Five Under 40
by Cyndy Cerbin

Developer, attorney, optometrist, banker … and a People Connector.
Half an Ironman, part of an Irongirl.
A loudmouth punk, a snowboarder and a lake lounger.
Lots of Young Professionals.
And lots of passion...

These are the people who make up Columbus and the Valley and the Greater Columbus Chamber
of Commerce Young Professionals Five Under 40 for 2010. Each has a story as unique as the community in which they live. But each shares a common goal of making their community an even better place to live.

Colby Cardin, Amy Giglio, Dr. Griff Gordy, Nick Stutzman and Chris Woodruff were selected from dozens of submissions by Columbus and the Valley readers. Nominees were invited to tell us about how these young professionals are making a difference through their leadership and dedication to family, business, faith and the community.

The judges found their task exceptionally difficult, but extremely rewarding. We hope you, too, will be inspired by the dreams and accomplishments of these five bright stars and the five Rising Stars named at the end of this feature. You’ll want to keep your eye on them, as well.

Colby Cardin, 36
Hometown: Columbus (since age 10)
Family: Wife Laura
daughter Sara Beth, 8, son Logan, 4
Occupation: Commercial Banker, CB&T
Education: Hardaway High School
University of Georgia

When Colby Cardin’s grandfather was 16 years old, he got a job as an armed courier. He would walk from his home in Columbus’ historic district to the businesses downtown to pick up their deposits and take them to 1st National Bank. That was the start of his family’s banking legacy.

Colby’s dad became a banker, too. But as a youngster, Colby had no intention of following in the family footsteps.

As a teen, Colby was a self-described “loudmouth punk.” He liked outdoor sports. He was a Boy Scout, and he made it to Eagle Scout in part because of Bud Paepke, a dedicated Scout leader who refused to give up on him.

Colby’s love of backpacking and rock climbing led him to a mountaineering school in Washington. He started teaching others how to conquer nature’s obstacles. “I thought I’d be anything but a banker,” Colby says now.

In college he majored in history “because I like gossip about dead people,” he says. “But I discovered that a great education in history and an education in outdoor stuff qualifies you for little more than filing for unemployment.”

Right out of college, Colby became a district executive for the local council of Boy Scouts. Later he took an “ill-fated” stab at the textile industry. (“It was an engineering kind of thing – well beyond my intellectual capacity – and I was wretched at it,” he claims.) In Chattanooga, he ran an outdoor sports retail store. But he decided it was time to come home to Columbus, where he finally decided to give banking a try.

“I didn’t ask anyone to pull any strings for me. I started as a teller at SouthTrust and gradually learned a little about consumer lending.” Now, at age 36, Colby is a successful commercial banker at CB&T.

Despite his circuitous career route, Colby says “this is where I wanted to be. My life is better than I ever expected it to be, primarily because of my wife and children. You don’t understand it until you get in the middle of it, but I have been very fortunate.”

What Colby never could have predicted was that the luck would run out a year ago when his wife Laura was diagnosed with cancer. While she fought aggressive treatments, he played both Mommy and Daddy to Sara Beth, 8 and Logan, 4. But Colby says it was his wife’s strength that held it all together. Laura is now disease-free.

With life back to normal, Colby is spending a lot of his time as chairman of the Chamber’s Young Professionals, a group of 21- to 40-year-olds intent on making it easier for Columbus to attract and retain young, talented people.

“We talk a lot about ‘legacy’ in YP,” Colby says. “For instance, I wonder what my grandfather would think if we could plop him down in uptown Columbus and show him all the pretty buildings. I think he’d be pretty impressed with all the buildings, but I think he’d be even more impressed with the legacy, the intangibles, the gifts we’ve been left.”

Colby says those gifts include not only beautiful buildings, but things like public-private partnerships, the Infantry Museum and whitewater rafting.

“I feel like we’re inheriting Disney World on the Chattahoochee. It’s like someone has built Cinderella’s castle and a monorail here. But that’s not what sells tickets. Turnstiles sell tickets, and you need to get people in the restaurants, and sell Pooh bears in the gift shops. We’re inheriting all these won-derful resources, now what we have to do is fill in the gaps. If we don’t, it’s a waste of that legacy.”

As a banker, Colby worries about the fallout from the economic downturn of the last few years “My hope is that people won’t let what’s happened break their spirit or prevent them from trying to better themselves or do things.

“The way I was taught by Mr. [Jim] Blanchard and Mr. [Bill] Turner, banking is a selfless art and a selfless science. You have to know how to crunch numbers, but it’s not about numbers. It’s about the people. If regulations get tighter, it will be harder to help people. Then you’re taking more of the art out of lending and putting more of the science into it. You can’t manage relationships just on science.”

