Get educated on board candidates.
Members will receive an email notification when voting opens on September 3.
Board of Directors Candidates (choose 11 of 14)
Miguel Barrios
Miguel is originally from Venezuela. He moved to Kansas City in 2002 and received his BS and MS from Kansas State University. In 2012, he moved to Georgia and received his PhD from The University of Georgia in Poultry Science. He currently works as a Business Manager for a feed ingredients company. Miguel joined the Virginia-Highland community in the Fall of 2022.
Johnson Bazzel (incumbent)
My wife and I have lived on Virginia Circle since 2011. We are both lifelong residents of Atlanta who fell in the love with the walkability and charm of Virginia-Highland. We have three children and our proud SPARK and now VHE parents. Our daughter Preston (7) is in first grade at VHE and we have two sons, Thomas (5) and Baldwin (2). You will often see Anne Russell and I chasing our children on bikes and scooters while wrangling our yellow lab Wally throughout the neighborhood. We love living in a front porch neighborhood and if you have passed our house on a weekend our kids have have probably introduced themselves and said hello.
I have been a VHCA director since 2020. I am currently co-chair of the Transportation Committee where we have been working hard to make our streets and sidewalks more accommodating to walkers and bikers. Walkability is one of the best characteristics of our neighborhood. The number of families that walk and bike their children to SPARK and VHE is something we should be incredibly proud of and work hard to make as safe as possible. We all benefit from a safer and more accommodating street and sidewalk network.
I have also been helping lead the efforts to reimagine and renovate John Howell Park. What started as an effort to refresh the playground has grown into an initiative to reimagine the entire greenspace for one of our neighborhood's signature parks. These big ideas will require a big buy-in from our neighborhood and a commensurate level of fundraising. But we have seen other neighborhoods throughout the city pull off similar initiatives and I am confident we have the energy to transform John Howell park into the best possible version of itself and a worthy crown jewel for our neighborhood. In 2023 we will shift into fundraising mode. This will be a big task but one where I am confident our neighborhood will rise to the challenge.
I would be excited to continue to serve our neighborhood as a Director and build upon the great community that we all call home.
Jacki Brown
Hello, my name is Jacki Brown and I have lived in VAHI since 1995. Virginia Highland has been my home for almost 30 years, and I can’t image living anywhere else in Atlanta. I have supported the neighborhood mostly via volunteering opportunities. Over the years I have attempted to sign up for just about every position we have had for the Summerfest. I have also enjoyed assisting with the Tour of Homes and more recently our History tours. In 2019 I took over being the Volunteer coordinator for Summerfest and the Concerts in John Howell Park. Many of you may recognize my name from the multiple emails that you may have received asking you to sign up and assist. I have enjoyed giving back to my community via this role. It also gave me the opportunity to meet many of you in the neighborhood and expand my list of friends.
Outside of the neighborhood I also volunteer at the Atlanta Humane Society. This includes fostering pets in my own home, assisting with writing or editing training material, giving tours of the facilities to civil and corporate groups, training new volunteers and my favorite…assisting potential new pet owners in finding their perfect fur baby.
As you can probably tell I am an individual that likes to get involved in all aspects of an organization. My background career wise has been in the Airline and Hotel industry and frequently on team projects. I brought to those projects a strong skill set in teamwork, attention to details and project management. The same skill set that I believe will complement the Board and assist them in moving forward and getting things done. If elected my focus will be to push for more community involvement, create actionable and realistic goals and assist with making John Howell Park’s renovation project a reality.
I live on Ponce Place with my partner, Joe, our golden retriever and 2 “foster fail” cats. Besides volunteering I am an avid traveler, and I am frequently updating my bucket list of things to do. We enjoy immensely living so close to the Beltline and Piedmont Park.
Lastly, I will close with my first direct experience with the VHCA. I bought in 1995 one of our neighborhood’s small 2 bedroom/1 bath bungalow and in 2008 made the major decision to tear it down and build a new home on the same lot. This experience gave me firsthand knowledge on what was needed to receive a variance not just with the city but also with our VHCA. This opened my eyes on the involvement of our Board and it gave me my first desire to be more involved when time allowed to work on this team.
Now is that time and I would appreciate your support and will be honored to be part of the 2024-2025 Board.
Melissa Clark (incumbent)
I have been a Virginia-Highland resident for about 12 years, residing on Virginia Circle with my husband and three daughters. My girls attend Virginia-Highland Elementary (2nd grade), David T Howard Middle (8th grade), and Midtown High School (10th grade). I love our neighborhood and all it has to offer— the people, the schools, the restaurants, and the parks.
