Sonny Perdue, a founding partner of Perdue Partners, LLC, served as Georgia’s 81st Governor and is the owner of a successful commodity trading company and logistics company in the southeast. On October 26, 2010 Governing Magazine named Governor Perdue a Public Official of the Year for his outstanding leadership. Reason Foundation’s 2009 Innovators in Action Magazine recognized Governor Perdue as a leader who “aggressively pursued new strategies to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of government and deliver better value at less cost to taxpayers”. And in 2008 the Pew Center on the States ranked Georgia among the best managed states in the nation emphasizing the value and impact of improvements made by Governor Perdue’s Commission for a New Georgia.
Sonny Perdue served as Georgia’s Governor from January 2003 until January 2011. Governor Perdue’s firm belief that effective management is fundamental to good government brought significant reforms to the State budget which focused priorities and cut wasteful spending. In 2003 Governor Perdue created the Commission for a New Georgia, populated by 400 of Georgia’s top business leaders, to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, accountability and culture of public service. The Commission for a New Georgia made and implemented 130 recommendations and inspired the book Smart Government: Bureaucracy with a Business Brain.
Under Governor Perdue’s leadership Georgia produced dramatic results in creating a safer, growing, more educated Georgia. Perdue promoted Georgia around the world, visiting companies and governments in 25 countries to bring unprecedented new business to the state, including the relocation of two Fortune 500 company headquarters, a new automotive assembly plant and a new Global 100 manufacturing operation. The nation’s first enterprise-wide state government customer service program was created in Georgia. High School graduation rates increased from 63.3% to 80.8%. And despite the most challenging economic environment in the state’s history, Georgia held its position as 49th in state government spending per capita.
Prior to becoming Governor, Perdue served as a state senator for 11 years and was recognized as a leading authority on numerous issues including agriculture, transportation, emerging technologies and economic development. After earning a doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Georgia and serving as a Captain in the United States Air Force, Perdue became a successful business owner, concentrating in agribusiness and transportation logistics.
