Michael Kelly, Chairman

Mike Kelly currently serves as Senior Vice President of Planning and Development for Reynolds Plantation, a golf, lake, residential and resort community located half way between Atlanta and Augusta. In this role, Mike is responsible for all of the master planning, development, construction and model home divisions of the Plantation. Prior to serving as Senior Vice President of Development, Mike was the Senior Vice President of Operations for Reynolds Plantation. In this role he oversaw all of the operational areas of the development including golf operations, golf maintenance, club operations, cottage rental, property owners association, security, membership, marinas, recreation, etc.

Mike began his career with Ramada Inns corporate offices in Phoenix, Arizona in 1985. He served as a Management Systems Specialist for Ramada, which involved opening 35 new company-owned hotels around the United States.

Mike left Ramada Inns in 1987 to work for a small consulting firm, Highland Associates. There he worked as a Senior Staff Consultant for a period of 3 years. Representative clients included Harrah’s Casino, Holiday Inn, Trump Plaza, Tropicana Casino, Hechinger’s, TPC Clubs, Reynolds Plantation, etc. He joined Reynolds Plantation as Director of Operations in 1989 and performed this role for a period of seven years. He left to become the General Manager of The Boulders Club in Carefree, Arizona where he spent three years. Mike returned to Reynolds Plantation in July of 1999 as Executive Vice President of Reynolds Lodges, a company formed by Reynolds Plantation to develop a 250 room Ritz Carlton resort, clubhouse, golf academy, spa and golf course.

He is involved in a number of civic activities that include Chairman of the Advisory Board for Georgia College and State University’s hospitality program, participant in Relay for Life and Habitat for Humanity programs, co-chairman of Athens Academy golf tournament, Member of the Michigan State University Alumni Hospitality Board and has served on Events Committee for the Reynolds Foundation (a Foundation designed to provide an ongoing financial outreach to individuals and charitable organizations in the Lake Oconee area) as well as multiple political fundraisers for local, statewide and presidential campaigns.

Mr. Kelly holds a Bachelor’s degree (1985) from Michigan State University’s school of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management. Mike and his wife, Stephanie, have one child, Abby who is 17 years old.

James Brooks has been in the construction industry for over 40 years and has played a role in constructing facilities for several major companies in the United States. He has installed elevators at the Kennedy Space Center used for lifting rockets, 27 moving walkways at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and paint booths at BMW and Honda automobile plants in Alabama. He has worked for the Atlanta City Water Treatment Plant, U.S. Elevators, Westinghouse, Otis Elevators and started his own construction company, Don-Sie Contracting Company, Inc.

Originally from Greensboro, Ga., Mr. Brooks attended Floyd T. Corry (FTC) High School and received a two year degree in mechanics from Atlanta Area Technical Institute and a business degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Mr. Brooks lives in Greensboro with wife of 41 years, Virginia, and is an active member of Moore’s Chapel Baptist Church. He is a board member of the cultural center and supports the Greensboro Dreamers and the Atlanta YMCA.

With over 31 years of experience in public education, Connie Hoyle, retired in Greene County in 2002 and put her experience to work as instructional lead teacher at Union Point Elementary. As instructional lead teacher she works closely with teachers and support staff to ensure approved curriculum is properly implemented.

Her classroom career began with teaching elementary and middle grades in Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina and New Jersey. In addition to teaching, she has also held positions as an assistant principal, principal, coordinator of staff development and executive director for curriculum and instruction. She has served as president of the Executive Board for the Georgia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, member of the Georgia Board of Examiners to review teacher education programs at Georgia colleges and universities for the Professional Standards Committee and was awarded the Distinguished Staff Developer Award by the Georgia Staff Development Council.

Mrs. Hoyle received a B.S. degree in elementary education from Baker University, a master’s degree in elementary education from Georgia State University and a specialist’s degree in educational administration also from Georgia State University.

