Awards Resources and History

The Leadership Character Awards recognize outstanding leaders of character across Georgia in the business, nonprofit and education sectors.

The Leadership Character Awards were established in 2003 by Bob and Lyn Turknett to recognize and celebrate outstanding Georgia leaders, and over the years we have received over 500+ nominations. In 2014, the Turknett Leadership Group partnered with the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership to underscore that people of character lead with a servant’s heart. Nominations for these awards are evaluated against the characteristics of the Turknett Leadership Character Model® and Greenleaf’s Best Test®.

We recognize the top recipients in six categories and over the past 16 years there have been more than 60 diverse award recipients. You can view all past award winners here, including Ralph de la Vega, former Vice Chairman of AT&T; Milton Little, President of United Way of Greater Atlanta; Dr. Beverly Tatum, former President of Spelman; Shan Cooper, currently Chief Transformation Officer of WestRock, Kessell Stelling, Chairman and CEO of Synovus, Letty Ashworth, Director of Global Diversity for Delta Airlines, Dr. Yolanda Watson Spiva, Executive Director of ProjectGRAD Atlanta, Larry Gellerstedt, Chairman and CEO of Cousins Properties, and Valencia Adams, former Chief Diversity Officer of BellSouth.

Resources for award applications and additional information about Leadership Character:

Examples of Winning Nominations | Individual

Leadership Character Awards Video

Press Releases

Nominee Highlight Archives

May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
  • John Berry – Executive Director, St. Vincent DePaul Society of Georgia
  • Virginia Hepner – President and CEO, Woodruff Arts Center
February 2014
  • Jodi Weintraub – Atlanta Market Lead, TrueBridge Resources
  • Tom Andrews – President, Saint Joseph’s Mercy Care Services/CEO, Saint Joseph’s Health System
January 2014
  • Greg Charleston – Senior Managing Director & Leader, Atlanta Regional Office, Conway MacKenzie Inc.
  • Kim Eaton – SVP & GM,NCR Hospitality, NCR Corporation
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
November 2012