The Civic League for Regional Atlanta

The Civic League is pleased to announce the selection of the 2010 Marshall Memorial Fellows, emerging leaders in their respective fields chosen to travel throughout Europe learning about business, policy and politics across the pond. The four fellows are Dr. Ayanna Buckner, Morehouse School of Medicine; Tony Chan, Habitat for Humanity; Amol Naik, McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP; and Nathaniel Smith, Emory University, University-Community Partnerships. Jeremy Cole of the International Community School has been selected as an alternate.

Founded in 1982, the Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) was created by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States to introduce a new generation of European leaders to America's institutions, politics and people. In 1999, GMF launched a companion program to expose future U.S. leaders to a changing and expanding Europe.

“The current economic crisis has caused a myriad of issues in the state of Georgia, including budget deficits and an increase in poverty, foreclosure, unemployment and crime rates. My participation in the Marshall Memorial Fellowship allowed me to engage European leaders and institutions and view the innovative programs and processes used to address the global systemic problems caused by past and current economic conditions.  More importantly, I came to realize that although these problems are intractable, they are not unsolvable, nor unique to Georgia,” said Jamila Davison, a 2009 Fellow and emergency medicine physician and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar, Department of Veterans Affairs.

Over the past 26 years, the MMF program has attracted more than 1,500 of the best and brightest from all sectors, including politics, media, business and nongovernmental organizations.  GMF works closely with partners in more than 60 cities on both sides of the Atlantic to make the MMF program possible.

“As a 2004 Marshall Memorial Fellow, I had the great opportunity to visit and speak with a wide variety of leaders. The fellowship continues to play a defining role in shaping who I am and my understanding of the world at large,” said Sanjay Parekh, a technology entrepreneur and investor.

In 2006, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta was invited to participate in the selection process, and this year The Foundation partnered with The Civic League because of The League’s commitment to developing metro Atlanta’s citizens into leaders.

Marshall Fellows are between the ages of 28 and 40, with successful careers in politics, government, the media, business and the non-profit sector. American Fellows each visit five or six cities during the three-to-four-week travel program, meeting formally and informally with a range of policymakers and prominent members of the business, government, political, nongovernmental and media communities. For further information on the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, please click here.