Commissioner Kathie Gannon
Kathie Gannon has served on the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners since January, 2005 representing Super District 6, the western half of DeKalb County. Super District 6 includes portions of South, Central and North DeKalb County with approximately 350,000 residents. Commissioner Gannon served as the Presiding Officer of the Board of Commissioners in 2008 after two terms as Deputy Presiding Officer. In 2009 she was elected to the Board of Managers of the Association of County Commissions of Georgia (ACCG) and in 2010 she serves on their Executive Committee.
Commissioner Gannon also serves on
the National Association of Counties (NACo) Steering Committee for Environment,
Energy and Land Use and is a board member of Blueprints for Successful
Communities of The Georgia Conservancy. She provides leadership on environmental
and sustainability issues through the establishment of the DeKalb County Green
Commission. Commissioner Gannon's primary focus has been in the areas of land
use and planning, the environment and conservation, protection of established
neighborhoods and issues that impact our youth and senior citizens.
Commissioner Gannon has been actively involved in DeKalb County issues since
the 1980's, providing leadership to her community's 3,000 household civic association,
serving on DeKalb County's Community Council, and Dekalb County Planning
Commission.
Commissioner Gannon was the founding Executive Director of Georgia CASA (Court
Appointed Special Advocates), a statewide non-profit that provides trained
volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children. She also founded the
statewide citizen and judicial Foster Care Review program and has served on
several boards of directors. As a self-employed consultant to non-profit
organizations, she specialized in the areas of organizational and program
development, advocacy, and historic preservation.
Commissioner Gannon earned a BA in political science from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, a Masters in Social Work from the University of Georgia and a Masters Certificate in Heritage Preservation, from Georgia State University. She and her husband have two grown sons and have made DeKalb County home since 1972.