The inaugural Greater Perimeter Chamber Annual Meeting celebrated the launch of a new era in business leadership across Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, and the broader Perimeter region. This pivotal event unveiled their bold vision for the future and clarified what the Chamber stands FOR: business growth, innovation, and collaboration.
As Executive Director for the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (PCIDs), Ann Hanlon is in charge of the organization’s daily operations, as well as its investments in transportation infrastructure.
The CIDs have an annual operating budget of over $8 million. Previously, Ann was the Executive Director of the the North Fulton CID for 13 years, beginning when it was a start-up. Prior to entering the CID space, Ann served as a Senior Program Specialist at the Atlanta Regional Commission.
A native of South Georgia, Ann received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Government and Computer Science from the University of Notre Dame, and a Masters of Public Administration degree in Management and Finance from Georgia State University.
Ann was honored as the “Woman of the Year” by the Women’s Transportation Seminar Atlanta Chapter in November 2016. In April 2015 and again in 2017, Governor Nathan Deal appointed Ann to the Board of Directors for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority where she serves on the Projects and Planning committees. Ann was named a “Notable Georgian” by Georgia Trend Magazine in 2017, one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Women Who Mean Business” in 2015 and as one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s “40 under 40” in 2012 and 2018.
In 2019, she served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Council for Quality Growth as the Council’s first female Chairman. Additionally, Ann serves on the Board of Directors for the Women’s’ Transportation Seminar, Atlanta Chapter, the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, the Sandy Springs and Dunwoody Perimeter Chambers of Commerce, and the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce.
In 2020, Ann was appointed by CEO Michael Thurmond to the DeKalb County COVID19 task force, and continues to serve in that capacity as a representative of large business interests in Perimeter during the pandemic. 
Ann is a graduate of the Regional Leadership Institute of the Atlanta Regional Commission (2010) and Leadership North Fulton (2006). Personally, Ann is a volunteer with the Girl Scouts of Metro Atlanta, a member of All Saints Catholic Church and a sustainer with the Junior League of Atlanta. She lives in Dunwoody with her husband, Michael, and their two daughters.
Connect with Ann on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the greater perimeter. It’s time for Greater Perimeter Chamber Spotlight. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Broadcasting live from the Greater Perimeter Chamber inaugural annual meeting. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Anne Hanlon with Perimeter CIDs. Welcome.
Ann Hanlon: Thank you so much. I’m thrilled to be here.
Lee Kantor: Well, I’m asking everybody, why are you for the Greater Perimeter Chamber?
Ann Hanlon: Oh, I’m so excited to be here today. The kid has been in this market as a community partner since 1999. So we’ve spent decades advocating for this area. And I’m really, really excited that the chamber now is bringing an additional layer of horsepower to our ability to advocate for this region, for transportation projects and economic development, and just making our community a better place.
Lee Kantor: Can you educate our listeners a little bit about us, Sid? What does that mean? What is perimeter Sid’s mission purpose?
Ann Hanlon: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So Sid stands for Community Improvement District. We are one of about 30 such districts in metro Atlanta. We’re one of the oldest and one of the biggest. We are a special tax district within which commercial property owners pay an additional increment on their property taxes. And those dollars are going to go into a special fund. And those dollars are used to help fund public infrastructure projects like roads and bridges and sidewalks and landscaping. So we’re the ones we work with the city governments. We work with the cities of Sandy Springs and Brookhaven and Dunwoody to help build things that make our community better.
Lee Kantor: Now, is this a government entity?
Ann Hanlon: We’re no, we’re not we’re actually a quasi governmental nonprofit. So we sort of sit in the same kind of civic space that the Chamber of Commerce does.
Lee Kantor: And then how do you work together?
Ann Hanlon: So we we work with the chamber all the time. And our city governments, we represent the big property owners. So in our market we represent the Brookfield properties. They own Perimeter Mall, State Farm, UPS, IHG, WestRock, Cox Enterprises. So a lot of the big corporate names that you may recognize, we represent their commercial interest when we’re sort of lobbying for big projects to come to the area.
Lee Kantor: And those big projects could be widening roads or adding street lights or things like that. That’s right, that’s right.
Ann Hanlon: So from the very, very large, you know, we helped lobby for the 285 at 400 interchange project as an example of a very big one, right also down to the smaller projects like getting the trail system connected throughout perimeter. We’re really excited to help the city of Sandy Springs build out a few trails along Peachtree Dunwoody Road, hopefully eventually connect that to path 400, which goes into Buckhead and Beltline, which ultimately helps us recruit more businesses to come to this area.
Lee Kantor: So is that part of your mission is to communicate with large organizations, say, hey, you should consider relocating in this area and we can help you kind of do that efficiently.
Ann Hanlon: Absolutely, absolutely. And the city governments have really strong economic development programs who are kind of the boots on the ground out there retaining our businesses and recruiting new businesses. So when we’re all working together as a team with the chamber to retain businesses, with the cities, to recruit new businesses, and with the CID to make sure that they have the infrastructure they need once they’re here. We all kind of work together as one big team to take care of the business community here in the market.
Lee Kantor: So what do you need and how can we help?
Ann Hanlon: So I’m so thrilled to be here with with under Adam’s leadership and at the chamber. Um, you know, we’re we want the business community to stay healthy. You know, we want to keep everybody engaged. Um, and looking for the chamber to to reach out to new businesses to get them involved in the community. So they know that perimeter, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody is their home.
Lee Kantor: Well, Anne, thank you so much for sharing your story today. Is there a way to connect? Is there a website? What’s the best way for our listeners to learn more?
Ann Hanlon: Absolutely. We’ve got a website, um, perimeter atlanta.org. Um, we’re on Instagram. We’re on TikTok, we’re on Facebook. We’re on all the things. Um, but, you know, anybody can feel free to reach out to me directly. Um, we got a great staff at the Sid, so we would love to hear from any of your listeners.
Lee Kantor: All right, Anne, thank you again for sharing your story.
Ann Hanlon: Thank you.
