Jim Lenahan
Webster's Dictionary defines a "rainmaker" as a nickname for "a person who brings in new business, or a person whose influence can initiate progress or ensure success."
In reviewing the professional work experience of newly appointed HCWSA Board Member Jim Lenahan, it's impressive what this "rainmaker" brings to the Authority, through 30 years of experience in the public and private sector. Lenahan has been involved in all aspects of community, economic, and private development, spending his career building relationships and bringing in new business, or making rain, for the organizations and clients he's represented.
Henry County Commissioner Reid A. Bowman, Sr. appointed Lenahan to the HCWSA Board of Directors in January, to represent the citizens of District 4 on this five-member policy board of the public water utility. Lenahan's public and private sector work experience should prove invaluable in his public service at the Authority.
After working for nearly 20 years in the public sector, first for the McIntosh Trail RDC in Griffin and then for the Georgia Departments of Community Affairs and Economic Development, Lenahan moved into the private sector in 1996. At that time, he joined Sunbelt International, Inc. in Atlanta as its Director of Business Development. Two years later, he would begin an eight-year tenure with Leo A. Daly Architects, serving in a similar role as he had with Sunbelt, as the firm's Director of Business Development for its Atlanta office.
Lenahan left Leo A. Daly to start his own consultancy in 2006, when he founded Lenahan.biz in McDonough, an outsource consulting firm that provides executive project management, business development leadership, and marketing services, to non-competing clients.
Yet, even with his extensive professional background, Lenahan is humbled by his opportunity to serve on the HCWSA Board of Directors.
"I was honored when Reid appointed me, because I think the Authority is the most important Board in the County," says Lenahan. "I feel we have a responsibility to meet the needs of the county and plan for the future, to get ahead of the curve, so to speak, for our community."
Lenahan says he has been impressed with the HCWSA as an organization, and he hopes he can make a positive contribution to the Authority during his tenure as a board member.
"It's obvious the Authority's leadership and past boards have done an outstanding job of guiding the utility and providing the needed resources to foster our community's success," he adds. "Hopefully, my background in government, and the experience I have in planning, design, construction, and development, have provided me with skills that will add value to the Board. I have a lot to learn, though, and look forward to learning more about the Authority and its operations."
Lenahan also understands very well the impact the HCWSA has on the community's economic development and quality of life. Without infrastructure, he notes, these attributes of Henry County living would be severely impacted.
"In order for the county to continue to be successful – balancing growth and development - we need to provide the necessary infrastructure to allow for quality growth," he says.
Lenahan and his wife Betsy, a Group Vice President with the Metro Atlanta YMCA, reside at Eagle's Landing. They have two grown children: Andrew, who is a project manager for a construction/development company in Miami, and Kimberly, who is a college freshman in California.
