The GACC Board of Directors provides guidance and direction for the Council.

Role and Responsibilities

The GACC Board is responsible for establishing the vision and mission of the organization, creating a strategic plan, setting short and long-term goals, creating a budget, ensuring the financial transparency and accountability of the council, developing the skills of board members, donating their time and talents, recruiting new board members, and serving on committees.

Board of Directors

The GACC Board shall consist of a diverse Board with a minimum of eleven (11) members in good standing with the GACC, of which must comprise of at least five USCC affiliated members and two Ex Officio members designated by GRC and SWANA GA Chapter.  Only one employee of any particular business, entity, or government agency may be a Director at any given time.

The following slate of members will serve on the GACC Board for the 2023-24 member year:

j. olu baiyewu, City of Atlanta Urban Ag Director

Khari Diop, Think Green

Lori Hamilton, GA College & State University

Suki Janssen, Athens-Clarke County SW Dept.

Wayne King, ERTH Products LLC

Doug Kunnemann, NatureWorks, LLC

David Paull, CompostNow

Savannah Seydel, Better Earth

Michael Snipes, Laurens County SWMA

 

Gloria Hardegree, Georgia Recycling Coalition (Ex-officio)

GACC Officers

David Paull, Chair

David Paull is co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at CompostNow. CompostNow is a compost solutions provider for organics recycling with expertise in the hauling, logistics, consultation, production, and distribution of compost. CompostNow has diverted 75 million pounds of food waste from landfills and created 24 million pounds of finished compost for local farms and gardens. David has been highly involved in food waste circularity, food systems, and social entrepreneurship for the past decade. He currently serves as a commissioner on the East Point Local Food System Ecosystem Commission, as a Board Member of the Southface Institute, and is the founding Board Chair of the Georgia Composting Council. With a design degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design, David applies design thinking to advance circular solutions at the intersection of planetary and human health.

Suki Janssen, Secretary

Suki Janssen is the Director of the Athens-Clarke County (ACC) Solid Waste Department and has been with ACC for nearly eighteen years. Her biggest accomplish to-date was bringing a Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) to Georgia. Prior to her position in ACC, she was a Program Coordinator for the Keep Georgia Beautiful program. Suki was past Georgia Recycling Coalition President and board member. She currently serves on the NE Georgia Regional Solid Waste Management Authority and Solid Waste Association of North America Georgia (SWANA) where she was past president and is current International Advisory Board Delegate. She is a SWANA certified Landfill Operator and Class Instructor, SWANA Recycling Systems Manager certified, and Certified Composting Programs Manager. In 2020, she published a children’s book – There Goes the Neighborhood.

Lori Hamilton, Treasurer

Ms. Hamilton is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Georgia College & State University (GCSU). She has been at GCSU for 25 years with the last 13 of those years directly involved with Sustainability. She is an adjunct instructor for GCSU’s Information System & Computer Science Department in the College of Business & Technology. Lori received a Bachelor’s of Art in History and a Bachelor’s of General Studies from Valdosta State University and a Master’s of Management Information Systems and a Master’s of Public Administration from GCSU. She currently serves on the boards of Keep Milledgeville Baldwin Beautiful and Milledgeville’s Life Enrichment Center. She also serves on GCSU’s Sustainability Council/Sustainability Fee Program, GCSU’s Shades of Green, and the Georgia Composting Council serving as the budget manager for each.