Reverend Thurmond is currently the Senior Pastor of St. Paul C. M. E. Church in Savannah, Georgia. In July 2008, Rev. Thurmond was appointed Pastor in Charge at St. Paul where, at that time, Rev. Dr. Henry R. Delaney was the Senior Pastor. In July 2009, Rev. Thurmond was became the Senior Pastor at St. Paul.

Prior to becoming accepting the call to become a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Reverend Thurmond was employed as a Respiratory Therapy Supervisor and a Senior Clinical Oncology Specialist in pharmaceutical and biologic sales For four years, he served under Rev. Dr. Donald Jordan, pastor of the Trinity C. M. E. Church in Augusta, Georgia. In 2005, he was appointed pastor of the Rock of Ages C. M. E. Church of Augusta.

A native of Augusta, Reverend Thurmond, Sr. is the third of four children born to the late Mr. Earl H. Thurmond, Sr. and the late Maxine Thurmond. He received his early education in the Richmond County, Georgia school system and is a graduate of Westside Comprehensive High School. He graduated from Georgia Southern University where he was inducted into the Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the Medical College of Georgia where he was inducted into the IMHOTEP society as well as Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities with a Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy. He is a 2015 magna cum laude graduate of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Phillips School of Theology with a Masters in Divinity, where he received the Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt Scholarship and the Isaac B. Clark Preaching Award. He is currently pursuing the Doctor of Ministry designation from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

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Rev. Thurmond currently serves as the Chairman for the Joint Board of Finance for the Central Georgia Region and a member of the General Connectional Board of the C. M. E. Church. He was a delegate to the 2010, 2014 and 2018 C. M. E. General Conferences and the World Methodist Conference in Durban, South Africa. He serves on the Board of Directors of Step Up Savannah and is a member of the the African American Ministers Leadership Coalition, the Savannah Alliance of Pastors and a mentor at Otis Brock Elementary. He is a proud life member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Rev. Thurmond and his wife, Antionette Johnson Thurmond, are the parents of a son, D. Ramsey, Jr., and a daughter, Barbara Maxine.

Cathy Hill is Founder and President of The Plummer – Hill Group, LLC providing professional services that include business development and strategic planning. She is also a Managing Director with Golden Seeds, Inc., a discerning network of investors, seeking and funding high-potential, women-led businesses. Hill retired from Georgia Power after 33 years having held management positions in real estate, transportation fleet operations, engineering, power delivery, customer service, external affairs and assistant to the president & CEO.

As Georgia Power’s Land vice president, Hill led efforts to acquire, protect and manage the company’s real estate assets that included 85,000 acres of land, 60,000 acres of water, 4,000 leased lake front properties and six full-service campgrounds. She oversaw the company’s largest real estate sale, acquisition of properties for critical service lines, timber harvesting, reforestation and wildlife enhancement efforts, as well as land engineering, record services, and Georgia Power archives.

Hill also served as vice president of Coastal Region from 2008 to 2016. In Coastal Region, which includes Savannah, she provided overall leadership for engineering, construction, sales, customer service, economic development, governmental relations and community development. Under her leadership, more than $450 million in capital investments were made to upgrade UD network, distribution and transmission systems in coastal Georgia.

Hill received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University. She completed the executive management program at Harvard University. As a 2010 fellow of the International Women’s Forum, she studied at the prestigious Judge School of Business at Cambridge University. Hill is a graduate of Leadership Georgia, the Regional Leadership Institute and Leadership Atlanta.

Hill is currently a member of the Savannah State University Foundation. She is a past-chairman of the Board of Directors of Armstrong State University, Armstrong State University

Educational Properties Foundation, Creative Coast, and United Way of the Coastal Empire. In addition to serving on the board of directors for 8 years, she served as vice-chairman of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. Hill also served on the board of directors for the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation, Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Savannah Technical College, Georgia Tech – Savannah, Ossabaw Island Foundation, Step Up Savannah, Memorial Medical Health Foundation, MDC, Inc. and SunTrust Bank – Savannah. She currently serves on the Board of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association and Georgia’s WIN List.

Governor Nathan Deal issued a resolution in 2017 and the state of Georgia’s House and Senate issued 2009 resolutions commending Hill for her professional and civic work. She was honored as 2017 Woman of the Year by the United Way of the Coastal Empire’s Women’s Legacy Council. In 2015, the King Tisdale Cottage Foundation presented Hill with the Reverend James M. Simms Public Service Award. She was awarded the “2014 Community Star” by Georgia Ports Authority, 2014 “Woman of Distinction” by Girl Scouts of the Coastal Empire and 2014 “Hero” by the American Red Cross for lifetime professional and community achievements.

Hill and her husband, Mitchell, reside in McDonough, Georgia with their two children Mitchell, Jr. and Candace.

Chartered on February 23, 1927, Carver is the oldest bank headquartered in Savannah. Only 21 of the almost 5000 banks in the United States are owned by African Americans and Carver is one of the older of these institutions. Most of the other banks that are owned by African Americans are located in much larger metropolitan areas.

The other Carver Directors who were reelected are Robert E. James, E. Bruce Adams, E. G. Miller, William E. Stiles, Sr. and Robert E. James, II.

This article originally appeared in The Savannah Tribune. 

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