Rotary Club of Dalton announces awards

Published 12:02 am Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Recently the Rotary Club of Dalton announced its nominees for two of Rotary District 6910’s greatest honors, the W. Lee Arrendale Vocational Excellence Award and the Robert S. Stubbs II Guardian of Ethics Award.

District 6910 is comprised of 73 Rotary clubs in north Georgia. Its Arrendale Award recognizes Lee Arrendale, a Rotarian from Habersham County who was a recognized leader in the Georgia poultry industry and served the state as chairman of the Georgia Board of Corrections. Guidelines for the award in his name require the nominee to show excellence in his or her vocation, achievements in the community and academic excellence.

The Stubbs Award, named for Robert “Bob” Stubbs, a member of the Rotary Club of Canton, honors a person who has been a Rotarian for at least three years and has made outstanding contributions in his or her vocation while also strengthening and fostering the development of ethical practices by actions, writing, policies and public pronouncements.

For the 2019 Arrendale Vocational Excellence Award the Rotary Club of Dalton nominated Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Bradham, and for the Stubbs Guardian of Ethics Award the club nominated Probate Judge Sheri Blevins.

In his introduction of Bradham, Rotary Vocational Service Chair Alex Brown pointed out that “there is often a significant difference between those who just ‘practice’ a vocation and those that pursue excellence. Excellence requires more. It requires sacrifice, commitment and an abiding openness to the growth and evolution inherent in building both vocation and a career. I’ve worked with Rob Bradham for a number of years and watched him exhibit the very traits that differentiate the simple practitioner from the one who displays vocational excellence.”

He continued, “Those professionals who choose the path of excellence accept the toughest challenges and give it their all. … Rob remains dedicated to the journey and understands that there is no finish line, only the next conversation.”

Bradham holds a bachelor of arts in history with a minor in political science from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Since graduating, he has spent more than 20 years serving the communities he lives in by working in various public and private sector capacities.

In 1999, while studying at Old Dominion, he was encouraged by a professor to do an internship with the Virginia General Assembly. Reluctantly, he agreed and found he enjoyed the work, especially helping to pass long overdue HMO (health maintenance organization) reform legislation.

Having been bitten by the political bug, Bradham went on to work in many different roles as a campaign field coordinator, government relations assistant and director of governmental affairs at a lobbying firm. Rising through the ranks as he learned more, he moved into a vice president for governmental affairs position, where he worked tirelessly to build support and awareness for a new inpatient hospital in Virginia Beach.

In 2007 Bradham began working for the Richmond Chamber of Commerce as senior vice president of business development and government affairs. In that role, he led efforts to secure funding for high-speed rail from Washington, D.C., to Richmond.Additionally, he was the principal participant in a coalition that achieved a $24 million increase in state funding for early childhood development programs. He also recruited Fortune 1000 business executives, legislators and community leaders to invest in pre-k education.

In 2010 he joined the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, taking the position of vice president of public strategies, in which his primary tasks included directing the chamber’s education and workforce development strategies and overseeing the chamber’s public policy program. A few key accomplishments in this role included raising $350,000 from the local business community to establish a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) high school in Hamilton County, integrating the Young Professionals Association of Chattanooga into the chamber and creating Protégé Chattanooga, a nontraditional mentoring program for young professionals.

This experience across diverse geographies and roles, with increasing responsibilities, made Bradham uniquely qualified to serve Dalton in his current role as president and CEO of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce. Soon after arriving in 2015, he created and led a successful campaign to raise $1.9 million to fund the work of Believe Greater Dalton, a five-year vision and strategic plan arising from an intense assessment of the community’s strengths and weaknesses.

While Dalton has much to offer, data revealed some pressing issues for younger- and middle-aged professionals, such as a public school system undergoing significant change and a lack of middle- and upper-middle-income housing. Since these findings emerged, Bradham has led creation of the Flooring Capital Development Corp., a nonprofit development corporation aimed at fostering redevelopment and creation of new housing in the Greater Dalton area. Additionally, he co-founded the Dalton Innovation Accelerator, bringing together mentors from among experienced business persons, investors and resources of the Wright School of Business at Dalton State College in an incubator for fledgling local entrepreneurs.

“Although Rob has only made his home in Dalton for half a decade,” Brown reflected, “I can say with certainty his work in our community has changed the direction of our community in immeasurable ways, for the better. … He has brought the community stakeholders together, asked the tough questions, analyzed the answers made and implemented a plan and vision that has pushed Dalton into a new chapter.”

Blevins enjoys profound respect as a model of what an ethical life should be. In the words of one of her associates, “Having known Sheri for some years professionally as well as personally, I can attest to her integrity. Having interacted with several of my clients while she was in private practice, Sheri interacted with folks to help them understand ‘in plain English’ the rules of law pertaining to wills and estate planning. As the Probate judge, Sheri continues to interact with those who need her services in a caring, professional manner. She is an excellent example of the intent of the Stubbs Award.”

Blevins earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Oxford College at Emory University, with top honors as a graduate with highest distinction. She also earned a juris doctor degree from the University of Georgia, where she graduated magna cum laude, served on the Georgia Law Review and was admitted to the Order of the Coif, an organization restricted to the top 10 percent of students.

Prior to becoming a judge, she worked as an associate with Stophel & Stophel, a Chattanooga law firm, with a focus on tax matters. She later joined the firm of Robert A. Whitlow, where her practice concentrated on wills, trusts, estate planning and probate administration.

In 2009 she became Probate judge in Whitfield County, with jurisdiction over decedents’ estates, incapacitated adults and minors, traffic violations, state Department of Natural Resources citations, weapons carry licenses and marriage licenses. Other professional responsibilities include her work as an instructor for the Probate Judges’ Council, for which she teaches probate law and ethics, and serves as vice chair of the Weapons Carry License Committee.

In her court, Blevins takes great pains to protect the integrity of the court system and to assure that the law is administered fairly, without regard for social or political status. She has led in work to prevent bonding companies from charging poor clients for worthless bonds and to halt probation companies from using incarceration as a collection tool. She has also taken steps to limit unnecessary continuances at defendants’ expense and to forestall abuses in the award of attorneys’ fees.

Beyond her professional capacity, Blevins serves her community through active work in Grove Level Baptist Church, her Rotary Club and numerous civic agencies such as the Whitfield Healthcare Foundation, the Cherokee Estate Planning Council, the Northwest Georgia Family Crisis Center and the Murray County Developmental Center. She and her husband David, a local attorney, have three grown daughters and one grandchild. At home, in her court, and in all aspects of her life, Blevins exemplifies Rotary’s ideals of truthfulness, fairness, goodwill and service to others.