Hiawassee resident Jim Powell will represent Towns County and the Ninth Congressional District of Georgia at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
 |
| Jim Powell |
Powell was one of four convention delegates elected by Ninth District Democrats when they caucused at Sautee Nacoochee on April 6. He joins Virginia Webb of Habersham County, Dave Cooper of Rabun County, and Tanjina Islam of Gwinnett County. The four were selected from 16 candidates. Each delegate pledges to vote for Joe Biden as the national Democratic Party’s nominee for president.
Powell has been active in local, state, and national government for several decades. He previously served on the Towns County Board of Elections and Voter Registration, was a candidate for the Georgia Public Service Commission (the top performing statewide Democratic candidate in the primary, general, and runoff elections), and presently serves as the federal representative to the 16-state Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), appointed by both Presidents Biden and Obama. In this role he serves as the official liaison between the board members and all federal agencies.
The SSEB is a non-profit interstate compact created in 1960 whose mission is to enhance economic development and quality of life in the South through innovations in energy and environmental policies, programs, and technologies.
He also represents the Biden Administration on the Tennessee Valley Authority Integrated Resource Plan working group as well as on the Carbon Capture and Utilization Permitting Task Force on Federal Lands and the Outer Continental Shelf.
Additionally, Powell had a 35-year career with the federal government, retiring in 2007 after serving in the Senior Executive Service at the U.S. Department of Energy. He began his federal career as an auditor with the Department of the Navy. Powell served in the U.S. Navy from 1968 to 1972 and is a service-connected disabled Vietnam-era veteran.
He is currently a small business owner working as an independent energy efficiency and renewable energy consultant to states, local governments, and industry.
Powell also was selected as a delegate to the 2020 Democratic convention which ended up being a virtual event because of the covid pandemic. He was a volunteer member of the Biden-Harris Policy Committee which was part of the presidential transition process.
Powell and his wife Karen have been married 53 years and have two adult sons and three grandchildren.
