The Georgia Historical Society announced that Frank Blake, retired Chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, and John Schuerholz, Vice-chairman emeritus of the Atlanta Braves, will be inducted as the newest Georgia Trustees on February 16, 2019, at the Trustees Gala in Savannah. It is the highest honor the State of Georgia can confer.

“Frank Blake and John Schuerholz reflect what is best in the original Georgia Trustees,” said Dr. W.Todd Groce, President and CEO of the Georgia Historical Society. “Their commitment to the common good and their insistence on putting others first are in keeping with the leadership of James Oglethorpe and the other visionary founders of Georgia. Through their character, modesty, and comportment, Frank and John are prime examples of everything a great leader should be.”
 
In conjunction with the Governor’s Office, the Georgia Historical Society reestablished the Georgia Trustees in 2009 as a way of recognizing Georgians whose accomplishments and community service reflect the highest ideals of the founding body of Trustees. The original Georgia Trustees were a governing body chartered and appointed by His Majesty King George II of England in 1732 to establish a new colony in North America.  They founded Georgia upon the principle of Non Sibi, Sed Aliis, “Not for Self, but for Others.”  The Governor annually appoints new Trustees whose history-making accomplishments and service reflect the original Trustees’ ideals.
 
Frank Blake served as Chairman and CEO of The Home Depot from January 2007 through November 2014, and then as chairman through January 2015. Blake joined The Home Depot in 2002 as executive vice president, business development and corporate operations.

Prior to The Home Depot, Blake served as deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy and in a variety of executive roles at General Electric, including senior vice president, Corporate Business Development. His public sector experience also includes having served as general counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, deputy counsel to Vice President George Bush, and law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Blake serves on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Aquarium, Proctor & Gamble, Macy’s, and is currently serving as Chairman of the Delta and Grady Hospital boards. Additionally, he sits on the Board of Trustees at Agnes Scott College.  He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a jurisprudence degree from Columbia University School of Law.

John Schuerholz has had a long and accomplished career in professional baseball, spending much of it here in Georgia with the Atlanta Braves. After a successful tenure with the Kansas City Royals, Schuerholz became general manager of the Atlanta Braves in 1990 and immediately helped the team go from worst to first, winning the National League pennant in 1991. The Braves established an American professional sports record by winning 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 to 2005. During his tenure the Braves played in the World Series as National League champions four times and won the World Series in 1995.

In 2007, Schuerholz was named president of the Braves. As president and then as vice chairman, he was instrumental in the planning and building of SunTrust Park and the mixed-use development, The Battery Atlanta, which opened in April 2017. Schuerholz received baseball’s highest honor when he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, and named Vice Chairman Emeritus by the Braves in 2018.
 
A native of Baltimore and a graduate of Towson University, Schuerholz is active in community organizations.  He served on the advisory board of Camp Sunshine, an organization that provides opportunities to enrich the lives of children with cancer in Georgia, and the board of Yes!Atlanta, which seeks to give at-risk teenagers a chance to experience personal success through voluntary programs based on long-term regular support by committed, caring, and trained adults.