Introducing Cindy Harris – Our New Executive Director

by Amy Daldry

Cindy Harris

Let me formally introduce you to Cindy Harris, who has taken on the distinguished-sounding job title of executive director of the DeKalb Bar Association as well as the unglamorous job of keeping a group of attorneys on task. The job of executive director was aptly described by Katie Wood in her farewell article to Aubrey Jones as “a bit like herding cats.” After meeting with Cindy, I am confident that the DBA board has found us a great herder – er, director.

Cindy Harris comes to the DBA with a wealth of experience in managing people and organizing events. Having coordinated events for more than 16 years, she is savvy at interviewing vendors, negotiating vendor contracts, hiring and supervising employees, maintaining accounts payable and receivable, gathering and organizing data, as well as performing general office management duties.For the past seven years, Cindy has been the events and office manager of Bona Allen Mansion where she was responsible for managing the staff and facility and for coordinating the events. In her spare time, she and her husband serve as senior pastors at Lawrenceville Church of God, coordinating church-wide fellowship events that accommodate more than 1,200 attending congregants, ministering on a weekly basis to more than 200 grade school students, and teaching leadership classes and workshops.

As impressive as Cindy’s professional resume is, her personal achievements offer even more proof that she has an inexhaustible supply of energy, creativity, and commitment that she’ll bring to the directorship. Cindy and her husband Kevin just celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary. They have three daughters: Ashley, a senior in college; Kristen, a sophomore in college; and Danielle, a rising high school senior. The Harris family has lived in Cindy’s native state of Texas, Tennessee, Florida, and south Georgia. They moved to Grayson, Georgia, in 2003, and bought a fixer-upper, which gives Cindy an outlet for her passion for interior decorating. She enjoys exercising outdoors, and is currently training to run a marathon.

As a veteran events coordinator, a senior pastor at her church, a parent of three children, a habitual do-it-yourself interior decorator, and a marathon trainee, Cindy has the know-how and enthusiasm to:

• Keep the DBA budget in the black (as long as we pay our dues),
• Continue the organization’s day-to-day operations, such as acquiring and retaining sponsors (as long as we use sponsor services),
• Provide community outreach like Law Day activities and the Judicial Forum that is open to the public (as long as we volunteer),
• Offer a full schedule of enjoyable social events (as long as we rsvp and attend),
• Support and grow the sections for Family Law, Trial Lawyers, and Young Lawyers (as long as we join), and
• Provide membership benefits like CLEs, panel discussions, and this newsblog (as long as we participate).

In short, with Cindy as our executive director, we’ll have no excuse not to do our part to ensure that the DBA continues its tradition of excellence. So next time you see Cindy, introduce yourself. Let’s make her proud of being the executive director of the DeKalb Bar Association.