The Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum announced Wendell Dallas, president and CEO of Nicor Gas, one of America’s leading natural gas distributors and the largest distribution company of Southern Company Gas, will join the roster of nationally renowned speakers on the schedule for the 2025 Forum, to be held March 3-4, 2025, at Kehoe Iron Works at Trustees Garden.
Spending part of his successful career in Savannah, the Forum is pleased to welcome Dallas back to the area. As president and CEO of Nicor, he is responsible for ensuring natural gas reaches more than 2.3 million homes and businesses in over 650 northern Illinois communities.
Before assuming his current role, Dallas served as vice president of sales and marketing for Georgia Power, the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company, which serves 2.7 million customers in Georgia. He was responsible for the company’s top line revenue growth strategy, new product development, product distribution, e-commerce, electric transportation, sales management and energy efficiency.
Dallas brings more than 30 years of leadership, operations and engineering experience to Nicor Gas, having served as vice president of operations for two Southern Company Gas subsidiaries, Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas. Dallas also served as the vice president of economic and community development for the Southern Company Gas multistate footprint.
A champion for workforce development initiatives, Dallas serves on the boards of World Business Chicago, Executive Club of Chicago, Illinois Utilities Business Diversity Council and Northern Illinois Community Initiatives. He also believes in helping communities grow and prosper and is an active board member for the United Way and Chicago Field Museum. Dallas also serves as a member of the Southern Company Gas Management Council, The Chicago Club, Chicago United, Commercial Club of Chicago, Economic Club of Chicago and Business Leadership Chicago.
A native of Opelika, Alabama, Dallas holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University and is a graduate of Leadership Georgia, Leadership Atlanta and Leadership Savannah. He and his wife live in Wheaton, Illinois and have three adult children.
Dallas will join the following speakers previously announced for this year’s Forum:
• Bonneau Ansley, an entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, passionate philanthropist and one of the top real estate specialists in the country. As a business owner who is in the market every single day, Ansley understands the current conditions and the context surrounding the data. In his book, “Brokering Billions: Secrets of the Nation’s Top Real Estate Agents,” he shares simple systems and processes to obtain more success than you ever dreamed. He started his career in Savannah and over the last 20 years he has been instrumental in myriad business endeavors throughout Georgia.
• Mariana Atencio, a Peabody Award-winning journalist, bestselling author, entrepreneur, story-teller, and host/moderator. Coming to America \\ from Venezuela as a young girl, Atencio felt self-conscious about being different. She recounted her struggles in a TED talk that captured the hearts of tens of millions. Her message is what makes you different is what makes you special...unleash your potential by embracing your authenticity.
• Don Yaeger, a 12-time New York Times best-selling author, host of the top-rated corporate competitor podcast, storyteller in residence for National Geographic, executive leadership coach, and longtime associate editor for Sports Illustrated.
Recently inducted into the National Speakers Hall of Fame, he is one of America’s most provocative thought leaders.
• Kim Bearden is the cofounder, executive director, and language arts teacher at the highly acclaimed Ron Clark Academy, an innovative middle school and educator-training facility in Atlanta. More than 115,000 educators from around the world have visited Bearden’s classroom and have attended her workshops to learn better ways to engage students, promote academic excellence, build relationships, and create a climate and culture for success.
• Erik Qualman is a five-time number one bestselling author and keynote speaker who has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 55 million people. Qualman’s Socialnomics work has been on 60 Minutes, the Wall Street Journal and used by groups from the National Guard to NASA. He is a current professor of Digital Leadership at Northwestern University and his materials are used in over 500 universities. Qualman’s animation studio works with some of the world’s leading brands including Disney, Oreo, Chase, and Cartier.
An exciting addition to this year’s Forum will be a Monday afternoon networking reception followed by music from The Warren Brothers. Grammy nominated and Emmy Award songwriters and artists with nine No. 1 songs to their credit, the Warren Brothers have written hits for Tim McGraw (“If You’re Reading This”, “Felt Good on My Lips”, “Highway Don’t Care”), Toby Keith (“Red Solo Cup”), Keith Urban (“Little Bit of Everything”), Faith Hill (“The Lucky One”), Martina Mc-Bride (“Anyway”, “Wrong Baby Wrong”), Dierks Bentley (“Feel That Fire”), Jerrod Niemann (“Drink To That All Night”) and many others.
Cost for the 2024 Forum is $490 and includes access to all speaker presentations/regional tours, lunch each day, morning coffee/afternoon beverage/ snack bars, Monday evening reception and music, plus invitations to additional special events being held during the Forum.
Major sponsors of the Forum include Georgia Southern University, Georgia Ports Authority, Georgia Power, MetroMarket Media and Morris Multimedia.
For more information regarding this year’s speakers, 2025 Leadership Award recipients and to purchase tickets to attend, visit https://southeastleadershipforum. com.
About The Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum:
The Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum’s core mission is to include, listen, learn, act and grow. The Forum was founded to help the region address generational systemic poverty, isolated silos of community and communication, while moving the community forward towards excellence and growth opportunities for all. The Forum seeks to challenge leaders to think differently and boldly with a bias toward action while building a bench of leaders for generations to come.
For more details about the 2025 Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum, visit: https://southeastleadershipforum. com.