I have served on the VHCA Board for two years and helped to reinstate the education committee. Over the past two years, I have focused on providing major education related updates effecting our neighborhood schools and maintaining open communication channels with APS and our Board of Education representatives. Additionally, I have organized three open community forums with two APS superintendents as a forum for neighbors to bring concerns and priorities directly to APS leadership.
I’m extremely invested in making sure all four of our neighborhood schools continue to thrive. I have previously served as the PTO president at Virginia-Highland Elementary, where I dedicated a great deal of time and love to getting our newest neighborhood school on its feet. I am currently a GoTeam member for VHE.
If I am re-elected to VHCA, I would love to continue to develop the VHCA’s focus on education and make sure that Virginia-Highland neighborhood is both informed and well-represented with respect to APS issues, including conversations around potential changes to Midtown High School. I also look forward to continuing to be a part of the VHCA grant program, which supports all our VaHi schools.
While on VHCA I have been able to be a part of many family friendly social events — including the children’s section of the Fire Station opening, our annual egg hunt, and VaHi-loween. Next year I would love to continue to explore family programming opportunities for our neighborhood outside the fundraising space.
John Craft
My wife Danah and I are 30 year residents of Virginia-Highland.
I am also a previous member of the VHCA Board of Directors, and served as Chair of the Planning Committee and Vice-President.
I am a long-time volunteer for Summerfest (usually on the artist load-in and load-out crew), and on the Tour of Homes, serving as Home Captain for several years.
I look forward to the opportunity to once again serve this wonderful community of neighbors.
Kevin Cronin
Kevin J. Cronin has been a resident of Virginia-Highland since 1991 and is currently engaged in consulting work. He also serves on the Provincetown Part Timers Tax Payers Association. After retiring from Bank of America following a 24-year career, Kevin continued his work in the Employee Engagement field for several years. He has served on the Recognition Professionals International (RPI) board for 10 years, including a term as president. Additionally, Kevin has been actively involved with the Virginia-Highland Civic Association for many years, including serving as its president for 2 terms and co-chairing the Summefest event in addition to working on the planning committee.
Kevin lives on Rupley Dr with his Husband Glenn and their dog Atticus.
Amy Harward (incumbent)
I've been a lucky resident of Virginia-Highland for over a decade. During my two years on the VHCA Board, I've volunteered on the Planning Committee, the Education Committee, and the Safety and Transportation Committee with focus on preserving and enhancing our neighborhood.
- I'm happy with the work we've done to advance street safety measures (especially for our youngest neighbors!) by working on traffic calming and organizing bike safety classes for elementary and middle schoolers.
- As a SPARK and Midtown High School parent, I'm encouraged to see how we have furthered the work of positioning Virginia-Highland as a key voice in discussions about the Midtown Cluster, evidenced by the Education Committee hosting three pivotal discussions with APS superintendents.
- I am proud of the steps we've taken as a Board to increase neighbor engagement. Between neighborhood meetings, Town Halls, stakeholder roundtables, and small neighbor discussions, we've tackled big issues with open dialogue, a hallmark of a healthy community.
I'd be grateful to serve another year on the VHCA board to continue pushing for significant projects I am passionate about:
- Making the VAHI Master Planned bike lane connecting The BeltLine to Virginia-Highland a reality—a key reason I initially ran!
- Advocating so that VAHI remains a strong voice during the Midtown capacity and rezoning conversations with APS
- Working to make VAHI a leader in Atlanta with community-focused streets for our walkers, bikers, riders, and drivers
Kenneth Herring
Kenneth Herring is currently the Executive Director of River and Rail Theatre Company in Knoxville, TN. Having recently moved to VaHI this past June to be with his son, Rayne, who began kindergarten this August. In addition to his current role with River and Rail (R&R), Kenneth also served as the Executive Director of Scarboro Learning Center in Oak Ridge, TN. Kenneth has been served as a board member for the Young Professionals of Oak Ridge, Junior Achievement of East Tennessee, Girls Inc. of Tennessee Valley, the Trinity Outreach Center of Hope (TORCH), Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, Men of Tomorrow, Keep Anderson County Beautiful, and Knoxville Habitat for Humanity. In addition to leadership roles on these boards, Kenneth was heavily involved with the American Cancer Society, serving for 8 years as the Chairperson for the Oak Ridge Relay for Life, and 4 years as a fundraiser for the organization’s Real Men Wear Pink campaign. Kenneth has also gone through multiple community leadership programs as well, specifically Leadership Oak Ridge and Introduction to Knoxville. Additional nonprofit and community organization experiences includes being a member of the Old City Neighborhood Association (Knoxville, TN), Citizen Review Panelist for the United Way of Anderson County and fundraiser for Random Acts of Flowers and Friends of Literacy. And recently, Kenneth joined the Winterfest committee for Virginia Highland District Association. Kenneth is a champion for diversity and is passionate about community service and development.
