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• Leader of the Arts

Samuel Olens

September, 2007

Your Atlanta area Lexus dealers and Public Broadcasting Atlanta honor Samuel Olens, Chairman, Cobb County Board of Commissioners, as our Lexus Leader of the Arts for September, 2007.

Sam Olens is Chairman of the five-member Cobb County Board of Commissioners. He was elected countywide in August 2002 and re-elected to a four-year term beginning January 2005. He previously served as Cobb County District 3 Commissioner from 1999 through June 2002.

In December 2004, Olens was elected as Chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). He is the second ARC Chairman from Cobb County. He is also Vice-Chair of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, a 16-county planning entity dedicated to developing comprehensive regional and watershed-specific plans for the district. He is a member of the Board of Directors, Livable Communities Coalition (formerly Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Quality Growth Task Force).

Chairman Olens was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue to represent the 6th Congressional District on Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs Board in August 2003. He also serves on the boards of the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, Cobb Board of Health, Cobb Community Services Board, Downtown Marietta Development Authority, Metropolitan Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition, NACo Transportation Steering Committee, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisors, Emory University Board of Visitors, Regional Commission on Homelessness, Marietta Aeronautical Museum & Education Center, State Bar of Georgia Foundation of Freedom Commission, and Association County Commissioners of Georgia.

Active in various non-profit organizations, Olens also serves on the boards of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Cobb County United Way Campaign Cabinet, Metro Atlanta YMCA, The Atlanta Opera, U.S. 10K Classic, WellStar Institute for Better Health, Friends of the Strand, and The Georgian Club. He is a past president of the East Cobb Civic Association, Cobb Housing Authority, SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, Cobb County Police Athletic League, and the Georgia Indigent Defense Council.

Sam Olens is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, most recently the recipient of the 1st Annual Ginger Kaney Servant Leader Award by MUST Ministries. For the past three years, he has been selected in Georgia Trend magazine’s “100 Most Influential Georgians.” Other awards and honors include being named Cobb’s “Citizen of the Year” by the Marietta Daily Journal in 2006, as well as receiving the 2006 Flourish Award presented by the College of the Arts, Kennesaw State University, and the 2005 Liberty Bell Award for outstanding community service by the Cobb County Bar Association. In May 2005, the southeast’s oldest and largest non-profit environmental learning center, the Chattahoochee Nature Center, presented its Partners in Environmental Education Award to Olens. He received the 2004 Executive Director’s Award from the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust for his assistance in bringing the Anne Frank exhibit to Kennesaw State University. In 1997, Olens was recognized as East Cobb Citizen of the Year by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

A graduate of Emory University Law School, Olens received his bachelor’s and master’s degree from the American University in Washington, D.C. He is a registered mediator/arbitrator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. Olens has been a member of Ezor & Olens, P.C. since 1983.

Olens and his wife Lisa have two children, Lauren and Jonathan.