She is an active member of Greensboro First United Methodist Church and volunteers her time to the Christian Outreach Center and FERST Foundation for Childhood Literacy. She lives in Greensboro and has a daughter and two grandchildren.

Kim Larkin works in medical sales with Hologic, a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of premium diagnostic and medical imaging systems dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of women. Her area of sales includes mammography, interventional biopsy solution and bone densitometry. She manages the Georgia and Eastern Tennessee territories working with breast imaging centers, hospitals and physicians offices helping to provide solutions for their women’s imaging needs. With her expertise in this field, she also provides educational outreach to women’s auxiliaries and community outreach programs.

Larkin received a Bachelor of Science degree from Clemson University. She currently resides in Greensboro and has two children.

Mark Lipscomb is the Georgia Power Company manager in Greene County. He has over twenty two years of experience with Georgia Power Company in various levels of management and an array of other positions within the company. He has worked in operating the transmission and distribution grid that serves northeast and northwest Georgia, as a customer service supervisor over accounting in the Northeast Georgia area, and as the local manager in Greene County. As local manager, he has been instrumental in providing services and economic development in the fast-growing Lake Oconee area.

Prior to Mark’s association with Georgia Power Company, he worked in management positions at Big Star Food Stores in the northeast Georgia Area.

During his career Mark has served in many community leadership roles. These roles include charter member of the Barrow County Optimist Club, United Way of Northeast Georgia board member, Greene County Development Authority, The Lake Oconee Development Authority, and Chairman of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and various committees at Greensboro First United Methodist Church.

Mark graduated from Gainesville College and Brenau University, earning degrees in Business Administration.

Mark and his wife Lindsay live in Reynolds Landing at Lake Oconee. They have three grown children-Patrick, Reid and Valerie.

Byron E. Lombard currently serves as the County Manager for Greene County, Georgia.

Byron brings a wealth of experience and involvement in local government and the community to his position as County Manager. After earning his Bachelor’s of Science in Management from Georgia Institute of Technology, he was Greene County’s Public Works Director, and then served as County Manager for the first time from October 1999 until June 2001. He has served in his present term since January 2003.

Byron joined the Walker Church Volunteer Fire Department in 1989 and became Assistant Fire Chief in 1990. In 1996 he was promoted to Fire Chief, a position he still holds. He is also a Certified Medical First Responder and President of the Greene County Firefighter’s Association, as well as Emergency Management Director. He became certified as a Hazardous Materials Response Technician in 2006 and facilitated the formation of the first and only Hazardous Materials Response Team in Greene County. He currently serves on the Pandemic Flu Planning Committee as part of the Core Planning Group and the Leadership Committee and is a member and the Treasurer for the Local Emergency Planning Committee.

Throughout his career Byron has also focused on community and economic development for Greene County. He serves on the ACCG Financial Advisory Services Committee, the NEGRDC Development of Regional Impact Review Board, is a member of the Georgia City/County Manager’s Association and alternate on the NE Georgia Regional Development Center Board. He is a previous member of the Greene County Development Authority and the Lake Oconee Area Development Authority, and was appointed by Governor Perdue to the Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council.

Byron resides with his wife Lovette, stepdaughter Brigitte and son Ryan. He enjoys coaching Little League baseball and both coaching and refereeing youth soccer.

Richard (Dick) Schmidt is an attorney practicing with the law firm of Blasingame, Burch, Garrard, & Ashley, P.C., in Greensboro, and Athens, Georgia. His practice centers mainly on the areas of business, local government law, real estate, and real estate development.

He received his A. B. in political science from the University of Georgia in 1985 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia, School of Law in 1988.

Admitted to the bar in 1988, he is admitted to practice in the State of Georgia, the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Georgia Supreme Court, the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia Federal Courts and the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Making Greene County his home in 1990, Dick has held numerous positions in the community including the Optimist Club president, the Chamber of Commerce Board, Attorney for the Development Authority and various other community organizations.