Karri Hobson-Pape (incumbent)
Virginia-Highland has been a wonderful village for our family and we are very thankful for this community. We have lived in VAHI for 3 decades (on Virginia Circle since 1996) and have served in a variety of ways to support the neighborhood.
Both of our kids enjoyed their time at SPARK (when the school opened) - and our youngest daughter is currently at Midtown High School. John Howell Park, Summerfest parades, Halloween festivities, 5Ks, Open Mics at SFCH, Christmas tree lightings and much more have added so much to our family life.
This past year on the VHCA I led the efforts to launch formal history tours of the neighborhood in February, develop a new logo and visual identity for VHCA, created a new VAHI merchandise program, reimagined the Friends of VAHI fundraising program, structured the filming in VAHI to generate funds for the neighborhood, joined the efforts to renovate John Howell Park and more.
Education is a topic I care deeply about and I served on the SPARK PTO for several years and as PTO Co-President. Beyond that, one of my fondest personal experiences was doing research for about 10 years about the history of our community and co-authoring two Arcadia Publishing books - 'Images of America: Virginia-Highland' (2011) and 'Images of Modern America: Virginia-Highland' (2018). At the 40th anniversary of the VHCA we invited all of the prior VHCA board members we could reach to celebrate their involvement. Through the journey, I have been fortunate to interview hundreds of residents, business owners, political officials, teachers, religious leaders and descendants of pioneers that helped to create this special place in Atlanta.
Professionally, after receiving my MBA at Emory, for 25 years I've served in a variety of roles in marketing communications at higher education institutions and on the boards of a variety of nonprofits and colleges. For five years our family moved to Athens when I served as VP of Marketing & Communications at University of Georgia. Currently, I head up a national healthcare non-profit based in DC.
I would be honored to continue to serve our neighborhood and build upon our great community. Serving on the VHCA, I would intend to bring my non-profit and business experience to support the areas of governance, marketing, fundraising, and history/preservation. I genuinely love the activist heritage of this community and appreciate the constant efforts to maintain a healthy balance of residential life, business activity, parks & recreations and festivals & entertainment in an urban environment.
Karen Isenberg Jones
Karen Isenberg Jones is a 15 year resident of our beloved Virginia Highland neighborhood. Karen is a government relations professional and a television news veteran (CNN). She has also enjoyed a successful career in public relations and marketing including heading two of her own firms, Karen Jones PR and Changers + Makers.
Karen currently serves on the Executive Board of the Midtown High School PTSO and as a team parent for the Midtown High School Boys’ Lacrosse team.
Prior to her current volunteer roles, she served on the Executive Board of Rehabilitation Enables Dreams, a nonprofit dedicated to ending recidivism, Atlanta Road Trotters Kids Running Club and Jewish National Fund. She is also a graduate of the ADL Glass Leadership Institute and a recipient of the 40 Under 40 Award from the Atlanta Jewish Times.
Karen graduated from Emory University with a degree in Political Science. She and David Jones, her husband of over 20 years, have raised their two sons in Virginia Highland. Both sons attended Springdale Park Elementary and Inman Middle School/ David T. Howard Middle School.
Karen is very excited to run for a position on the executive board of the Virginia Highland Civic Association! She hopes to continue to serve her community in this role.
Alex Bevel Jones
I am an 8th generation Atlantan who is currently a Corporate relations officer at Georgia Tech in addition to being a small business owner. I have an MBA from UGA and I was previously a former Economic Developer for the State of Georgia. I sit on the young professional board of HOPE Atlanta and Piedmont Park Conservancy. I am also the founder and chair of Butterfly Bash, which is an annual benefit concert to raise money for Autism awareness. My current involvement with VHCA is serving as the music chair for Summerfest. I have an amazing wife named Maggie who is a local realtor for Dorsey Alston and I am the proud father of two beautiful girls, Eleanor (5) and Scarlett (7 months).
Tim Langan
I am interested in serving on the VHCA Board for 2024-2025. I have been an active resident of Virginia-Highland since 2008. I helped found Keep Virginia-Highland Beautiful, a group that organized 20 group clean up projects. I continue to do significant regular cleanup across the commercial nodes weekly. I have served on the Inman Local School Council (Chair) and Springdale Park Go Team, as Committee Chair for the Springdale Park Playground Committee, as an annual Summerfest volunteer, and as our long-time block captain for Rosewood Drive. I also served on NPU-B and bring and President of the Ridgedale Park Civic Association in Buckhead.
