Broce most recently served as Communications Director and Chief Deputy Executive Counsel for Governor Kemp, and she previously managed communications and served as legal counsel for elections and legislative affairs at the Georgia Secretary of State's Office. Broce holds a bachelor's degree in Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology and law degree from Georgia State University College of Law. Originally from Cartersville in Bartow County, she now lives in White, Georgia with her husband, Jason, and two sons, Beau and Jack. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, Federalist Society, Republican National Lawyers Association, and Georgia Board of Nursing.

Jerry Bruce is the Director of the Georgia Office of the Child Advocate (OCA). He has 26 years of experience in child welfare and juvenile justice law. Since 2015, he has worked as Georgia’s Court Improvement program director and as program attorney for the Georgia Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children. Previously, he served as a Juvenile Courts Judge in the Enotah Judicial Circuit, and as a Special Assistant Attorney General representing the Department of Family and Children Services in Union, Towns, and Rabun counties. Mr. Bruce received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia in 1993, as well as a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Louisiana State University in 1990.

Governor Brian P. Kemp appointed Shawanda Reynolds-Cobb Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) on May 3, 2023. She is responsible for the daily operation of Georgia’s juvenile justice system including more than 3,400 employees who hold justice-involved youth accountable for their actions through probation supervision and secure detention. 

Commissioner Reynolds-Cobb has 30 years of experience in government service, beginning her career in Georgia at the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) in 1993. In 2011, she joined the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice as Deputy Commissioner of Administrative Services, where she oversaw Contracts, Technology and Information Services, Engineering and Maintenance, Property/Records/Fleet, Grants/Real Estate/Strategic Planning, and Project Management.

In March 2022, Mrs. Reynolds-Cobb was named Assistant Commissioner/Chief of Staff to the DJJ Commissioner. In this role, she oversaw the Department’s leadership team and worked closely with staff on long-term agency strategies and initiatives.

Mrs. Reynolds-Cobb earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from Georgia State University in 1994 and her master’s degree in administration from Central Michigan University in 1999. 

Greg Dozier holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and master’s degree in Business Administration from Georgia State University. Dozier resides in Covington with his wife and two daughters. He has extensive leadership experience in state operations, formerly served as the Governor’s Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Dozier served as Commissioner of the Department of Corrections, Commissioner of the Department of Driver Services, and Division Director at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget. Dozier has served in leadership capacities under Governors Perdue, Deal, and Kemp.

Governor Brian Kemp appointed Joy to serve as Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement in January 2019. Before coming to Governor Kemp’s team, Joy served as the director of Literacy For All, a donor-advised initiative of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.

Over the past 20 years, Joy has served in Governor Sonny Perdue’s Office as policy adviser and deputy COO; as vice president of education for the Metro Atlanta Chamber; and as the Georgia Student Finance Commission VP and Executive Director of the REACH Georgia Foundation.

She has two grown children and resides in Sandy Springs.

Richard Woods was born in Pensacola, Florida and while growing up in a military family, lived in California, Hawaii and Virginia before moving to Georgia. He graduated from Fitzgerald High School, and went on to receive a Bachelor’s Degree from Kennesaw State University and a Master’s Degree from Valdosta State University.

Woods has over 25 years of pre-k through 12th grade experience in public education. Woods was a high school teacher for 14 years, serving as department chair and teacher mentor. During his tenure, he was also selected as Teacher of the Year. For eight years Woods served in various administrative roles such as assistant principal, principal, curriculum director, testing coordinator, pre-k director, and alternative school director.

Woods also brings a business background to the superintendent's position, having been a purchasing agent for a national/multi-national laser company and a former small business owner.

He and his wife Lisha, a retired 30-year educator, are long-time residents of Tifton, GA.

Amy M. Jacobs is commissioner of Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), the agency responsible for helping meet the early child care and education needs of hundreds of thousands of Georgia’s children and their families. Former Governor Nathan Deal appointed her to lead the department in June 2014. As DECAL Commissioner, Jacobs oversees an annual budget of more than $900 million for programs focused on child care licensing, subsidized child care, child and adult care nutrition, child care quality, and early childhood education, specifically Georgia’s Pre-K Program.

