Seeking to Improve Conditions of Women and Families for All of Georgia

Julianna McConnell

Charter Board Member

Julianna Preston McConnell, a native of Carrollton who now resides in Gwinnett County, was appointed by Governor Zell Miller to serve the Commission on Women at its inception in 1992. A graduate of the University of West Georgia, she has degrees in Accounting & Finance, and a Masters of Business Administration. McConnell is President and Majority Owner of Preston Group, Inc., a government relations firm providing state regulatory and legislative services. A Certified Public Accountant since 1980, she was employed by Carroll Electric Membership Corporation for thirteen years, serving as Director of Financial Services. Before starting her own business, she was employed for fourteen years by Georgia Electric Membership Corporation, a trade association for Georgia's electric membership cooperatives, two years of which she served as Executive Vice President. She has served on Georgia's 4-H Board of Directors, Gwinnett County Board of Education Funding Advisory Committee, and as President of the National Rural Electric Women's Association. She was chosen Carroll County Outstanding Young Career Woman of 1979. She was the first woman on the GEMC Federal Credit Union Board of Directors, serving since 1979. She is currently Chair of that Board.

Commission Vice-Chair McConnell has been married for twenty one years to Tom McConnell. She has three children. Shea Cocklereece, an educator, lives in Bremen. Preston Haliburton is an Atlanta attorney. Thomas McConnell, Jr. is a student at North Gwinnett High School, where he and his parents are actively involved in football, wrestling and baseball programs. She has two grandsons, John and Joseph. The family attends Sugarloaf United Methodist Church.

McConnell, in addition to being Commission Vice-Chair since 1994, serves as Chair of the Legislative Committee. She is also a member of the Health, International, Employment/ EEO and Education Committees. A past member of the Women's Advisory Council for Georgia Department of Corrections, she serves on the Board of Directors of Georgia Woman of the Year Committee, Inc., Georgia Osteoporosis Initiative and Childhood Health & Over Weight Initiative (CHOW), all of which are outreach organizations started by the Commission on Women.