June 6 - Due to an unforeseen conflicting meeting, our guest speaker is unable to participate in the Committee Meeting scheduled on Monday, June 10. Therefore, the meeting is canceled. Please stay tuned as we work to reschedule the meeting.

The purpose of the Government Affairs Committee is to speak on behalf of the business interests in DeKalb County to ensure that it remains a place that is competitive locally and statewide.

Join us as we hear from Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson.

Lorraine Cochran-Johnson is originally from Greenville, Alabama and an eighteen-year DeKalb County, Georgia resident. Lorraine attended Troy University where she received a B.S. degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice; a M.S. in The Administration of Criminal Justice and received an M.P.A. in Public Administration with a concentration in Economic Development and Grant Writing from Auburn University before attending John Marshall Law School.

Lorraine has over a decade of experience in print media, mass communications, and management. A seasoned grant writer, Lorraine has developed state and federal proposals since 1994 that resulted in the procurement of millions in CDBG funding for state and local entities through Auburn University Economic Institute. As a community and parent, Lorraine is a past president of Pine Ridge Elementary (2006-2007) and Chapel Hill Middle School PTA (2008-2009) and independently secured over $200,00 in funding for school revitalization and digital technology in 2017.

As a professional, Lorraine spent over a decade at Creative Loafing Newspaper. An entrepreneur, Lorraine founded Salons Unlimited Magazine, a publication that started with 5,000 print issues in Atlanta and grew to a 56,000 circulation in 31 U.S. cities in three years before being sold in 2010. In 2009, Lorraine became a founding member of United Front Media, a premiere film and visual media company specializing in content development where she produced commercials for the City of Atlanta, MARTA, KIA and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. In 2015, Lorraine joined Real Times Media as the General Manager of the Atlanta Daily World Newspaper and Associate Publisher of Who?s Who In Black Atlanta. She was the VP of Business Development for RTM Properties - AtlantaDailyWorld.com and Atlanta Tribune: The Magazine, before resigning to pursue public service.

Lorraine strongly supports positive initiatives in economic development, education, public safety and home ownership. As a former moderator of DeKalb?s PDS-24 television show EngagementNow, Lorraine worked with show producers to develop content crafted around issues relevant to modern education. The wife of Ret. Lt. Col. William H. Johnson, III, niece of Annie Page and the Mother of Martin Luther King Jr. High School International Baccalaureate student Zion Cochran, Lorraine values God, family, and community above all else.