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As Lt. Governor, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's core mission was to make Maryland's communities safer, stronger, and more prosperous with innovative, effective answers to the State's most critical challenges. As Maryland's crime-fighting czar, as the designer of a nationwide model child and family services strategy, as a champion for service and volunteerism, and as the guiding force behind the State's economic development strategy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend sought to engage the best energies of citizens, cut through ideological debates, and focus on results. To bring Marylanders into our fight against crime, Lt. Governor Townsend began the Maryland Police Corps, recruiting and training new officers in community policing techniques that build trust between citizens and law enforcement personnel. Her HotSpot Communities Initiative joined neighborhood groups with police, prosecutors, and government agencies to design and implement a comprehensive enforcement and prevention strategy in targeted high-crime neighborhoods. Hailed as a national model by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, HotSpots has gotten real results and significantly reduced crime and restored a sense of peace and security to communities throughout the State. Lt. Governor Townsend used the same results-oriented strategy to maximize the impact of Maryland's other anti-crime efforts. Her pioneering Break the Cycle anti-drug initiative combined drug testing, escalating sanctions, and treatment to motivate addicted offenders to stay drug- and crime-free. Drug use by offenders in the program declined by 56%. Before becoming Lt. Governor, Mrs. Townsend served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice; chaired the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation; and founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. As the founder and executive director of the Maryland Student Service Alliance, she made Maryland the first State in the country to include a high school community service requirement. Mrs. Townsend also has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC), and at Essex and Dundalk Community Colleges. Currently, she serves on the board of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Edward P. Jones is an African American author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born in 1951, he was raised in Washington, D.C. and educated at both the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Virginia. He won both the Pen/Hemingway Award and the Lannan Foundation Grant for his first book, *Lost in the City*, a collection of short stories on the African American working class in 20th century Washington, D.C. In 2005 Jones was also awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. His second book, *The Known World*, is an acclaimed imagined novel set before the Civil War in Virginia. It examines issues regarding the ownership of black slaves by free black people as well as by whites. It won the National Book Award in 2004 and subsequently won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Jones's third book,* All Aunt Hagar's Children*, was published in 2006. Like *Lost in the City*, it is a collection of short stories that deal with the African-Americans revolving around Washington, D.C. Several of the stories had been previously published in *The New Yorker magazine*.

Greta Pratt is the author of two books of photographs, Using History, and In Search of the Corn Queen. Pratt's work is included in major public and private collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Pratt's photographs have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, American Art, and Photo District News. She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and is a recipient of a New Jersey State Arts Council Grant.

Ana Castillo is a celebrated poet, novelist, short story writer, and esaayist. Castillo is a prolific author whose work has been critically acclaimed and widely anthologized in the United States and abroad. Castillos books include the novel, *The Mixquiahuala Letters* (Bilingual Review Press, 1986; Doubleday, 1992), *Sapogonia* (Bilingual Review Press, 1990), *So Far From God* (Norton, 1993), *Massacre of the Dreamers: Reflections on Mexican-Indian Women in the United States 500 Years After the Conquest* (University of New Mexico, 1992). As a poet Castillo is the author of several works, including the chapbooks *Otro Canto* (1977) and *The Invitation* (1979); these were followed by several volumes of poetry which include *Women Are Not Roses* (Arte Publico, 1984), and *My Father Was a Toltec* (West End Press, 1988). Most recently she published *Water Color Women, Opaque Men*, a novel in verse (Curbstone Press, 2005). Castillo has coordinated an anthology on la Virgen de Guadalupe entitled *La Diosa de las Americas/Goddess of the Americas* (Riverside/Putnam, 1996). Castillo, along with Norma Alarcon and others, co-founded the literary magazine *Third Woman*; she has since been a contributing editor to *Third Woman* and *Humanizarte* magazines. She was a community activist throughout the 1970s. Throughout this period, Castillo taught English as a Second Language, Mexican and Mexican American history in community colleges in the Chicago and San Franisco areas. She returned to California from 1986 to 1990, where she taught feminist journal writing, womens studies, creative writing, and Chicano literature at various colleges and universities. From 1989 to 1990 Castillo was a Dissertation Fellow in the Chicano Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was there that she continued her work on a new collection of poetry, *I Ask the Impossible* (Anchor Books, 2001).

Paula Deenis an American cook, restaurateur, and Emmy Award-winning television personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns The Lady & Sons restaurant and runs it with her sons, Jamie and Bobby. She has also published five cookbooks. On her television shows, in her books and appearances she uses the surname Deen from her first marriage. Paula Deen was born in Albany, Georgia. In 1986, she felt well enough to take a job as a bank teller. After that she and her sons moved to Savannah. In 1989, she divorced her husband and expanded her cooking experience into a catering service. She made sandwiches and other meals, which her sons Jamie and Bobby delivered. The Bag Lady, as the business was named, was successful and soon outgrew her kitchen. On January 8, 1996, Deen opened her own restaurant, The Lady & Sons, in downtown Savannah, on West Congress Street. Within a few years, the restaurant moved to a larger building in Savannah's historic district. In 1997, Deen self-published* The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking* and *The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2. *Both cookbooks were filled with traditional Southern recipes, such as "Gooey Butter Cake" (also known as Chess Cake, a variation of a chess pie recipe).The cookbooks were very successful, and she has since published two more. Deen has appeared on QVC and on *The Oprah Winfrey Show* (first in 2002 and then twice in 2007). Her story is featured in Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success (2007, Sourcebooks). In April 2007, Simon & Schuster published Deen's memoir, It Ain't All About the Cookin'. She launched a lifestyle magazine called *Cooking with Paula Deen* in November 2005. Deen's relationship with Food Network began in 1999, when her friend Erin Lewis introduced her to Gordon Elliott, who then introduced her to her current agent, Barry Weiner. Elliott took her through the city for a series of "Doorknock Dinners" episodes. She also appeared on "Ready, Set, Cook!". Deen was invited to shoot a pilot named "Afternoon Tea" in early 2001. The network liked it, but didn't yet have a place for her. The network eventually gave Deen her own show, "Paula's Home Cooking", which premiered in November 2002. Since then, Deen has been given two more shows, "Paula's Party" and "Paula's Best Dishes."

Thomas D. Bell, Jr. was named Vice Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Cousins Properties in January, 2001 and was subsequently elected President and Chief Executive Officer by the Board of Directors in January, 2002. Mr. Bell assumed the role of Chairman of the Board upon the retirement of Chairman and Founder Tom Cousins in December 2006. Mr. Bell brings a wealth of experience in corporate management, governance and leadership in both the public and private sector to the Company. Prior to joining Cousins, he spent 10 years at Young & Rubicam Inc., retiring as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer when it merged with WPP. Before becoming Chairman of Young & Rubicam Inc., he served as Chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Advertising and as CEO of Burson-Marsteller and Young & Rubicam's Diversified Communications Group. He is a member of the boards of Emory University, Regal Entertainment Group, AGL Resources Inc., the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Bell served as the 2005 Chairman for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and also served as Chairman of the Chamber's Quality Growth Task Force. During the Reagan administration, Mr. Bell chaired the Committee on the Next Agenda, which focused on prioritizing issues for President Reagan's second term. He also chaired the Workforce 2000 Advisory Committee for the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Early in his career, Mr. Bell served as Chief of Staff for former U.S. Senator William Brock (R-Tenn). Mr. Bell has held other senior positions in business and government. He previously served as Vice Chairman of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Executive Vice President of Ball Corporation, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hudson Institute, and Chairman of the Board for the Center for Naval Analysis.