Joan P. Garner

Fulton County Board of Commissioners

Commissioner Joan Garner is a native of Washington DC and has been in Atlanta since 1978. Commissioner Garner holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of District Columbia and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Communication from Howard University.

Commissioner Garner has long been known both for her work in the non-profit sector and for her community leadership. Commissioner Garner’s community service history is extensive. She has served on the Boards of the Atlanta Beltline Affordable Housing, Metropolitan Community Development Corporation, Council of Foundations, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Lambda Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Southerners on New Ground, Georgia Share Funding Exchange, Southern Reinvestment Ventures and Fourth Tuesday Incorporated to name a few. She was appointed to the Transition Team of Mayor Elect Maynard Jackson and subsequently appointed by Mayor Jackson to the Atlanta Olympic Citizen’s Advisory Commission and as Senior Advisor on Gay and Lesbian Issues. Commissioner Garner served as a member of the Public Works Commissioner Search Committee for Mayor Kasim Reed.

As an entrepreneur, Commissioner Garner founded Garner Results, Inc., a consultancy that develops giving strategies and provides management support to the non-profit and philanthropic communities. Commissioner Garner was previously President and CEO of the Historic District Development Corporation, a community-based, nonprofit organization that facilitates the preservation and revitalization of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic District and other historic/preservation communities. She has served as Executive Director of the Southern Partners Fund, a community-based public foundation committed to equal rights; as Co-Director of the National Network of Grant Makers, which supports social justice work; and as Executive Director of the Fund for Southern Communities, which fosters social change in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Commissioner Garner also served as Chair of Neighborhood Planning Unit-M.

Commissioner Garner resides in the Historic Old Fourth Ward neighborhood with her partner of eleven (11) years, attorney Jane Morrison.