Board of Directors – Keep Carroll Beautiful

Meet our Board

Hannah Smith

PRESIDENT

Hannah Smith joined Keep Carroll Beautiful in 2018 shortly after coming to Carrollton to work for Southwire Company as an Environmental Specialist. She assists Southwire’s Sustainability Goals by expanding the electronic recycling event in Carrollton to all operational Southwire locations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

One of her favorite part about these events is seeing each community come together as good environmental stewards to recycle.

Hannah graduated from Bremen High School and Mercer University with degrees in Environmental Engineering and Engineering Management, Go Bears! Hannah has recently become a Carrollton resident and is working on expanding her green thumb in her backyard.

Katina Lear

VICE-PRESIDENT/SECRETARY

Katina Lear, originally from Richmond, Virginia, moved to Georgia in 1998 after graduating from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!) with a degree in Communications with an emphasis in Photojournalism. She serves as the Assistant Director for Strategic Communications with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Katina is often in a graphic t-shirt with an inspirational saying in her free time and is passionate about making a difference in the community she resides in. That could be on the soccer field coaching or as a spectator (still coaching), capturing the beauty she sees through the lens of her camera or ensuring she leaves things or situations in a better state than when she found them.

Katina hopes through her efforts with the board at Keep Carroll Beautiful, she can help showcase all the great work being done to help build a stronger, better connected, and more environmentally conscious community that everyone can be proud of now and for generations to come.

Dee Dee Speights

TREASURER

Dee Dee Speights is a native of Columbus, GA currently serving as the Complex Environmental Manager for Pilgrim’s in Carrollton, GA. Pilgrim’s is known as one of the world’s leading providers of poultry.

Dee Dee joined Keep Carroll Beautiful with a commitment to helping the community meet the challenge of sustainability by raising awareness to the need of protecting and preserving our natural resources for future generations.

She attended Tuskegee University where she obtained both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. A wife and mother of two children, Dee Dee enjoys vacationing abroad, playing board games, and writing children’s books.

Stefanie Anderson

BIO is coming soon!

Sunshine Ballew

Sunshine Ballew is a Carroll County native and local realtor with Century 21. She also serves as a CASA volunteer, helping children who are in the foster care system for abuse and/or neglect.

Sunshine has also served in the natural health care field as a Certified Chiropractic Assistant and Naturopathic Technician.

She serves on the Keep Carroll Beautiful board to have the opportunity to improve the environments of Georgia’s communities, by focusing on litter prevention, recycling and beautification efforts. Sunshine hopes to inspire people to get involved and volunteer to enhance the beauty and preserve the environment for generations to follow.

Hal Burch

BIO is coming soon!

Chuck Conerly

Charles S. (“Chuck”) Conerly is a founding member of Smith Conerly and currently heads the litigation practice, concentrating on commercial litigation, local government, environmental, and zoning and local land use law. He has served as City Attorney for the City of Carrollton for over a decade.

Chuck attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated from the State University of West Georgia, before moving north to obtain his law degree from the Vermont Law School.

In 2002, Chuck moved his practice back to his hometown of Carrollton and eventually partnered with Huck Smith to form Smith Conerly.

Jacqueline Dost

Jacqueline Dost is a native Canadian, where the three ‘R’s” are: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. She is blessed to have passed on those values to her two (now grown) sons who are the lights of her life.

Jacqueline has a B.A. in Public Policy & Administration & a minor in Women’s Studies from York University. Jacqueline and her family moved to Carrollton in 1997. They briefly returned to Canada in 1999 but returned to Carroll County for good in 2003.
Among her many certifications, she is most proud to be a LEED™ AP. Her lifetime honors include Carroll County Chamber of Commerce Ambassador of the Year, Woman of the Year, recipient of Southwire’s Inaugural Inspire Award, and Lifetime Carroll County Master Gardener.

Jacqueline is honored to serve on the Board of KCB. She retired from her position as the Executive Director of the organization in 2016 but always knew she would return in some volunteer capacity.

Jacqueline has been seen picking up litter along her running routes and just about anywhere she finds it. In her “day job” she serves as the Director of Solid Waste for the Carroll County Board of Commissioners. She also loves to be known as Carroll County’s recycling guru and answer recycling questions. The beauty of her home county is something Jacqueline is very proud of. She is also a successful entrepreneur, business coach, speaker, world traveler, and marathon runner.

Sarah Powell

BIO is coming soon!

Megan Robison

BIO is coming soon!

April Saunders

April Saunders is the director of Marketing and Communications for the City of Carrollton. Her department is responsible for spreading the word about events, programs, news, and attractions across the city.

April directs the city’s messaging through digital and printed media, Carrollton’s websites, and social media channels. Downtown programming and the Carrollton Area Visitors Bureau are also part of the Marketing Department.

April and her team organize and produce many of the city’s signature annual events, including Mayfest, A Taste of Carrollton, and the Christmas Parade.

Shane Taylor

BIO is coming soon!

Susana Valez-Castrillon

Susana Velez-Castrillon is originally from Medellin, Colombia. She has lived in Carrollton since 2011, when she moved with her family to work at the University of West Georgia, where she teaches Strategic Management and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Susana received her PhD in management from the University of Houston in 2012. She has a BSc (Hons) in Biology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) and an MPhil. In BioScience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge (UK). Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Velez-Castrillon worked in business development for a UK-based biotechnology company.

Her interest in the environment and sustainability come from being a biologist, working for the environmental authority of her home state (Antioquia, Colombia) for a couple of years, and teaching Corporate Social Responsibility at the Richards College of Business.

She lives in Carrollton with her husband, Juan Forero, and their two children, who attend Carrollton City Schools.