Before joining DECAL, Commissioner Jacobs served as Senior Policy Adviser for the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget (OPB). She began her career at OPB in 2001 in the planning, research, and evaluation division focusing on strategic planning and program evaluation. Also while at OPB, she served as director of the Education Division and the General Government Division. Before that, she worked for two years in the Georgia Court of Appeals.

The Commissioner serves on the Georgia’s Children’s Cabinet (Co-chair), the Georgia Child Fatality Review Panel, the Promising All Atlanta Children Thrive Advisory Board, and the boards of the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy at Georgia College and State University (Board Chair); Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning (Board Chair); and the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.

Commissioner Jacobs is a graduate of the University of Georgia.

Attended Augusta College from 1978-1980 and graduated from Georgia Southern College Cum Laude in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in both Spanish and Political Science.

Attended Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama, graduating with a J.D. in 1987.

Began his state government work during the 1988 GA Legislative Session serving as Legal Aide for the Georgia House Judiciary Committee under Honorable Charles Thomas from Temple, Georgia.

On April of 1988, he began working at the State of Georgia Office of Legislative Counsel drafting legislation for members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

In 1994, he moved to the Council of Juvenile Court Judges of Georgia as Staff Attorney where he eventually became the Executive Director of the Council on February of 1995.

He has been a member of the Atlanta West End Rotary Club since 1991. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and a Will Watt Fellow.

He has been married to Julie Y. John, a partner in the law firm of Drew, Eckl, and Farnham, since 1989 and he has two sons, Lucas, a medical school student at the University of North Carolina, and Brady, a second year student at the University of Tennessee College of Law. They have resided in Marietta, GA, since 1987.

Mr. Neal currently serves as the Executive Director for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. He was appointed to this position by Governor Nathan Deal in November of 2016. Director Neal formally served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2004 until 2013, when he was appointed by Governor Deal to be the Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Transition, Support, and Reentry. Director Neal previously sat on the Board of Directors for the Lookout Mountain Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the SAGE Resource Center, and the YOBEL House. He and his wife Gretchen have two children and seven grandchildren, and they currently reside in Chickamauga, Georgia.

Russel Carlson is the Commissioner for the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). In this role, he leads the state agency responsible for healthcare purchasing, planning and administration of Medicaid, PeachCare for Kids, and the State Health Benefit Plan, while regulating healthcare facilities across the state for compliance with existing state and federal laws.

Carlson previously served as Chief Health Policy Officer for the agency. Prior to joining DCH, he was Vice President of Government Relations with the Georgia Health Care Association and was the highest-ranking civilian in the Georgia Department of Defense as the Deputy Adjutant General. He has held numerous other roles where he led policy, budget and administrative functions within complex state government organizations.

Kevin Tanner is the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. He has served as county manager of Forsyth County and served four terms as a State Representative for District 9. He has spent thirty-three years in public service.

Commissioner Tanner received his undergraduate degree from North Georgia College and State University and earned his Master of Public Administration from Columbus State University. He has been heavily involved in community and civic activities in the North Georgia area for many years.

Commissioner Tanner and his wife Stacie have been married more than twenty-four years. Stacie is a public school kindergarten teacher, and they are the proud parents of three daughters: Kaitlyn, Abbie, and Chloe. He serves as a Deacon and Sunday school teacher at Bethel Baptist Church where his family has attended for seven generations.

Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H., was appointed commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health by Governor Brian Kemp in March 2019. As commissioner, Dr. Toomey oversees 159 county health departments in 18 health districts, and various public health programs.

Before her appointment to commissioner, Dr. Toomey served as Director of the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness. She led the department’s transition to become the Fulton County Board of Health, continuing as district health director until December 2018

An epidemiologist and board-certified family practitioner, Dr. Toomey’s career in public health is long and distinguished, holding key leadership positions with the State of Georgia and both national and international leadership positions with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She served as the CDC’s Country Director in Botswana. In addition to other leadership positions with the CDC, Dr. Toomey previously served as the Director of the Division of Public Health with the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

Dr. Toomey earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Smith College. As a Fulbright Scholar, she studied indigenous healing practices in Peru. Dr. Toomey earned her M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard University. In 1985, Dr. Toomey was selected as a Pew Health Policy Research Fellow at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. While in San Francisco, she served on committees looking at the initial cases of emergent HIV.