Elaine Hudson/Leadership Atlanta
Elaine Hudson joined the Leadership Atlanta team in December 2011. As Manager of Marketing and Programs, Elaine is responsible for communications, branding, and media relations for Leadership Atlanta and its events. In addition, she also helps plan and execute programs for both Leadership Atlanta and LEAD Atlanta classes.
Previously, Elaine worked as the assistant director of the Atlanta Press Club, a professional membership organization for journalists and other allied-media professionals, from 2007-2011. In that role she oversaw programming, membership, fundraising, and other projects that promoted a free press. During her time at the press club, Elaine earned her master’s in public administration from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.
Steve Church manages communications and public affairs for Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, a leading paper towel and bath tissue maker, and oversees a team that manages communications for all company divisions and facilities. Steve joined GP in 1994 and previously worked in public affairs with a global manufacturer, an engineering firm and a DC-based association.
A Philadelphia native, Steve graduated from James Madison University. He and his wife, Jill, have two children and reside in Fayetteville. Steve serves on the board of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Atlanta and the marketing committee for CHRIS Kids. He has volunteered with his children’s schools and sports, on professional organization boards and a local cycling group’s board. In his spare time, he races on his bicycle in local competitions.
Peggy Still Johnson/Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
Peggy Still Johnson is currently the Executive Director of Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, on the Advisory Boards of the Georgia State University School of Music, the Recording Academy (Grammy Organization,) and the Atlanta Film Festival. Peggy is a member of the prestigious Leadership Atlanta (Class of 2013) and has worked with Atlanta Music Project (Executive Board,) Dallas Austin Foundation, Buckhead Club, Mainstreet Woodstock (Executive Board,) and the Fulton County Arts Council. Peggy founded the Peggy Still School of Music in 1988 and successfully sold all three locations in 2011. Peggy founded Peggy Johnson Productions and Talent and has performed all over the world and has worked with many well known artists including Stephen King, John Mellencamp, Mickey Thomas, T Bone Burnett and films such as “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Big Momma’s House 3,” and “Parental Guidance.”
Jim Durrett/Buckhead Community Improvement District
Jim Durrett is executive director of The Buckhead Community Improvement District (CID) – a public- private agency with taxation power. The mission of the Buckhead CID is to create a more walkable and livable urban environment in the heart of the Buckhead commercial area in north Atlanta. They meet the challenges of growth by investing tax dollars collected from commercial property owners within the district, as well as other funds they leverage from outside the district, to make meaningful improvements in the transportation network and public realm that connect people and places. He has in-depth expertise in transportation, land use and creating livable communities, and is a frequent speaker at local and national conferences and workshops.
Prior to heading up the Buckhead CID, Durrett was founding executive director of the Livable Communities Coalition, a not-for-profit organization formed in 2005 to promote smart growth development in the Atlanta region. Prior to that, Durrett served for five years with the Urban Land Institute (ULI), an organization dedicated to land use and real estate development issues, as the founding executive director of ULI’s Atlanta District Council.
In addition, Durrett was with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce as the vice president of Environmental Affairs, and was the senior vice president and chief operating officer of The Georgia Conservancy. Durrett began his professional career as a hydrogeologist in the DeKalb County office of Golder Associates, an international geotechnical and environmental engineering consulting firm.
Durrett is actively involved in the community and currently serves on the following boards and councils: MARTA board of directors (which he chaired in 2011); Council for Quality Growth board of directors; Project for Public Spaces Placemaking Leadership Council; Biophilic Institute executive board; Livable Communities Coalition board of trustees; Project Interconnections advisory board; and VSA Arts of Georgia board of directors. He is a member of Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2013.