Jim Lorraine · Executive Director
Mr. Jim Lorraine was born and raised in Clinton, New York. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force Nurse Corps in 1985 upon graduation from Syracuse University.
Mr Lorraine’s served 22 years as an Air Force Officer and Flight Nurse. His service includes operations and locations including Afghanistan Relief Operations during the Soviet occupation of that country; Operations Desert Shield/Storm by flying strategic missions from Southwest Asian theater; and operations in Mogadishu, Somalia; Port a Prince, Haiti; Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; and Iraq. As a staff officer Mr. Lorraine served at Air Mobility Command and as a Fellow to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mr. Lorraine retired from active duty as a Lieutenant Colonel after serving as the Deputy Command Surgeon for the United States Special Operations Command.
As the founding Director of the United States Special Operations Command Care Coalition he developed an wounded warrior advocacy organization recognized as the gold standard in supporting over 4,000 special operations force wounded, ill, or injured and their families.
Jim is currently Executive Director of the Augusta Warrior Project. In this position Mr. Lorraine integrates services by strengthening community based organizations that maximize the potential of government and non-government programs in Augusta, Georgia and the 13 surrounding counties of the Central Savannah River Area.
He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Nursing and a Masters of Arts degree in Computer Resources and Information Management. He holds the Chief, Flight Nurse Wings and The Joint Chiefs of Staff badge. His awards include the Bronze Star, Secretary of Defense Outstanding Civilian Award, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Exceptional Civilian Award, the Joint Commendation Medal, the Joint Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal.
He is married to Becky and they have three children.
James Hull · President of the Board
Mr. Hull is a member manager of the Hull Storey Gibson Companies, LLC, and board member of the First Tee of Augusta, Augusta Preparatory Day School, Community Foundation of the CSRA, Augusta State University Foundation, and formerly served on the boards of Historic Augusta, the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, and the Morris Museum of Art.
The Honorable Doug Barnard · Board Member
From 1977-1993, Mr. Barnard served as Georgia’s 10th Congressional District Representative. Mr. Barnard had previously served as Executive Secretary to Georgia Governor Carl E. Sanders, Executive Vice President of the Georgia Railroad Bank and Trust Company (now Wachovia), and was a founder of the Community Foundation of the CSRA. He also served on the Alzheimers Foundation Day House Project, the board of MCG Health Inc., and is an honorary member of the University Health Care Foundation. Mr. Barnard is also a past President of the American US Army Association.
Clay Boardman · Board Member
Mr. Boardman is CEO of Flywheel, LLC. He serves as Chairman of the Georgia Health Sciences Foundation. He serves on various community and business boards such as the Community Foundation of the CSRA, First Bank of Georgia, Augusta Tomorrow, Georgia Children’s Health Alliance, Oglethorpe Foundation, Augusta-Harrisburg Fuller Center for Housing, Sixthman, LLC and Music with Friends, LLC. He also serves as trustee for Paine College and Augusta Preparatory Day School.
Jean Roper · Board Member
Mrs. Roper is Vice President Member of Business Services for the Savannah River Plant Federal Credit Union and past Chair of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce and board member of the First Tee of Augusta, Executive Committee member of the Georgia Bankers Association Southern Audit and Operations School, past President of the Executive Womens Golf Association, Augusta chapter, past President of Financial Women International, Augusta chapter and past Chair, Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Committee.
Perry Smith · Board Member
Perry M. Smith is a teacher, speaker, TV and radio commentator and best-selling author. Smith is the president of Visionary Leadership of Augusta, GA. He has conducted workshops on leadership, strategic planning or ethics for Emory University, University of Georgia, US Military Academy, Air War College, Georgia Bankers Association, The Chautauqua Institution, The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Texas Instruments, as well as the governors of three states, and the mayor of Detroit. He now serves as a military consultant to CBS Radio News. A retired major general, Smith served for 30 years in the U. S. Air Force. A graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, he later earned his Ph.D. in International Relations from Columbia University.
Pete Caye · Board Member
Mr. Pete Caye is CEO of Caye Properties. He is also on the board of Historic Augusta, is a past board member of Regions Financial, and is past President of the Augusta Golf Association.
Laurie Ott · Board Member
Ms. Laurie Ott is President of University Health Care Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports University Health Care System and patient care at the area’s premier medical facility. University Health Care Foundation provides many community benefits through its numerous endowments and funds, including supporting the area’s only certified Breast Health Center and providing free mammograms to women who would otherwise not be able to afford them, supporting patients with cancer, providing employees with continuing education, as well as recently spearheading an $8 million capital campaign to build University Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute.
Prior to joining University Health Care Foundation, Ms. Ott was the founding Executive Director of the CSRA Wounded Warrior Care Project.
From 1994 to 2007, Ms. Ott was an anchor and reporter at WRDW, the CBS affiliate in Augusta, where she won numerous reporting awards, including the Edward R. Murrow Investigative Reporting Award. Ms. Ott also covered stories ranging from the Super Bowl halftime show with James Brown, and the space shuttle launch co-piloted by Augusta astronaut, Susan Still, to US Peacekeepers in Bosnia in 1997. Ms. Ott has also won Associated Press and Georgia Association of Broadcasters reporting awards, and was voted twice as the GAB Personality of the Year, and three times was voted Best of Augusta by the readers of Augusta Magazine. She also won the 2007 Women of Excellence award for professions from the Girl Scouts, Central Savannah River Council.
In June of 2010 she received the Department of the Army Commander’s Award for Public Service from COL Glenn Kennedy, Garrison Commander, Fort Gordon, GA.
Ms. Ott received her BA in Latin American Studies with a Political Science concentration, minor in Spanish, from the George Washington University in Washington D.C. in 1987. In the spring of 2007, she started her MA in Communication and Leadership at Gonzaga University, which she completed in December of 2008. She is married to Steve Smith and they have a daughter, Casey.