I would bring good experience and enthusiasm to the VHCA Board.
Scott Nickels (incumbent)
Although I have departed Atlanta too many times, when I return, I choose to reside in Virginia-Highland. Having first moved to the neighborhood in 1989, I have seen a lot of change within VaHi and throughout Atlanta.
I've been a volunteer for many community events over the years - and have the t-shirt collection to prove it. And, while I never officially held a position, Summerfest basically operated from my dining room table and front porch for the majority of years that I owned a home on Rupley Drive.
Self-employed, I operate a small digital marketing agency, and have been work-from-home since well before the pandemic, so essentially, I’m usually in the neighborhood. Currently, I serve on the board of the Georgia Tech Letterwinners Club as well as the executive board of The Curry Huddle. I would love the opportunity to not only support my alma mater, but to put efforts into the place I call home as well.
Thus, I would love to be part of the VHCA Board of Directors.
Thank you.
Kay Stephenson
Kay Stephenson moved to Virginia-Highland in 1996 with her husband Mark Gilliland. After more than 25 years as an executive in sales, product management and marketing for tech companies, she now devotes her time to quilt design, writing, and many volunteer causes focused on public safety, parks, trees, the Beltline, urban design, and pet rescue. During her professional life Kay led many matrixed teams and is a strong believer in the words of Benjamin Jowett – “The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit”.
Since 2009 Kay has served as a street captain for our neighborhood watch program and is the current president of the Virginia-Highland Security Patrol. In this role she leads a board of directors who oversee the operations of the patrol, educates the neighborhood on safety matters, and fundraise to implement safety improvements in the neighborhood.
She has a close relationship with law enforcement having participated in citizen’s academies with the Atlanta Police Department and Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. She has also served on APDs Community Partners Task Force, and the Fulton County District Attorney’s CourtWatch Advisory Committee. In 2016 she was named the 2016 CourtWatcher of the Year for Fulton County. For many years Kay coordinated efforts to recognize our first responders at APD Zone 6 and AFR Station 19. These efforts have grown to now include a collaboration with a dozen other neighborhoods.
Kay has been an active participant in the Atlanta City Design process and was selected as one of 25 participants for the Atlanta Leadership Institute sponsored by the City of Atlanta Planning Department and Atlanta City Council. This ten-month program was led by the Carl Vinson Institute for Government at UGA. Kay also attended a program for non-profit board executives offered by the UGA Terry School of Business with a focus on governance, legal and fiduciary responsibilities and volunteer recruitment.
In 2016 Kay was elected to the VHCA Board of Directors and chosen as vice president of the board. During her two years on the board, she served on the budget committee, and chaired the communication committee and safety committees. She also was responsible for coordinating the Summerfest 5K race for many years, has volunteered with both Summerfest and Tour of Homes, and served on the social committee. During her tenure she organized the first Candy Crawl in the VaHi and Morningside business districts which has continued as a favorite family activity each year – now hosted by Virginia Highland District.
In 2018, Kay was elected to serve as vice-chair of Neighborhood Planning Unit – F and remained in that role for six years. She currently serves as the NPU-F safety chair and interim license & permits chair. In 2021 she was approved by Atlanta City Council to serve as the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board representative to the Alcohol Technical Advisory Committee and serves as vice-chair with councilmember Alex Wan as chair.
In addition to her volunteer efforts in the neighborhood, Kay is a certified volunteer with Trees Atlanta, serving as a docent in the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum among other responsibilities. She is also a past public relations chair and board member with the Georgia Native Plant Society and served on the advisory board of the Piedmont Park Conservancy with responsibility for updating the Piedmont Park Master Plan and fund-raising for the Piedmont Dog Park.
As an advocate for transit Kay was a founding member of BeltLine Rail Now and led a petition campaign with all 25 NPUs in the city. She also has advocated for the protection of trees at our local library. Through a media and petition campaign her group was successful in preventing the removal of many mature trees and the addition of an unnecessary drive-thru book drop.
If elected Kay will focus her efforts in three areas:
• Increasing participation in the association by welcoming new members and helping to create a civil and efficient organization where busy people can feel the rewards of their efforts.
• Innovating by being open to new ideas, connections, and ways of operating, including greater collaboration between all the non-profits that serve Virginia-Highland.
• Bringing her long experience in public safety to bare on issues facing our neighborhood.