But when the weather gets bad inside the First Avenue bank, Colby heads outside. “I get energized out here. Downtown has a flavor of history. It’s an elegant place to be. I love seeing students walking around. I love seeing people enjoying a drink after work. You can feel the spirit of Columbus here.”

Amy Shepherd Giglio, 34
Hometown: Smiths Station
Family: Son Parker, 6, daughter Presley, 4
Occupation: Talent Acquisition Manager, Aflac
Education: Smiths Station High School
Columbus State University

When Amy Giglio was asked to become “the face” of one of Aflac’s Twitter pages, she tried to define herself in 140 characters or less:

Talent Seeker
Passion for People
Sister of Seven
Lover of Life
Lake Lounger
People Connector
Auburn Football Addict
Driven by the Hunt

That leaves 13 characters. Hardly enough to fully describe the only female in this year’s list of Five Under 40s.

Amy’s bosses at Aflac bestowed on her a creative title: Senior Manager for Talent Acquisition. In the old days, that might have been “personnel director,” but Amy says, the job is so much more than that.

“I’ve got the coolest job. I get to place people in a role they’re passionate about. I get to connect people with their passion. It’s not just filling a slot. It’s providing someone an opportunity to grow and capitalize on the profession they’re interested in.”

Amy joined Aflac fresh out of high school. Her plan was to work during the day and go to school at night, finish her degree and move on. “I thought my path would take me outside my community. I wanted to experience different things and be exposed to different cultures, but I guess I didn’t understand at age 18 what my community had to offer me.”

Now she’s here to stay, and trying to give back. She serves on the board of Society for Human Resource Management, where she helps prepare the community for future leaders. She serves on the board of Young Professionals, where she focuses on improving the quality of life in Columbus—a move that will in turn attract and retain young talent.

“I have to feel like I’m contributing, like I’m leaving some kind of footprint. Not only for me, but for my children.”

Amy worries that there are pockets of the community that are thriving, but that too many others are being overlooked. “Columbus High School is a great school. But why aren’t there four other Columbus High Schools in this community?”

Education has always been a passion of Amy’s. But on the very day of her interview for this article, the issue moved front and center.

“I was in the grocery store this morning when a woman approached the cashier and handed her a list and said, ‘Kim, I need your help today because you know I can’t read.’ Then the woman turned to me and said, “Don’t you think it’s funny that I can add, but I can’t read?’

“It really made me think. I’ve been afforded so many opportunities. How, in a community with so many programs to help people like this, do we still have a population that can’t read? That concerns me. There’s still so much more we have to do.”

That eye-opening experience set Amy on a new crusade. “Until today, I was looking at the problem through an educated lens. This is where I can make an impact. Where I sit on boards with education
programs, I can make sure we give the attention where it’s needed.”

Amy’s passion for nurturing is in her blood. She’s the fifth of seven strong sisters (six of whom, by the way, work or have worked at Aflac). The family foundation was built on helping others and giving back. “My mother raised us to be opinionated yet respectful and humble. She always wanted better for us than she ever had. It sounds cliché, but I just had a great childhood.”

She’s trying to raise her own children, 6-year-old Parker and 4-year-old Presley, the same way. They’re in Awana and attend Calvary Christian; she wants to instill in them the same values her parents instilled in her.

As a single mom, Amy relies on a “mommy calendar” to keep the household and her busy work schedule running smoothly. After a full day at work, she arrives home in high gear to prepare dinner, spend quality time with the kids, march through bath time, book time and bedtime and then spend a few hours online catching up on email and getting ready for tomorrow.

Somehow, she finds time for herself, too. She’s participating in the Aflac Irongirl this summer. “As part of a team,” she says. “I want to stress that. I’m not doing the whole thing.” Just 18 miles on bicycle.

Amy is intent on making every day count. She recalls a Dave Matthews song she heard on the radio today. “Celebrate we will, for life is short but sweet for certain.”

“That’s how I try to look at life every day. Make an impact, be involved in powerful things, things I believe in, things I can give my whole heart, 110 percent, to. Because, yeah, life is short, but it is sweet. It is sweet.”

Dr. Griff Gordy, 34
Hometown: Phenix City
Family: Wife Jennifer, son Evan, 5 months
Occupation: Optometrist, Gordy Eyecare
Education: Central High School
Auburn University-Montgomery
University of Alabama-Birmingham

If you wanted to remake It’s a Wonderful Life in the Chattahoochee Valley, you could cast Dr. Griff Gordy in the lead role. Small town boy grows up and marries his sweetheart, runs a business that puts people ahead of profit, encounters faith-shattering crisis but rises above it all to become a new man.

