspects; education, workforce and economic development; healthcare; and interaction with federal, state and locally-elected officials along with county, military and business leaders.

This year’s Executive Forum is chaired by Kerry Bridges, Area Manager for Georgia Power, and Denise Vickers, General Manager for WXFG FOX54.  Also, this program was made possible by contributions from The Prather Company, WXFG FOX54, Spherion Staffing Services, Portable Services, Inc., Augusta Staffing, the CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon, AUSA, Blanchard & Calhoun Real Estate, McKnight Construction, WDM Family Enterprises, Builders Association of Metro Augusta, Development Authority of Columbia County and PlanDwell Homes. 

Participants in the 2022 Executive Forum Program include: David Beckum, Augusta Industrial Services; Dr. Edward Boland, Welcome Health Network; Amy Breitmann, Golden Harvest Food Bank; Ryan Downs, WDM Family Enterprises; Dr. Beth Druckenmiller, Rising Chiropractic; Scott Edwards, Synovus; Dr. Steven Flynt, Columbia County School District; Neil Gwynne, Amazon; Michael Hitchcock, Textron Specialized Vehicles; Herbert Judon, Augusta Regional Airport; Jane Marie Kinsey, McKnight Construction; Timothy Kosiba, National Security Agency – Georgia; Russell Lahodny, Columbia County Chamber of Commerce; David May, US Army Cyber Center; Wayne Millar, M-Communications; Wendy Perry, Katalis: Beyond Leadership; Liz Ponder, SRP Federal Credit Union; Lionel Prather, The Prather Company; Christina Purkapile, Booz Allen Hamilton; Ceretta Smith, City of Grovetown; COL James Turinetti, US Army Signal School; Dr. Jermaine Whirl, Augusta Technical College; Jessica Wingard, Premier Networx, Inc.