Meredith Atha, general manager of Sterling Autobody Centers poses with Motorhead Garage co-hosts Sam Memmolo (L) and Dave Bowman.

Have you reached the pinnacle? Newly promoted? Taking on a different role or changing companies? Send details to newsroom@gbj.com and we’ll help spread the word.

Meet the May 2012
People on the Move in Gwinnett

Meredith Atha, general manager of Sterling Autobody Centers poses with Motorhead Garage co-hosts Sam Memmolo (L) and Dave Bowman. Sterling Autobody Centers, with five Atlanta-area collision repair shops, was featured recently featured on a 30-minute episode of Motorhead Garage airing on the Fox Sports Network and filmed at the Centers’ Lawrenceville location.

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Sarah Hathorn (L), CEO of Illustra Consulting, pictured with one of her clients after an Intensive 1-Day VIP session.

by Sarah Hathorn

Follow the mantra ‘dress to impress,’ and watch your career accelerate.

Choices about how you dress convey a powerful message about who you are and what you represent. Your exterior brand is primarily defined by the way you look. Just as every ship sails under a unique flag, how you present yourself is a prominently visible emblem or logo of professionalism.

Use the handy acronym FLAG (Fit, Levels, Accessories, Grooming) to remember the key components of your wearable brand.

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Kathryn Parsons Willis accepting the 2012 Gwinnett Medical Center Legacy Award.

Gwinnett Medical Center (GMC) advocate and fundraiser Kathryn Parsons Willis is the 2012 recipient of the GMC Legacy Award, receiving this honor as she retires from the GMC board of directors after 22 years of service. Willis will continue to serve on the GMC Foundation board of which she has been a member since the early 1990s.

“You don’t say, ‘No,’ to Kathryn,” explains David McCleskey, GMC board chair. “She is an inspiration to so many. To know Kathryn is to have a friend for life. You just want to be around her, so it’s never a hardship to help out.”

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Every four minutes someone dies of a stroke and it is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Throughout the nation each year, 795,000 strokes will occur at the rate of every 40 seconds. Furthermore, a stroke can affect anyone, at any age, although women and African Americans are at greater risk.

Gwinnett Medical Center-Lawrenceville’s Taylor Choi is a prime example of how a stroke can change a life.

Choi suffered a debilitating stroke in the left side of her brain in 1998. Within minutes, she went from being a healthy, carefree 18-year-old to not being able to perform normal daily routines such as speaking or walking. Although the stroke changed her life, being a stroke survivor has changed her soul.

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Filling food pantry shelves is an ongoing challenge for Gwinnett cooperative ministry programs, like the one in Norcross that serves the community's homeless and hungry.

The Norcross Cooperative Ministry (NCM) is building a volunteer team to develop a marketing communications plan to help educate the local community about children and adults dealing with homelessness and hunger right here in Gwinnett.

Volunteer recruitment efforts include finding a team leader to help create the blueprint for a NCM marketing communications plan, outlining the strategies, objectives and elements needed. In addition, this team seeks skilled volunteers with expertise in storytelling, graphics, web site development, print and social media. NCM will need your help about three to five hours each week for a six-week period starting in June.

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Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) is seeking parents and community members as well as GCPS employees who are interested in applying to become part of the district’s committee that provides input on the school system’s curriculum. Individuals are invited to apply to become members of the school system’s GEMS Oversight Committee. The application deadline is Friday, June 1, 2012.

The GEMS Oversight Committee is a group of community and school system representatives charged with the annual review of the district’s Academic Knowledge and Skills (AKS) curriculum. After the review, the committee recommends revisions and additions to CEO/Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks for adoption by the Gwinnett County Board of Education. Committee members serve three-year terms.

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GGC School of Business Board of Visitors (clockwise from top): Douglas Hickman, Lurline Craig-Burke, Patrick K. Barron, Connie C. Dudley, E. Deidre McDonald, Jonelle Faal, GGC School of Business Dean Victoria Johnson, Charles Oglesby and Karen Sortor (representing Joseph D. Chianese). Not pictured, Gene Chayevsky.

Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) seats its charter School of Business Board of Visitors – a consortium of prominent business and civic leaders selected from prestigious regional, national and international entities. Board members partner with constituencies outside academia to build private support for the scholarships, professorships and internships which bring outstanding students, faculty and programming to GGC.

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