Mike Gaymon, author, professional speaker, and retired Chamber of Commerce president, is the featured speaker for Georgia Southwestern State University’s Griffin B. Bell Lecture Thursday, April 7. The event will begin at 11 a.m. in the Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Sciences Complex Lecture Hall.

This event is free and open to the public.

Gaymon retired from the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce in November 2014 after more than 26 years as President and CEO. He is the author of “A View from the Backhoe” as well as President and CEO of AttitudePlus, a leadership and motivational development company. With his guidance, the Greater Columbus Chamber became Georgia’s first five-star chamber in 2006 and one of only 27 in the nation.

Gaymon was selected as one of the top 100 Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend in 2007. A former Georgia Chamber Executive of the Year, Gaymon is a graduate of Leadership Georgia and is a previous program co-chair. He was one of the first Certified Chamber Executives of the Georgia Association of Chambers of Commerce, and he was the only Chamber Executive selected to lead the State Chamber Associations in both Alabama and Georgia.

A native of South Carolina, Gaymon transitioned from a teaching and coaching career at Chesterfield Marlboro College in Cheraw, S.C. in 1976 to a successful, 38-year career leading Chambers in North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. He earned a Bachelor of Science from Erskine College in Due West, S.C. Gaymon is also a graduate of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organizational Management where he served as the Regents Chair for the Georgia Institute.