The Cobb Chamber’s Cobb Executive Women (CEW) today named the winner of the 2022 Woman of Distinction Award at the Chamber’s June Marquee Monday event: Shari Martin, President & CEO of Cobb Community Foundation.
The Woman of Distinction award is given annually to recognize a woman who has demonstrated exceptional leadership through her professional endeavors, community involvement and social responsibility in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion thereby supporting and advancing her community and her field.
After five years on its Board of Directors including one as Board Chair, Shari Martin stepped into the role of Executive Director of the Cobb Community Foundation (CCF) in 2017 and was named President and Chief Executive Officer in 2019.
In 2019, she championed and commissioned the Cobb Human Services Needs Assessment which resulted in launching the online resource, Cobb Community Connection. In 2020, Cobb non-profits were hit hard by the pandemic as the need for their services grew exponentially. Martin served on the Cobb Chamber’s economic recovery taskforce to support local non-profits and meet the greatest needs in the community. She established a Cobb COVID-19 Community Response Fund to serve client’s impacted by the pandemic and also helped create Operation Meal Plan, which brought together restaurants and non-profits to feed the community and keep restaurants open.
Martin brought together several corporate partners and numerous Cobb County non-profits to ensure that the USDA Farmers to Families food would help Cobb citizens in need. Shari identified organizations such as the Atlanta Braves to help with food storage until local non-profits could come pick up what they needed to distribute throughout the county.
Martin has worked for many years behind the scenes for the betterment of our community and she inspires so many others to do the same. She is a proud member of Leadership Cobb Class of 2017 and part of the inaugural class of the Philantrophic Advisor Institute.
She is also a member of Marietta Kiwanis, Cobb Executive Women, the Cobb Chamber’s DE&I Council, among many other organziaitons. She recently received the Cobb Collaborative’s 2021 Bill Hanson Collaboration Award and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid’s 2022 All In award for her constant dedication to our community.
Cobb Executive Women is proudly supported by Yearlong Presenting Sponsor, Northside Hospital. Thank you to Award Sponsor, S.A. White Oil Company. For more information about Cobb Executive Women or the Woman of Distinction Award, contact Rebecca Chadwick at rchadwick@cobbchamber.org or 770-859-2368.
