Jim Langford has championed environmental causes for decades.  The Georgia native feels a responsibility to help conserve greenspace, revitalize public land and protect history. He co-founded or served in senior positions for five high-tech and consulting companies. A seven-year stint with Coca-Cola included positions in Atlanta, New York, Washington, DC, Argentina and Puerto Rico.

Jim applies his deep experience in corporate America to develop and manage environmental groups and other nonprofits. From 2004 – 2007, he served as the Georgia state director of the Trust for Public Land. As principal creator of Atlanta’s “connected park system,” he played a key role in making the Atlanta BeltLine a reality. Once complete, 1,200 acres of new BeltLine trails and parks will connect to 600 acres of established parks.

Jim has been appointed by five Georgia governors to serve on 11 statewide commissions and boards including the Board of Natural Resources and the Georgia Humanities Council.  Jim is also a trained archaeologist, founding the Coosawattee Foundation.  He was the primary author of the Georgia laws that protect archeological sites and regulate treatment and preservation of human remains. A graduate of the University of Georgia with a journalism degree, Jim also earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Jim is currently executive director of the Georgia Meth Project and the Georgia Prevention Project, focusing on drug abuse among teenagers and young adults.

Jennifer Bellis is an Associate in the Environmental Law and Sustainability Practice Groups at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.

She assists clients with a range of environmental law matters including permitting, enforcement, litigation and regulatory compliance. She also counsels companies and entities regarding sustainability initiatives and sustainable business practices.

Jennifer earned her undergraduate degree, with honors, in environmental studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. While at UNC, she expanded her studies to researching sustainable development issues while living in the United Kingdom and on the North Carolina coast.

Jennifer received her J.D. from Emory University School of Law, where she graduated with honors. While at Emory, she was a student attorney in Emory’s Turner Environmental Law Clinic, and an active member of Emory’s Moot Court Society. After graduating from Emory, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable William S. Duffey, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  She has experience representing clients in construction defects, construction accidents, nuisance and storm water issues. She also counseled stand-alone pharmacies and institutional pharmacies relating to compliance with federal and state laws and regulations for pharmacy compounding.

Angela Graham is president of Graham & Associates, founded in 1999 to provide premier program management and construction services to clients focused on quality, sustainability, timing and “bottom line” costs.  Angela brings 24 years of project management experience focusing on infrastructure construction, renewable energy and energy efficiency, program and construction management for new buildings and renovations, logistics, and facilities maintenance, operations and management.

Previously, she worked at Silverman Construction Program Management as a project manager, providing extensive experience in land acquisition, logistics, marketing, community relations and campaign management.

Angela received the One TPL National Award from the Trust for Public Land for their Diversity Initiative, the YWCA and Arthur and Stephanie Blank Woman of Achievement Award and the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award.  She is a highly sought-after community leader working closely with Park Pride, Friends of Georgia State Parks, Torch Foundation, Parks Atlanta Rescue Coalition, Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area Steering Committee, Mayor’s Environmental Task Force, Georgia Conservation Voters, South DeKalb YMCA and Fulton Parks Foundation.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in technology from Georgia Southern University, a Master of Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management, and a Master of Divinity from Emory University. Angela is also a LEED® accredited professional and holds a Georgia real estate license.

Ryan Gravel, AICP, LEED AP, is an urban planner, designer and author working on infrastructure, site design, concept development and public policy as the founding principal at Sixpitch. His master’s thesis in 1999 was the original vision for the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile transit greenway that after 15 years of work and collaboration is changing both the physical form of his city and the decisions people make about living there.

Alongside other projects at Sixpitch and research on similar “catalyst infrastructure” ventures around the world, Ryan’s forthcoming book, Where We Want to Live, (March 2016) investigates this cultural side of infrastructure, describing how its intimate relationship with our way of life can illuminate a brighter path forward for cities.

Tim Gunter is President and Chief Executive Officer of Core5, and a company founding partner. Tim is responsible for shaping the Core5 vision, strategy and organizational structure. He interacts daily with the Japanese parent Kajima on behalf of their industrial interests, and has a key role maintaining long term relationships for the company and in the commercial property industry as a whole.

Tim currently sits on the Board of Directors of Batson-Cook Development Company, a sister company to Core5 in the Kajima USA portfolio. He is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta and a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta.

A testament to his passion for education, Tim is a trustee of the Georgia State University Foundation, a member of the Board of Directors for Teach for America and serves on the Endowment Board for The Paideia School, a non-profit school founded by parents who want an individualized, creative and intellectually challenging education for their children.  With an ongoing commitment to Georgia’s environmental community, Tim also serves on the Georgia Conservancy board, a state-wide environmental group dedicated to protecting Georgia’s natural environment. He holds a past membership in the Urban Land Institute’s Sustainable Development Council and is a former member of the Alumni Steering Committee for the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry Resources from the University of Georgia and a Master in Business Administration degree in Finance from Georgia State University. He stays actively involved in the real estate community as a member of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and the Real Estate Group of Atlanta.

Tim previously served 25 years as a founding member of Kajima’s former industrial company IDI as President and CEO.

Tom Parker is vice president of external affairs and member relations for Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC) – a not-for-profit cooperative owned by 38 Georgia’s Electric Membership Cooperatives (EMCs).  The company plans, builds and maintains electric transmission lines and substations, transmitting electricity from power suppliers to the customer-owned EMCs which serve more than 4 million customers.

Tom brings 30+ years of marketing, communications and business development experience in corporate, government and nonprofit sectors, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia.

Susan Rutherford manages the Greenway Division of the Bureau of Watershed Protection in the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management. She oversees planning, landscape design, land acquisition and stewardship activities to protect Atlanta’s watersheds, streams, and water and sewer infrastructure from the effects of storm water runoff.

As manager of the City’s $25 million Greenway Acquisition Project, Susan coordinated the purchase of 1,800 acres of stream buffer lands for permanent protection as natural areas.  She previously managed the City of Atlanta’s programs for greenspace and park acquisition.

Susan worked for U.S. Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy in Utah on public land management projects including trail construction, monitoring natural areas, hydrology field surveys and endangered species surveys.  She also helped draft a greenspace conservation tool kit for the State of Utah Office of Planning & Budget.

She received her bachelor’s degree from New College of Florida, and her master’s degree in city planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Bo Spalding co-founded Jackson Spalding public relations in 1995. He specializes in the financial and banking industry, speech writing, media relations, marketing and corporate identity strategies.

Bo is a trustee of the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home and Agnes Scott College. He is on the board of the Midtown Alliance and the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta. He is also a member of the Community Board of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Piedmont Park Conservancy Capital Campaign Steering Committee, and Leadership DeKalb Class of 2008-09. He is past president of the 300-member Kiwanis Club of Atlanta.

With a bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown University, he also earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s in business administration from the University of Georgia.