Governor Perdue Announces Appointments to State Boards and Commissions

Atlanta - Governor Sonny Perdue announced today the following appointments to State Boards and Commissions:

Board of Juvenile Justice

Donnie R. Haralson, 49, Cordele, Georgia, 2nd Congressional District - Haralson is currently the Crisp County Sheriff and Emergency Management Association Director. He is past Chief of Police of the Cordele Police Department. Haralson was appointed to the Georgia Homeland Security Board and serves on the Georgia Sheriff's Association Executive Board. He is Chairman for the Cordele Crisp Community Council and Past Chairman of the American Cancer Society. Haralson received his Correspondence Degree in Criminal Justice Management and is a graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Regional Police Academy. He and his wife, Peggy, have two children.

Elizabeth Green Lindsey, 43, Atlanta, Georgia, 5th Congressional District - Lindsey is currently a shareholder in the law firm of Davis, Matthews & Quigley, P.C., practicing exclusively in the area of family law. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and has served as the Chairperson of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Lindsey is a Master in the Charles Longstreet Weltner Family Law Inn of Court and frequently lectures on behalf of the Family Law Section. She received her undergraduate degree and Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lindsey and her husband, Edward, have three children.

Board of Corrections

John Mayes, 51, Adairsville, Georgia, 11th Congressional District - Mayes is the owner and founder of Pro Systems Clean Care, which has been operating in Northwest Georgia for over 20 years. He is currently the chair of the Floyd County Public Safety Committee and is the former chairman of the Floyd County Commission. Mayes currently serves on the Floyd County Board of Health, Fire Overview Committee, Rome/Floyd Commission on Children and Youth and is a member of the Rome Rotary and 100 Black Men. Mayes is the past recipient of the Small Business of the Year Award from the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce and has served as director of Network Associates, YMCA, and the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce. Mayes is also the founder of Camp Uncle John, a private retreat designed to reach out to area youth. Mayes received his undergraduate degree from Albany State University. He and his wife, Terri, have three children.

Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists

Bill Jackson, 65, Homer, Georgia (Marriage and Family Therapist seat) - Jackson is currently the Director of Counseling and Pastoral Relations at Piedmont College. He was previously the Director of Counseling and Life Planning at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia, and the Executive Director of the HUB Counseling and Education Center in Tucker, Georgia. Jackson also served as a psychotherapist for the Decatur-DeKalb Counseling Center and Georgia Association for Pastoral Care. Jackson is the former president of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and former vice president and treasurer of the Community Council of DeKalb County. He received an undergraduate degree from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, two master's degrees from Southern Baptist Theology Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a doctorate from Emory University. He and his wife, Carole, have two children.

Jan Ligon, 56, Marietta, Georgia (Social Worker seat) - Ligon is Associate Professor of Social Work at Georgia State University where his primary area of expertise is mental health and substance abuse. Previously he served as a Crisis Services Director for the DeKalb Community Service Board and as a Medical Social Worker for Grady Memorial Hospital. Ligon received the Social Worker of the Year Award in 2002 and is past-president of the Georgia Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Central Arkansas and an M.S.W. and a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Georgia.