Builders & Connectors: Cheryl Cannon

By Jennifer Hafer

It was a simple Facebook ad announcing that Terrell County was looking for a chamber president. Cheryl Cannon was a paralegal in Albany when that post appeared in her feed, and a teacher before that. 

“I never planned on a career in economic development,” she says. “I read the ad and I said, ‘That sounds interesting. I’d like to do that.’” 

Cannon took the helm at the Terrell County Chamber of Commerce in November of 2023. She is the only staff member for the chamber and the development authority, so no two days are the same. 

One morning “Cheryl from Terrell” says she might be working on a membership renewal or planning an event, and the next she’s sitting across the table from a site selector talking about the county’s industrial park. 

“Before I came to the Terrell County Chamber of Commerce, I spent years teaching in a classroom and then working as a paralegal, two jobs that taught me more than I realized at the time about patience, organization and paying attention to the people in front of me,” she says. “I found out those earlier skills transfer more than you’d think.” 

Cannon believes she was the right person for the job, not only because of her transferable skills, but she says she has an innate drive to overcome roadblocks. 

“This job actually fits me better,” she says. “I’m very much a people person and a relationship person. There is so much potential here, but there was not much going on.  They needed someone that won’t give up, that’s very persistent and will push things through to make it happen, and I’m that person.” 

Since her arrival, Cannon has been focused on rebuilding the 100-member chamber “almost from the ground up” with new bylaws, a new board and a new strategic plan. What the chamber may have lacked before Cannon became its president and CEO is water under the bridge, she says. 

“Terrell County has been through a lot,” Cannon says. “Our history has left this community divided in ways that are hard to talk about, and it is easy to stay stuck looking backward. But my focus, every day, is moving us forward.” 

According to Cannon, the path forward is focused on sharing with small businesses and large industries alike what makes Dawson and Terrell County worth investing in.  

“We have the Dawson Municipal Airport, which matters more to industrial prospects than people realize,” she says. “We have places like Mark’s Melon Patch, The Clay Communion, Upland Feathers, Piney Creek Plantation, Dawson Country Club and Mrs. Paul’s Restaurant, businesses that give our community its character and give visitors a reason to slow down here.” 

Downtown Dawson also carries a Rural Zone Designation, a state-approved program that provides special tax credits to spur business growth, job creation and property rehabilitation in historic, economically distressed rural downtowns.  

“The designation gives us a real incentive to offer investors and small business owners looking to locate here,” Cannon says, “and we are actively working toward GRAD (Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development) certification for one of our industrial sites so that when a company comes looking, we can show them we are shovel ready.” 

While economic development projects can be years in the making, until the deal is inked, there are no guarantees. Cannon experienced this firsthand when her first project didn’t make it across the finish line when the selected site unexpectedly became unavailable. 

“The very first economic development project I ever did I competed against seven states and three communities in Georgia, and we won that project,” she recalls. “Ultimately, that project went to Colquitt, but initially that project was ours.” 

But since a win for Colquitt is a win for Southwest Georgia, Cannon’s initial efforts are expected to bear fruit. Based on its prior experience with Cannon and Terrell County, plans call for the company to expand into Dawson. 

“They loved us, and based on their previous experience with Dawson, they’re coming back to establish a hub (of operations) here,” she says. “We are working to bring this international company to Dawson that will locate its office space downtown, with manufacturing and distribution operations in our industrial park.” 

In addition, the company is helping other companies navigate the process of establishing operations in Georgia, the paperwork, the logistics, startup costs, which could create a domino effect and bring additional companies and jobs to Terrell County, according to Cannon. 

“I did not grow up dreaming of economic development work, but I have come to believe it’s exactly where I am supposed to be,” she says. “This community has good bones and good people, and I get to spend my days convincing the rest of the world of what I already know to be true.”