Chamber Announces 5 New Chairmans Club Members for 2014

The new members are: Jerry Tillery with American Red Cross, Jerry Hall with Assured Comfort Heating & Air, Frank Smith with The CarePlace, Terry Harding with MembersFirst Credit Union and Matt Barrington from Regions Bank. The mission of the Chairmans Club is to convene community-minded, senior level business people to be visionaries for the Chamber and a voice for business in our community.

American Red Cross Blood Services

Jerry Tillery currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Southern, Alabama & Central Gulf Coast and Puerto Rico Blood Services Regions at the American Red Cross. Jerry is responsible for all Red Cross Blood Service activities in all three regions, including the collection, processing and distribution of blood components to approximately 200 regional hospitals and health facilities. Prior to joining the American Red Cross, Jerry served as Vice President of Operations at WellStar Kennestone Hospital, a 633-bed tertiary referral facility located in Marietta, Georgia and the flagship facility for WellStar Health System. The American Red Cross exists to provide compassionate care to those in need. Their network of generous donors, volunteers and employees share a mission of preventing and relieving suffering, here in the United States and around the world, through five key service areas; disaster relief, supporting America’s military families, lifesaving blood, health and safety services, and international services.

Assured Comfort Heating and Air

Jerry was born and raised in downtown Atlanta. He joined the Army immediately after high school and after three years in the military he came back to Atlanta and earned his technical degree in HVAC from Marietta Vocational-Technical School. He worked briefly for a local HVAC company then struck out on his own and has been in business for himself since. Jerry opened his first company, All American Air Conditioning and Heating, and subsequently opened Assured Comfort Heating & Air in 2002. Jerry is very proud of his four children, two of whom work for the company. Assured Comfort Heating & Air, a drug free workplace, has been in business since March of 2002. It was started with a handful of employees and now has a staff of 25 to 28 employees. The current active customer base is 6500 and there are 12 to 16 vehicles on the road on an average day, providing 24 hour emergency service 365 days per year. Assured Comfort is a Premier Lennox Dealer and provides air conditioning and heating repairs, maintenance, and replacements. They also provide indoor air quality solutions, including duct cleaning, and maintain an A+ Rating with the Better Business Bureau. They are opening a branch in Smyrna/Mableton in March 2014 and are projecting to grow by 50 percent in 2014.

The CarePlace

Frank Smith is one of the pastors at The Church at Chapelhill and is the Executive Director for LifeTools Community Development Corporation, where he serves our community via The Pantry and The CarePlace. His goal is to develop a broad spectrum of relationships in an effort to meet the needs of our community. His life of service spans several states and five decades during which he received his Bachelor of Arts from Central Bible College and then a Master of Science in Counseling and a Master of Business Administration both from Butler University, Indianapolis, IN. Frank was awarded the Sam P. Roberts Community Service Award in 2009 and completed Leadership Douglas in 2011. The CarePlace is a free community health center created to meet the needs of those who live in Douglas County and are uninsured and need a primary care physician and free medical care. Their partnership with Wellstar and Kaiser Permanente has made this vision a reality and the clinic recently opened its doors to the community. Projected plans include providing dental services as well as a worship center.

MembersFirst Credit Union

Terry Hardy is the President and CEO of MembersFirst Credit Union, which serves education and healthcare professionals in Cobb, Paulding, Douglas, Fulton and DeKalb counties. He serves on multiple boards in the credit union industry, including the Georgia Credit Union League, Cooperative Services, Inc., Credit Union Financial Services and Credit Union Business Services. Terry also serves as Vice Chairman of the Paulding Chamber and is past Chairman of the Douglas County Public Education Trust. MembersFirst Credit Union was founded more than 50 years ago by the employees of their sponsor groups. They are a not-for-profit financial cooperative insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Like their name says, MembersFirst Credit Union promises to put the concerns and welfare of their members first, ahead of all other considerations. With their members' best interest in mind, MembersFirst seeks innovative ways to grow the credit union and deliver financial services that meet the changing needs of members in every stage of life.

Regions Bank

Matt Barrington is currently a City President with Regions Bank, where he builds relationships with current and prospective clients in order to match business needs with appropriate banking services. His banking career spans nineteen years, during which he has completed Georgia Banking School, The Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University, and the Community Bankers Association Commercial and Consumer Lending Banking Schools. Matt is currently serving as Chairman of the Board for the Douglas County Chamber, where he has been a board member since 2011. Regions offers a better way to bank in Douglas County, and wants to be a partner moving forward. They strive to create momentum that helps families, businesses and the community grow stronger and more financially secure. They pride themselves on their logo and doing whatever it takes to meet the needs of their customers, “Regions. It's time to expect more.”

The Chairmans Club represents businesses and individuals who have chosen to go the extra mile in their support for the Chamber and its mission; they do so because they believe that the voice of business must be heard. They are leaders who invest time and money toward the job creation, quality of life, workforce development and marketing goals of the community. These top decision-makers develop valuable relationships among key business and political leaders and lend expertise on issues critical to their corporate goals and to the community's growth and development.

Other members of the 2014 Chairman’s Club are AT&T, Bank of North Georgia, City of Douglasville, Comcast, Development Authority of Douglas County, Douglas County Government, Douglas County Schools, Douglasville-Douglas County Water & Sewer Authority, Gas South, Georgia Power Company, Google, GreyStone Power Corporation, Hughes-Ray Company, Kaiser Permanente, Metro Bank, Sam & Rosco’s Restaurant, WellStar Douglas Hospital, and West Georgia Technical College.

“The Chamber is thrilled about our newest members of the Chairmans Club,” says Chamber President and CEO, Kali Boatright, “These gentlemen are fantastic assets to the organization and bring with them expertise and values that will benefit the Chamber and the community alike. The growth in the Chambers Chairmans Club program this year has been exciting – we have increased our membership and anticipate even more growth in the years to come with these companies leading the way.”

For information on the Douglas County Chamber or Chairmans Club, contact Kali Boatright at 770-942-5022 or visit the Chamber website, www.douglascountygeorgia.com.