SGWLI class members participate in a legislative policy exercise designed to provide insight into the policymaking process. Pictured from left to right: Emily Watson (University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, Colquitt County); Melody Cowart (Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce, Tift County); Chanel Randolph (Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs South Georgia, Lowndes County); and Dale Rickett (Colquitt County Educational Foundation, Colquitt County).

South GeorgiaLEADS continues to invest in South Georgia’s future success by identifying and developing leaders who understand and can speak to the unique challenges and opportunities that are collectively experienced throughout the region. Ten years into the launch of the program, SGL has evolved its initiatives and efforts to respond to the region and its needs in real time. 

Cultivating leadership in every corner of its 32-county footprint and beyond through its seminal program—the traditional South GeorgiaLEADS program, now referred to as SGL’s Regional Leadership Initiative (RLI)—SGL 2.0, an intensive leadership experience for program alumni, and most recently, the South Georgia Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI), a program which features an emphasis on the leadership experience of the women who live, work and call South Georgia home; South GeorgiaLEADS serves as the hub for leadership capacity in the region. 

Partnering with the University of Georgia J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development and Valdosta State University’s Center for South Georgia Regional Impact, SGL has built a strong foundation to support its continued efforts in the region.

With SGL’s two signature leadership programs ready to launch new classes in the fall, the Regional Leadership Initiative and the Women’s Leadership Initiative are both actively recruiting new participants. 

South GeorgiaLEADS Chair Rob Collins shares his enthusiasm for running the two program simultaneously, “South GeorgiaLEADS is about building the capacity of the region through leadership development and skills training. We are excited to have the ability to offer the Regional program and the Women’s Initiative to interested applicants across South Georgia at the same time. Our new vision for leadership capacity in South Georgia over the next 10 years is about leveraging all of our programs together underneath one ‘South GeorgiaLEADS’ umbrella.”