Chamber Announces New Chairmans Club Members

The Douglas County Chamber is pleased to announce three new members of the 2013 Chairman’s Club: Mark Leeper with Community & Southern Bank, Denise Dotson from Gas South, and Howard Ray from Hughes-Ray Company. The mission of the Chairmans Club is to convene community-minded, senior level business people to be visionaries for the Chamber and a voice for business in our community.

Community & Southern Bank (CSB)

Mark Leeper is a 20-plus year industry veteran with experience and expertise in managing and developing commercial relationships to assist clients in growing their business. In his current role with Community & Southern Bank (CSB), Leeper works diligently to brand and market the Bank, its multiple products/services and its customer-centric focus across a four-region service area.

Community & Southern Bank (CSB) is one of Georgia’s most well capitalized banks. CSB was created to enhance the lives of the people they serve by applying wisdom to money.  Since its inception on January 29, 2010, CSB has acquired the assets and deposits of seven banks from the FDIC. Currently, CSB operates 35 branches in metropolitan Atlanta and across Georgia’s northern, eastern and western counties and has more than $2.5 billion in assets.

Gas South

Denise Dotson has more than twenty years of experience in the energy industry, in natural gas transportation, supply, marketing, and retail sales.  Ms. Dotson also has extensive experience in negotiating energy supply contracts for many retail customers throughout the United States and is currently a part of the Gas South Sales Executive Team.  She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Columbia College, and is a Certified Energy Procurement Buyer (CEP), through the Association of Energy Engineers.

Gas South is proud to be Georgia’s fastest growing natural gas provider bringing the heat to over 250,000 residential, business and governmental customers across the state. Based in Atlanta, they are locally owned and operated, with all customer service provided through our Georgia based call center. At Gas South, they are committed to providing customers with the best value for your energy dollar and welcome the opportunity to serve the community.

Hughes-Ray Company, Inc., (HRC)

Howard Ray is the President of Hughes-Ray Company, Inc., (HRC), a full-service engineering, surveying and landscape architecture firm assisting public and private sector clients across the United States with innovative and cost effective solutions.  Howard supervises ongoing activities including engineering consultation, strategic planning, and overall quality control. Howard has over two decades of experience in civil design, master planning, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, specification preparation, erosion and sediment control design, cost and quantity estimating, contract document preparation, and construction services.

Hughes-Ray Company, Inc. (HRC) provides civil engineering, land surveying, and landscape architecture services for numerous clients within the state of Georgia. Founded on the principle of producing quality engineering at a reasonable cost, the firm’s staff combines professional qualifications and years of experience to offer a variety of planning and design services for municipalities and private land developments. From concept to completion, HRC has developed expertise in all phases of the design process; including site inventory and analysis, program development, conceptual planning, master planning, construction documentation, permitting, and construction services.

The Chairmans Club represents businesses and individuals who have chosen to go the extra mile in their support for the Chamber and its mission; they do so because they believe that the voice of business must be heard. They are leaders who invest time and money toward the job creation, quality of life, workforce development and marketing goals of the community. These top decision-makers develop valuable relationships among key business and political leaders and lend expertise on issues critical to their corporate goals and to the community’s growth and development.

Other members of the 2013 Chairman’s Club are AT&T, Bank of North Georgia, Canongate Golf Clubs, City of Douglasville, Comcast, Development Authority of Douglas County, Douglas County Government, Douglas County Schools, Douglasville-Douglas County Water & Sewer Authority, Entertainment Design Group, Georgia Power Company, Google, GreyStone Power Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, Metro Bank, Sam & Rosco’s Restaurant, WellStar Douglas Hospital, and West Georgia Technical College.

“The Chamber is thrilled about our newest members of the Chairmans Club,” says Chamber President and CEO, Kali Boatright, “Mark, Denise and Howard are great assets to the organization and bring with them expertise and values that will benefit the Chamber and the community alike. The growth in the Chambers Chairmans Club program this year has been exciting – we have increased our membership and anticipate even more growth in the years to come with these companies leading the way.”