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Finalists for lake authority executive director named

The Grady County Lake Authority conducted second interviews Monday night with prospective candidates for the lake authority executive director position. In accordance with the Georgia law, the names of the top finalists are being released to the public.
Michael S. Binion, R. Tom Brown and Robert B. (Burks) Kimmel Jr., have been named finalists for the post. The authority must now wait 14 days before a vote can be taken to employ one of the three as the authority’s executive director.
“We had an outstanding pool of candidates to select from and while these three have been identified as finalists, any of the candidates who applied would have done a great job. We are very excited about our top three finalists and now the authority has the tough assignment of narrowing the field down to one,” Lake Authority Chairman Travis Bryant said.
Michael S. Binion, 542 West Road, is currently employed with by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources as a conservation ranger and he holds the rank of corporal.
Binion has been employed with DNR since June 1998 until the present. From 1989 until 1998 he served as a patrol officer and drug agent for the Thomasville Police Department.
He is a 1985 graduate of Central High School in Thomasville and a 1989 graduate of the Georgia Police Academy.
Binion won the officer of the year with DNR in 2008 and that same year was awarded the Governor’s Award for Valor. He has completed a variety of training and certification courses related to law enforcement.
R. Tom Brown, 133 Oakdale Road S.E., has many years of experience as a sales and operations-marketing professional. He has supervised more than 300 employees as well as managed smaller organizations.
Brown currently owns and operates G-19 Consulting through which he provides strategies for improved visual impressions within corporate, healthcare and government spaces. From 2010 to 2014 he served as director of marketing for Kaleidoscope Lt. in Midway, Fla. and from 2004 to 2010 he was president of Meridian Art Group based in Thomasville, Ga. From 2002 to 2004 he worked as vice president of marketing and operations for Autry Petroleum Company also in Thomasville.
Brown has a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing Logistics & Transportation from the University of Tennessee.
He is a veteran of the United States Air Force and a member of the executive committee of the American Legion Post 122 here. Brown also is a new member of the City of Cairo Planning Commission.
Robert B. (Burks) Kimmel Jr., has operated his own business, Kimmel Development Services Inc. providing infrastructure construction management for owners and developers since July 2007. From Sept. 2003 until July 2007 he was employed as the manager of Development – Construction for the St. Joe Company.
Kimmel, 1512 Hwy. 179 South, operated a family farm from 2001 until 2003 and from 1995 until 2001 he served as supervisor of street maintenance and construction for the city of Tallahassee, Fla.
Kimmel served as president of Gadsden Enterprises Inc. and Fla-Ga Environmental Inc. from 1991 through 1995. From 1978-1991 he worked as vice president of B.R. Hitson Construction and Kimmel Machine Works Inc.
He is a 1976 graduate of North Florida Christian School in Tallahassee and attended Troy State University and Tallahassee Community College.
Kimmel has been involved in a variety of construction projects including RiverCamps on Crooked Creek in Bay County, Fla. as well as the SouthWood Community, Killearn Lakes Plantation and North Hampton in Tallahassee.
The authority is not expected to take action before its next regular meeting which will be held on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 8 a.m.
A total of six people applied for the job of lake authority executive director.

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