Message from the President, May 2022

I started out my year as president of the GBA with the goal of returning to live meetings, especially our membership meetings. We got in just under the wire by having our last membership meeting of the GBA year live at Starmount Forest Country Club. We had a great program and a great turn out. It was particularly gratifying to see a big group of Elon Law students turning out to learn more about the bar, and, of course, do a little networking. 

Also at the membership meeting, we elected officers for next year and re-elected some of our board members to serve additional terms. Our slate of officers for next year is Gerald Walden as President-Elect, Molly Hilburn-Holte as Secretary and Davis McDonald as our Treasurer. The re-elected directors are Rosetta Davis, Jennifer Mencarini, and Chelsea Peele.

Our speaker, Matt Brown, put on a great program about happenings at the Greensboro Coliseum and the Tanger Center. It’s amazing how much they do to entertain us including a bunch of stuff I didn’t even know about (like how the Coliseum folks are managing the Winston-Salem venues as well).

Our Scholarship Committee presented the newly-revised GBA scholarships to two Elon Law students and our Membership Committee rolled out a new program – having members assigned to greet new members and make sure they are introduced around. That was a success and it was a pleasure to meet the new members. And congratulations to the Herb Falk Society honorees – we can all be proud of their commitment to pro bono service.

Just a reminder about the annual picnic at the ballpark (live again finally) coming up on May 22. Please check the website for registration information and watch your emails for reminders. 

I want to express my sincere appreciation for the hard work of our members, especially our officers, board members and committee members. Lots of people put in a lot of work to make the programming happen for many different sections of the membership and to benefit others, including the court system and nonprofits around Greensboro. We are all grateful to them.

As usual, our administrator, Diane Lowe, did great work in keeping our organization well managed and on track. I don’t know how she does it all and makes it look so easy. Finally, a special thanks to our incoming President, Judge Marcus Shields. I know he will bring new energy to the job when he starts his term on June 1st. With Judge Shields at the helm, the next GBA year promises to be even better.

Desmond Sheridan
GBA President, 2021-2022