A Welcome From the GALBA President

Alison Goldey

Greetings to our GALBA community. It is truly an honor to introduce myself as the 2025 president of the Georgia Association of Land Bank Authorities. It has been my privilege to be a part of GALBA since its inception, and it is with great pride and anticipation that I step into this role.

First, I want to express sincere gratitude to our Immediate Past President

Chris Norman, Director of the Metro Atlanta Land Bank for his dedicated service. I know I speak for all our land banks across the state and many others when saying that Chris has done an outstanding job leading GALBA and being a responsive institutional resource to many for over a decade.

As a past Director of the Macon-Bibb County Land Bank Authority, and the current Director of the Chatham County/City of Savannah Land Bank Authority, I have had the privilege of traveling across the state of Georgia to meet and work with many wonderful people and communities as they have created, organized, and implemented the operations of local land banks in their respective communities. I am thankful to all our existing land banks who have stayed committed, worked through challenges, and grown to become vital partners in their communities and with GALBA.

2025 is shaping up to be a very busy year and I am so thankful for our new relationship with the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), who will be assisting us in formalizing and further developing our state association, assisting with our administrative duties, and allowing GALBA to increase its capacity as we continue to champion over 30 land banks across the state of Georgia. As a result, we are starting the year in an even stronger position.

GALBA is committed to providing resources, support, and a platform for land banks to share their stories and experiences and learn from each other as we move forward into the future and continue to strive toward our vision of educating, marketing, and supporting land banks.

Remember that you are all part of our team on a journey to reimagine the way land banks can work in our communities to eliminate blight, revitalize neighborhoods, and provide affordable housing. We begin this new year with confidence and renewed determination to accelerate our collaborative efforts to transform vacant and abandoned properties into assets for our communities.

Thank you for putting your faith in me to lead and represent GALBA for the next 12 months. I look forward to an exciting new year working with old friends and making new ones and I can’t wait to discover what we will be able to achieve together.