Mayor David Pennington

As a Dalton native, Mayor David Pennington graduated from Dalton High School and Dalton Junior College. He then went on to graduate from the University of Georgia. He began to serve as Mayor in January 2008. Because the Mayor is a part time position, you can also locate Mr. Pennington at Advanced Insurance Strategies, which he founded. He is the third generation local small business person.

Mr. Pennington serves as a liaison for the Solid Waste Management Authority Board, Finance and Administration Committee, Economic Development Authority, Building Authority and Pension Board.

Congressman Tom Graves

U.S. Representative Tom Graves entered Congress in June 2010 after serving seven and half years in the Georgia General Assembly.  He represents Georgia’s 9th Congressional District which touches the northern suburbs of metro Atlanta to the northwest corner bordering Alabama and Tennessee.

In Congress, Tom serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, which funds the federal government.  This assignment gives Tom a central role in the spending cut debate, as he works to root out government inefficiency and waste, and reform Congress into a more disciplined body that focuses on saving, not spending, taxpayer dollars.  Within that full Committee, Tom serves on three Appropriations Subcommittees: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice and Science; and Financial Services.

Tom is involved with the 2011 Manufacturing Summit because Georgia’s 9th Congressional district has over 60,000 constituents employed directly in manufacturing. From the carpet and chemical sectors in Dalton to technology, food processing and automotive manufacturing in Cumming, Dawsonville, and Gainesville, manufacturing in North Georgia is a cornerstone of the local, regional, and national economy.

T. Boone Pickens - Keynote Speaker

T. Boone Pickens is one of the nation's most successful businessmen, first building one of the nation's largest independent oil company, Mesa Petroleum, and later reinventing himself in his 70s as one of the most successful investment fund operators with BP Capital.
In July 2008, Boone launched the Pickens Plan (PickensPlan.com) , a grass-roots campaign aimed at reducing this country's crippling addiction to imported oil. His 2008 book, The First Billion is the Hardest, also details what this country must do to win back its energy independence. Boone is also aggressively pursuing a wide range of other business interests, including Clean Energy, a clean transportation fuels company he founded and took public in May 2008 (the eighth entity he has helped go public in his career).

Thomas A. "Tom" Fanning is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Southern Company, one of America's largest producers of electricity. Elected by the board of directors in July 2010, Fanning became president of Southern Company in August 2010 and assumed the additional responsibilities of CEO and chairman in December 2010. Fanning has worked for Southern Company for 30 years and was most recently chief operating officer, where he was responsible for Southern Company's generation and transmission, engineering and construction services, research and environmental affairs, system planning and the company's competitive generation business units. Fanning was also responsible for leading Southern Company's efforts on business strategy and also served as a director of Southern Nuclear.

Stephen Moore is an American economic writer and policy analyst who founded and served as president of the Club for Growth from 1999 to 2004. He is currently a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board and frequently opines on the pages of their op-ed section. Moore is known for advocating free-market policies and supply-side economics.

Dr. G.P. "Bud" Peterson is the eleventh president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. In this capacity he oversees a top-ten public research university with more than 19,000 students and more than $500 million in sponsored funding.
Throughout his career, Dr. Peterson has played an active role in helping to establish the national education and research agendas, serving on numerous industry, government, and academic task forces and committees. A distinguished scientist, Dr. Peterson was selected in 2008 by President George W. Bush to serve on the National Science Board through 2014. The Board oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF) and advises the President and Congress on national policy related to science and engineering research and education.

Don Cope became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dalton Utilities in February 1997. Dalton Utilities is a full service utility serving the City of Dalton, Georgia and the surrounding communities with electricity, natural gas, water, waste water, and telecommunications services. He was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce from October 1995 until February 1997.Don served in the United States Navy from 1965 through 1994 and retired as a Commander. 

Paul Bowers

President and CEO of Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Company and one of the nation’s largest producers of elec­tricity. In this role, Bowers is responsible for the company’s operations, customer service, financial, legal, external affairs and nuclear development functions. He also serves as an executive vice president of Southern Company and a member of the Southern Company management council.
Prior to being named chief operating officer at Georgia Power, Bowers served as chief financial officer of Southern Company. In this role, Bowers oversaw the company’s account­ing, finance, tax, investor relations, treasury and risk manage­ment functions. He also served as chief risk officer.
Bowers joined the Southern Company system in 1979 at Gulf Power.

Norman G. Holmes has been President, Southern Natural Gas Company and Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, both subsidiaries of El Paso Corporation, since August 2010. He was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer and Director for Southern Natural Gas Company, a subsidiary of El Paso Corporation, from 2006 to August 2010.  His responsibilities included P&L responsibilities for Southern Natural Gas, Elba Island LNG terminal in Savannah, Georgia, Gulf LNG terminal in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Bear Creek Storage Company in North Louisiana.  He served as Vice President, Business Development from 1999 to 2006 and as Vice President and Controller from 1995 to 1999.  Prior to that time, Mr. Holmes worked in various capacities with Sonat, Inc. since 1979.   He has over 30 years experience in the natural gas industry. 

Robert P. Johnston - Bob is the President and Chief Executive Officer for MEAG Power. He is a member of the Large Public Power Council (LPPC), an organization comprised of the 25 largest public power utilities in the United States. Bob has served as Chairman of LPPC, Georgia Allies, a collaborative marketing partnership that promotes the state's business development, and The Energy Authority (TEA), the nation's leader in public power energy trading and risk management, located in Jacksonville, Florida. Today, Bob serves on the Boards of TEA, LPPC, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, American Public Power Association and Colectric Partners, Inc. Bob has over 32 years of experience in the electric utility industry. At MEAG Power, he has held management positions including Manager, Engineering; Vice President, Engineering and Operations; and Executive Vice President, Operations. He received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1978 and his professional engineering license in 1983. Professional memberships include the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the Power Engineering Society.

Suzanne Sitherwood was named senior vice president, Southern Operations in November 2004. Primary among her responsibilities is executive oversight of the three utilities – Atlanta Gas Light, Chattanooga Gas and Florida City Gas. Prior to this role, Sitherwood served as vice president of gas operations and capacity planning, a position she held since June 2002. As vice president, Sitherwood directed the natural gas distribution infrastructure, gas control, gas measurement, marketer relations, customer-related services, interstate pipeline relationships, asset management, and management of storage facilities.

Sitherwood joined Atlanta Gas Light over 25 years ago as a co-op student in the cathodic protection group. She has held a variety of positions including vice president of engineering, environmental, and construction, chief engineer, director of competition planning, director of rates and regulatory affairs, and director of residential markets.

A graduate of Southern College of Technology with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering technology, Sitherwood also holds a master's degree in business administration from Brenau University.