Deal appoints seven to boards

Robert C. Cooper, Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy
Cooper is currently the director of long-term care rehabilitation for the Hamilton House Transitional Care Unit of the Columbus Regional Healthcare System. He earned his occupational therapy degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 2003. Cooper is also a member of the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. His family attends St. Luke United Methodist Church. He and his wife, Sallie, have three children and reside in Columbus.

Ross King, Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board
King is the executive director for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia. He serves on the Georgia Humanities Council, the Advisory Council College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia, the Department of Natural Resources Foundation and the Georgia Cities Foundation. King earned a bachelor’s degree from High Point University in North Carolina and completed his master’s in Public Administration at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He and his wife, Terry, have three children and reside in Fayetteville.

Helen A. Person, Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board
Person spent 21 years as a manufacturer’s representative in the gift industry before returning to the University of Georgia in 2008 to pursue a graduate degree in historic preservation. Following graduation, she began a private consulting firm, Preservation Resources South. She is also a contributing columnist for The Barrow Journal. Person serves with Barrow Preservation Society, Inc. and Partnership Winder. She is also a member of Winder First United Methodist Church, where she serves in several capacities. She and her husband, Darrell, have three children and three grandsons and reside in Winder.

Gwyn B. Chesnut, Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board
Chesnut served as president of the Carroll County Historical Society for nine years and now serves on the board as archive chairman. She is also a member of the Abraham Baldwin Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Annie Wheeler Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Bowdon and Roopville Historical Societies and the Carrollton Civic Woman’s Club. Chesnut attends Victory United Methodist Church. She graduated from the University of Georgia in home economics and retired as consumer information specialist for the Atlanta Gas Light Company. She and her husband, Charles, have two sons and two grandsons. They reside in Carrollton.

Charles Baker, Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority
Baker is currently the Hall County Clerk of Superior and State Courts. He is also with the Traffic Violation Bureau and serves as jury manager. Before his election to Clerk of Courts, Baker served the public for 30 years as a deputy clerk and the last seven years as chief deputy clerk for the Hall County Superior and State Courts. During his career, he has worked in, managed and supervised the operations of the Criminal, Civil, Real Estate, Courts and Traffic Violations Bureau Division of the Clerk’s office. He and his wife, Glenda, have one daughter and two grandsons and are members of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. They reside in Hall County.

T. David Petite, Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns
Petite is an inventor and one of the key inventors of Wireless ad hoc network or Wireless Mesh, Technology. He is a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribe. He is also a founder of the Native American Intellectual Property Enterprise Council, a nonprofit organization helping Native American inventors and communities. Petite begin patenting ad hoc networks in 1995 and currently has more than 30 pending. He and his wife, Candida, have one son. They reside in Atlanta.
                                                                                                                            
Garrison B. Baker, Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board
Baker was elected as the judge of the probate court for White County in 1983 and has served in that position for the past 28 years. He also serves on the board of directors for the Georgia Probate Judges Retirement Fund, the White County Historical Society and the Ninth District Opportunity, Inc. Baker is involved in the conservation and preservation of Northeast Georgia’s history and cultural heritage. He is the author of two books on local history and cultural heritage, In the Shadow of Yonah: A History of White County, Georgia and A History of Crescent Hill Church. He resides in Cleveland.