Harriet Paulk Hessam is a seasoned leader with a successful twenty-six year track record in both not-for-profit and for-profit sectors. 

From 1998 to 2006, she served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia.  There, she led the implementation of the largest capital campaign in Girl Scout history, raising more than $13.5 million.  She was responsible for the overall operations of the council and managed the activities of 150 staff members and nine program facilities.  Each year under her leadership, the council’s membership grew, totaling more than 35,000 girls and 14,000 adult volunteers by 2006. 

In 2005, Girl Scouts of the USA appointed Ms. Hessam as the Co-Leader of a National Fund Development Team, charged with facilitating transformational change with regard to how the organization approaches fund raising.

In 1996, Ms. Hessam co-founded Trillium Consulting Group, which provided fund raising and public relations consulting services to a variety of not-for-profits, including the Girl Scouts, the Piedmont Park Conservancy, the Atlanta Women’s Fund, and Senior Connections.

Ms. Hessam began her career in the non-for-profit community in 1993, having served as a volunteer for several organizations for more than 15 years.  She served as Director of Development for the Atlanta Union Mission from 1993-1996, during which time annual giving increased at a rate of 20% per year, and two successful capital campaigns were completed.

An honors graduate of Wellesley College, Harriet earned her MBA degree in marketing, with honors, from Georgia State University.  In 2006, Georgia State’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business honored her with an Alumni Achievement Award.  She has served as president of the Atlanta Wellesley Club, and was a member of the Atlanta Rotary Club for eight years.  Ms. Hessam was inducted into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers in 2004, and received a 2006 Turknett Leadership Character Award.

An Alabama native, Ms. Hessam has been married for 30 years to Tawab Hessam. They have a daughter who is a student at Emory, and a son who graduated from FSU and lives in Tampa, Florida.