Thursday, October 16, 2025
Kehoe Iron Works at Trustees Garden

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2025

Media Contact:  Caroline Holden
Abshire Public Relations
912.695.7881
pr@abshirepr.com

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Elevate Savannah, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering local communities and fostering educational excellence in the Chatham County Public School System, is excited to announce their 3rd Annual Elevate Savannah Leadership Awards Dinner will be held October 16, 2025, at Kehoe Iron Works at Trustees Garden.

The 2025 Elevate Savannah Leadership Awards recipients are Dr. Paul M. Pressly, Former Headmaster of The Savannah Country Day School, Author, and Director of Emeritus Ossabaw Island Education Alliance, as well as Paul D. Meyer, J.D., Founding Partner of Meyer & Sayers, LLP. Former honorees of the Leadership Awards Dinner include Christian Demere, President & CEO of Colonial Group, Inc., Cliff McCurry, Director of Community Development for Sterling Seacrest Pritchard, and Jamie McCurry, Chief Administrative Officer at Georgia Ports Authority. The Leadership Awards Dinner has continued to be a tremendous success, raising over $300k to support Elevate Savannah’s mission of empowering and inspiring future leaders.

The Leadership Awards Dinner is a testament to Elevate Savannah’s commitment to recognizing and celebrating individuals who have elevated and positively impacted our community. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with current and past Elevate students, teacher-mentors, staff and board members to learn more about the program’s successes, hear personal stories of growth and achievement, and understand the crucial role mentorship plays in shaping the future of our community’s youth.

“We are thrilled to honor Paul Pressly and Paul Meyer at this year’s Leadership Awards Dinner,” said George Oelschig, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Elevate Savannah. “As founding members of Elevate Savannah’s Board of Directors, their unwavering commitment and leadership have been instrumental in shaping our organization’s success. Their dedication to our mission continues to inspire us all, and we are proud to recognize their profound impact.”

For more information on tickets and sponsorship opportunities for the Elevate Savannah Leadership Awards Dinner, please contact Elevate Savannah at 912-704-7465. To learn more about Elevate Savannah, please visit www.elevatesavannah.org.

About Dr. Paul M. Pressly – An educator, historian, and community leader, Paul Pressly has made an impact on the cultural and civic life of Savannah, building bridges between people, schools, and communities. He holds a B.A. in history from Princeton University, a M.P.A. from Harvard University, and a D.Phil. in history from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

As an educator, he headed the Savannah Country Day School, created the Horizons program that touches the lives of over three hundred public school students each summer, and was active in shaping policy for independent schools on a national level. He served as chairman of the Board of the National Association of Independent Schools, as President-General of the Cum Laude Society, and as chairman of the SAT Committee for College Board. In Savannah, he served as chairman of the Board of Governors of Bethesda Academy and as a member of the boards of Horizons and Elevate, a program that places mentors in public schools.

An environmentalist, he is Director Emeritus of the Ossabaw Island Education Alliance, a partnership between the Georgia Board of Regents, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Ossabaw Island Foundation. In carrying out the legacy of its original owner, Sandy West, the Alliance opened up Ossabaw, with its 26,000 acres and multiple ecosystems of unparalleled beauty, to students, researchers, and groups with an educational purpose. While Director, he authored two books on the history of early Georgia, edited a volume on the environmental history of our coast, and produced a fourth volume on African American Life in the Georgia Lowcountry, all published by the University of Georgia Press.

As community leader, Pressly has worked to build connections between public and private schools, several non-profits, and the many ethnic groups within a city and a coast rich in a heritage that is often overlooked. He served as chairman of the board of Senior Citizens Inc. (Meals on Wheels), the Sarah Mills Hodge Foundation, president of the Rotary Club of Savannah, and was a member of many boards, including the Georgia Historical Society, Telfair Museum, and Historic Savannah Foundation. He received the Governor’s Award in the Humanities in 2009; the Sarah Nichols Pinckney Volunteer Award, Georgia Historical Society; the Beach Institute Education Award, King Tisdale Cottage Foundation, and the Legacy Leadership Award from the Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum.

He is married to Jane Pressly, former curator of the Green-Meldrim House. They share a love for the barrier islands, especially Ossabaw, Little St. Simons, and Cumberland islands, where they spend as much time as they can.

About Paul D. Meyer, J.D. – Paul is a founding partner in the Firm and has over 25 years of experience in representation of private clients, family businesses and fiduciaries. Paul focuses primarily on the creation of advanced estate plans which minimize transfer and income taxes, the administration of estates, and business succession strategies. He specializes in transaction-oriented planning techniques using family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, advanced trusts and charitable bequests. Paul represents and consults fiduciaries, such as trustees and executors, in all areas including litigation of legal claims against fiduciaries by beneficiaries. Paul also has significant experience advising fiduciaries and managing the estate and trust administration process during litigation among fiduciaries and beneficiaries. He regularly coordinates multi-state estate, tax and litigation matters for his family clients. Paul also has created and managed multi-national corporate structures and start-up ventures.

Paul graduated, cum laude and as salutatorian, in 1996 from Mercer Law School. Paul also holds a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech where he graduated with honors.

Paul is a past president of The Savannah Estate Planning Council and is listed in Best Lawyers in America in Trusts & Estates. He is listed as an “AV” rated Preeminent attorney by Martindale Hubbell, and he is the recipient of numerous professional distinctions.

Paul is an advocate of philanthropy, regularly serving as a mentor to various groups, especially those involved with youth. He is a current or past board member of Hospice Savannah, Inc., the Steward Center for Palliative Care, Hospice Savannah Foundation, Inc., Christ Church Episcopal, the Coastal Georgia Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Performance Initiatives, Inc., Elevate Savannah, Inc., Tharros Place, Inc. and Savannah Christian Preparatory School and its Foundation. Paul is a past Scoutmaster and current Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 57 on Skidaway Island. Paul is also an Eagle Scout. Paul is also a Rotarian where he has served as President of the Skidaway Island Rotary Club and as an Assistant Governor of Rotary District 6920. Paul is a frequent speaker at professional and philanthropic events, and he attends many of the nation’s top tax and business succession seminars. He is a member of both the Georgia and South Carolina Bars.

About Elevate Savannah:

Since its launch in 2019 at A.E. Beach High School, Elevate Savannah’s mission has been to build meaningful relationships with urban youth, equipping them to thrive and contribute to their community. Now, the rapidly growing student mentor program now has representation in all levels of the Savannah-Chatham County Schools. Currently, over 400 students from A.E. Beach High School, DeRenne Middle School, and Hodge Elementary School are involved with Elevate Savannah. With its first elementary, middle, and high school pipeline complete, Elevate Savannah’s next goal will be to expand the program to other Savannah-Chatham County Title I schools in order to support as many local students as possible. For more information, please visit www.elevatesavannah.org.