Community Connections

The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services recently announced that Renee Byrd-Lewis has been named the new executive director. Byrd-Lewis will assume her new role on October 19, 2020. Current Executive Director Ellen Gerstein will transition to a support role and assist Byrd-Lewis until December 31, 2020. 

“After an extensive search process that yielded qualified candidates from all over the United States, the Gwinnett Coalition’s board of directors narrowed the pool to a select group of professionals. Out of that group, Renee Byrd-Lewis’s experience, vision and heart for Gwinnett, past successes, and exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills made her our top choice,” said Chuck Warbington, Gwinnett Coalition board chair and Lawrenceville City Manager. “We look forward to working with her to continue building on Ellen Gerstein’s legacy and helping accelerate the Coalition’s efforts to serve our growing community.”

Byrd-Lewis has a long history of both career and community accomplishments in Gwinnett.

“As a proud, long-time resident of Gwinnett County, I am honored to have the opportunity to build upon the Gwinnett Coalition’s history of success, and I look forward to leveraging my professional and community development experience to advance sustainable and systemic change on key issues,” said Renee Byrd-Lewis.

“The Coalition’s vision is a community where all residents have the opportunity to thrive. The board’s new strategic plan prioritizes increasing cross-sector coordination, aligning resources, and measuring impact to create large-scale social change. I’m excited to lean into this work and collaborate with community leaders and local organizations to drive positive impact throughout Gwinnett County.”

Byrd-Lewis’s experience includes leading community relations and corporate engagement strategies at Scientific Atlanta for eight years both before, during and after its merger with Cisco Systems. She then moved to Georgia Gwinnett College where she served as vice president of advancement before becoming vice president of strategic communications and positioning. During her time there she helped the college become the number one most ethnically diverse southern regional college, led marketing and communications efforts that contributed to a 31 percent enrollment increase, oversaw the Georgia Gwinnett College Foundation and related assets of $179 million, and increased fundraising efforts. Most recently Byrd-Lewis has served as senior counsel for POWER 10, where she provided strategic counsel and hands-on tactical support to nonprofits seeking to increase resources to accomplish their organizational goals. 

A graduate of Emory University where she earned an associates and bachelor’s degrees, Byrd-Lewis also has a master’s degree from Georgia State University. She currently serves as board chair of the Leadership Gwinnett Foundation and a board member of the Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation, Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation and Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful Advisory Board. She has served on multiple other boards throughout the years and won the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce’s Public Service Award, the Gwinnett Coalition’s Thomas James Corporate Involvement Award, United Way Women’s Legacy Award and numerous other awards. She and her husband reside in Buford with their two sons.

The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services announced today that Executive Director Ellen Gerstein will be retiring at the end of 2020. In light of Gerstein’s retirement, the board of the Gwinnett Coalition is launching a search for the next executive director.

“I am honored to have served as the founding executive director for the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services,” said Ellen Gerstein. “For 29 years I have had the privilege to partner with so many exemplary community leaders, agencies and professionals. I have participated in and witnessed positive community-level change and growth in my tenure over the past three decades.”

Gerstein joined the Gwinnett Coalition in 1991. Under her guidance, the Gwinnett Coalition has:

• Completed and implemented the first health and human services needs assessment – including a detailed action plan to address needs
• Started the Gwinnett Helpline, which has provided over 750,000 referrals to address life’s basic needs during the past 29 years
• Overseen the largest volunteer event in the country, Gwinnett Great Days of Service, with a combined economic impact of over $40 million dollars for the past 20 years.
• Started an affordable housing nonprofit – the Gwinnett Housing Resource Partnership
• Helped start five of Gwinnet’s six cooperative ministries
• Recommended and helped design the three Gwinnett County health and human service cluster centers in Norcross, Buford and Centerville.
• Developed the first comprehensive youth health survey and implemented subsequent surveys to address high-risk behaviors of our youth
• Raised over $2 million dollars to address youth substance abuse prevention
• Created 1st Veterans Resource Center in Gwinnett

“We are grateful for Ellen’s leadership and dedication to Gwinnett over the years,” said Chuck Warbington, Gwinnett Coalition board chair and Lawrenceville City Manager. “We know she will continue to be a force for good as she enters this next stage. We appreciate her commitment to the Gwinnett Coalition in ensuring the new executive director has a seamless transition.

“As a board, we are excited about the future of the Gwinnett Coalition and look forward to finding a new executive director who is passionate about building upon Ellen’s efforts and accelerating the Gwinnett Coalition’s efforts.”

For Gerstein, looking back on a career dedicated to helping people leaves her feeling grateful to have had the opportunity to live a life of purpose in Gwinnett.

“I am so proud that the Gwinnett Coalition continues to be a shining star among the thousands of Health and Human Service Coalitions in the country,” she said. “I want to thank each person I have worked with and who has supported me and the Gwinnett Coalition along this tremendous journey. I also want to encourage each of you to keep up the fight. As long as there are desperate needs in our community, our work is not done.”

As she transitions into a new phase of life, Gerstein is looking forward to continuing teaching a leadership course at  Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Georgia, consulting for nonprofits, spending time with her twin grandsons, traveling and writing.

Before helping found the Gwinnett Coalition, Gerstein ran an Arizona-based rehabilitation program for violent offenders. Her experience also includes counseling substance abusers and runaway and emotionally disturbed teens. A native of Atlanta, Gerstein graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s in criminal justice and a master’s in business management/human relations and organizational behavior from the University of Phoenix.

Dedicated to her community, Gerstein is serving, or has served, on more than 10 local advisory boards of various health and human service agencies. She is a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett

Class of 1995 and is also a member of the Gwinnett Rotary Club. Gerstein was also appointed by President Obama to the SAMHSA National Advisory Council. She has won the 1999/2004 State Family Connection – Outstanding Achievement Awards, the 2011 United Way Women’s Legacy Award, the 2012 Gwinnett chamber nonprofit Pinnacle Award, the 2014 MLK Diversity Award, the 2015 Gwinnett Chamber Scott Hudgens Humanitarian Award and the 2018 Gwinnett Chamber Public Service Award.

During the remainder of 2020, Gerstein will be working with the Gwinnett Coalition’s board to ensure a smooth leadership transition.