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2025 Community Insights Tour

The Water Tower

The Water Tower is a first-of-its-kind nonprofit global water innovation hub for water and wastewater utilities, researchers, private companies, and water-related organizations to collaboratively solve critical, real-world water and environmental challenges. Located in Gwinnett County, Georgia, The Water Tower provides innovative solutions in practical research, technology innovation, workforce development, and industry engagement for utilities in the water sector while attracting and training the next generation of water professionals. Learn more about The Water Tower.

Nick Masino is the President & CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber and Partnership Gwinnett. A U.S. Chamber accredited organization, the Gwinnett Chamber was established in 1947. At the helm, Nick is known for his strong leadership, commitment to Gwinnett County and more than two decades of making an impact in the community and economic development arenas. Previously, he was Partnership Gwinnett’s Chief Economic Development Officer where he oversaw the business recruitment and retention efforts for the county. In addition to his day job, Nick serves on a plethora of boards, including: the Regional Business Coalition of Metro Atlanta, the Council for Quality Growth, the Georgia Chamber and The Water Tower Global Innovation Hub @ Gwinnett, among many others.

Town Center at Peachtree Corners

Town Center @ Peachtree Corners

In 2024, the city of Peachtree Corners was privileged to be ranked #1 in the state of Georgia and #19 nationally out of 50 cities in Fortune Well magazine’s Best Places to Live for Families. Founded in 2012 as Gwinnett County’s largest city, Peachtree Corners is part of the booming #SiliconOrchard in metro Atlanta. With its vibrant retail and services and delicious dining, Peachtree Corners Town Center has become a thriving destination for the local community, including community events and the state-of-the-art playground at the Town Green, promoting diversity, inclusion, and fun for all. Learn more about all that Town Center has to offer.

 

CMX CinéBistro Peachtree Corners

CMX CinéBistro Peachtree Corners, a premier Peachtree Corners movie theater, offers a one-of-a-kind elevated restaurant and movie-going experience. Enjoy reserved recliner seating, full-service in-theatre dining, and a chef-crafted menu with extensive beer, wine, and cocktail selections. Learn more about CMX CinéBistro

Nicole Love Hendrickson became the first African American Chairwoman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners in 2020. She oversees Gwinnett’s $2.5 billion budget, leads policy formulation, and ensures top-tier services for nearly 1 million residents in Georgia’s second-most populous and diverse county. Her initiatives include a transit development plan, an affordable housing fund, economic support for small and minority businesses, and fostering government transparency. She spearheaded Gwinnett’s Equity Action Plan and the Gwinnett Place Mall Redevelopment Plan to prioritize community-centered investments. Under her leadership, the Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center and the Police Mental Health Collaboration program launched and expanded. She also chairs the Local Leaders Housing Action Committee addressing regional housing affordability challenges.

Active on numerous boards, including the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, she also serves nationally as Vice Chair of the National Association of Counties’ Community, Workforce, and Economic Development Committee. Recognized as one of Georgia’s most influential leaders, Chairwoman Hendrickson holds a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Rhode Island and a Master of Social Work from the University of Georgia. She lives in Lilburn with her husband, Keverne, and their son, Kaden.

Greg Whitlock is the Mayor of Duluth, Georgia. Greg was elected Mayor November 2023 but has served as council member since November 2007. He is a Duluth resident since 2001 and business owner of the Whitlock Group, Inc. located in Duluth, GA. His goal as Mayor is for Duluth to be the #1 community to live and work for all people. He believes this to be accomplished with strategic long-term planning, full transparency, and working closely with citizens, businesses, schools and the City leadership team. He is happily married to his wife, Barbara, and proud father of two children.

Mason is a trusted leader in the formation and stewardship of innovation districts, research parks, and mission-driven real estate developments. With 20 years’ experience working with higher education institutions, governments and industry, Mason has a track record of converging real estate, academia, and business to advance communities of innovation. In his role as President and Chief Executive Officer of Rowen, Mason is responsible for the real estate development, public-private-university partnerships, and investment activities of the 2,000-acre multi-use knowledge community ultimately comprising over 50 million square feet of space and housing over 80,000 employees. Prior to leading Rowen, Mason served as the Vice President of Operations at The University Financing Foundation (TUFF), a non-profit financing organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, where he advised on a wide variety of local and international university projects managing assets in excess of $1.5 billion.  Prior to TUFF, Mason was the Chief Operating Officer at the Research Triangle Park Foundation (RTP) and led the organization’s business development, marketing, real estate, and partnership strategies.

Curiosity Lab

Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners is the country’s first true smart city technology proving ground – featuring real connected city infrastructure and thousands of interacting residents/vehicles that can’t be replicated by closed or controlled testing environments. The 5G enabled living laboratory is designed for startups and established companies to deploy and prove developing technologies in a real-world testing environment with no roadblocks, joined by the next generation of intelligent mobility and smart city technology. The 500-acre technology park and 1.5-mile autonomous vehicle test street creates conditions that enable robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous services/vehicles and countless more emerging applications to be trialed, developed and ultimately deployed globally. Serving as the model for how government entities and the free market must collaborate to build out smart cities and regions in the United States, Curiosity Lab showcases how buildings and other city fixtures are enabling, and connecting with, devices and solutions. When it comes to autonomous technologies, for example, Curiosity Lab’s mobile 5G network, combined with cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) roadside units, enable disruptive technology developers to test vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications in an unprecedented manner. Intelligent traffic cameras and traffic signals, along with smart street lights and data sensors, push video and invaluable data to a central operations center for analysis and action. All is reflective of how city infrastructure will soon communicate with machines and humans on a scale never seen before. Learn more about Curiosity Lab.

Brandon serves as the chief technology officer (CTO) and Assistant City Manager, leads the City of Peachtree Corners’ groundbreaking smart city and Internet of Things (IoT) programs. Overseeing one of the first real-world smart city ecosystems deployed in the United States, he is bringing the region to the forefront in the development of next-generation IoT technologies that will change the face of business and society in the near future – both within the country and across the world. Branham serves on various boards in the community and recently received his certification in cybersecurity leadership from the Professional Development Academy, in conjunction with the International City Managers Association.  Branham has a Master of Business Administration Degree from Georgia Southwestern State University and received his designation as a Certified Public Manager accreditation from the University of Georgia, Carl Vinson Institute of Government. He lives in the city with his wife and five children.

Presenting Sponsor

Breakfast Sponsor

Lunch Sponsor

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Transportation Sponsors

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Speaker Sponsor