Cleveland Mayor Josh Turner has been selected to be a part of the prestigious Leadership Georgia class. Leadership Georgia is one of the nation’s oldest and most successful leadership-training programs for young business, civic, and community leaders.
Its primary purpose is to identify, train, and inspire a network of emerging young leaders, whose ages typically range from 25 to 45. Affiliated with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the organization has fielded numerous highly influential state and national leaders.
Mayor Turner was nominated by the White County Chamber of Commerce. Chamber President Beth Truelove noted that this is an important opportunity for White County.
“The relationships built at Leadership Georgia are invaluable. Having this common connection is a key reason Georgia continues to make great strides in economic development. It is vitally important that White County have a candidate that represents our diverse economy in this capacity.”
“We designed our local White County Leadership program to be an incubator to help ensure that our communities have a pool of candidates that would be eligible for this distinction. To my knowledge, Mayor Turner is our first White County nominee selected for Leadership Georgia,” Truelove said.
The process by which a class is chosen is rigorous. Each year, the Leadership Georgia Selection Committee accepts nominations from local chambers of commerce.
Classes are assembled using criteria based, not only on demonstrated leadership of the applicants, but a class that is also representative of our state on the basis of geography, age, gender, and race. With hundreds of applications to choose from every year, the Committee selects only 63 participants.
“I’m honored to be a part of this esteemed group of emerging leaders and look forward to learning from others, networking, and showcasing our city throughout Georgia,” said Mayor Turner.
White County Board Chair Ward Gann said, “It comes as no surprise to the Chamber Board of Directors that Mayor Turner was chosen for this honor.” Gann said he’s confident the mayor will “represent White County well.”