That’s not to trivialize Griff Gordy’s life, it’s to celebrate its good-hearted, old-fashioned simplicity

Like so many boys, Griff dreamed of being a professional baseball player when he grew up. But he never quite “grew up.” “It got to the point where everyone else kept growing and I stayed the same size. That’s when I realized pro ball might not be a realistic possibility.”

Fortunately, Griff also always had a desire to go into a medical field. “I’m a people person. I enjoy helping others, so I always saw myself in a position where I could help others in whatever I did.“

Griff landed in optometry and decided to come home to Phenix City to open his own business. Evaluating a person’s vision turned out to be the easy part. “But running a business is on-the-job experience. In four years of medical school they hardly have enough time to teach you all you need to know about optometry; the business part you just have to learn as you go.”

Griff says there’s extra work in owning your own business, but on the plus side, it gives him the flexibility to spend more time with his family and the community. “I tell my wife, Jennifer, if it were that easy, then everybody would do it.”

Just as Griff’s career was taking off, his father was diagnosed with cancer. “My dad was my best friend. Growing up, he coached me in football and baseball. And when I got older, he was my biggest fan.” Griff’s dad was the best man at his wedding. That was exactly one year before he died.

“My dad’s passing away has kind of gotten my life back on track. I’ve recommitted myself to God. My spiritual life has taken priority. It’s amazing to see how everything else in my life has kind of fallen into place because of it. It’s a good situation coming from a bad situation, I guess.”

One of the ways Griff turned the negative into a positive was by raising money for the American Cancer Society. With the help of the Gordy family and hundreds of others, the Phenix City/Russell County Relay For Life raised more than $107,000 this year, $13,000 more than the goal.

“The ultimate goal is to raise money to find a cure, but I take it also as an opportunity to talk to others that might be going through the same thing we went through.”

Griff credits his faith for carrying him this far. “I don’t see how people can go through something like that without having a relationship with God.” He belongs to Summerville Baptist Church, the same church he grew up just down the street from, the same church where his parents were married.

Griff uses his expertise as an optometrist to give back to his community. He gives free eye screenings to athletes at Central, Glenwood and Russell County schools.

Even without kids of school age, Griff makes time to lead Central High School’s booster club. “It’s an opportunity to get involved, to meet people and to make sure kids are getting the best experience possible, whether it’s on the field or off.”

As much as Griff loves his hometown, he sees problems that need to be addressed. “Our community has some issues with unity,” he explains. “The city and the schools aren’t working together very well. I think a lack of communication is one of the biggest problems. You have to set your pride aside and realizing we’re all working for the children in this community—our future.

“When you focus on the small things, you lose the big picture. And when you get in that zone, it’s hard to get out of it.”

Dr. Gordy’s focus now is on making his own version of Bedford Falls a better place. “Phenix City is so near and dear to my heart because of all the people here who helped me to the point where I am in my life. I feel like I am living my dream by being able to come back here and give back to my
community.”

Nick Stutzman, 33
Hometown: Columbus (since age 12)
Family: Wife Tracey, son Chandler, 14
Occupation: Attorney, Hudson Law Offices
Education: Columbus High School
Columbus State University
Stetson University College of Law

Nick Stutzman says he was one of those strange kids who knew just what he wanted to be when he grew up: a baseball player and a lawyer.

“When I was 5 and 6 years old, I was watching Judge Wapner on The People’s Court. I think it was the sense of right and wrong that attracted me. Not only being able to make those determinations, but to help people as well.”

And with the profusion of self-determination and dedication common among Five Under 40 honorees, he made both goals happen.

Nick’s 6-foot-2-inch frame commanded the pitcher’s mound at Columbus High School. He helped lead his team to two state championships. He went on to play ball at Columbus State University before leaving the field for an office.

“Every kid wants to be a professional ball player,” Nick says, “but I knew had to focus on my education because so few are lucky enough to make it there. If you don’t have a Plan B, you’re going to be on the outside looking in.”

Nick’s Plan B took him to Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla. Now, at age 33, Nick is an attorney with Hudson Law Offices, specializing in commercial and residential real estate. He uses his expertise to help all kinds of people, even those who can’t pay.

“When I’ve had the opportunity I’ve provided pro bono work to military veterans. The military is very near and dear to my heart. My grandfather, who I grew up idolizing, served two tours in Vietnam and was a helicopter pilot for 30 years. My cousin was a Navy SEAL.”

Columbus has been home for Nick since he was 12. He loves it here, but worries about the impact the city’s property tax structure will have on its future. “With the homestead exemption, you have a small percentage of citizens paying the vast majority of the taxes.” Nick suggests revising the code to give exemptions only to elderly and disabled citizens and those without school-age children. But he admits it’s a big hill to climb.

“I think it’s fear of change. People are inherently afraid of the word ‘tax.’ Throw that T-word out there and people get real nervous.”

As a real estate lawyer, Nick has talked to a lot of people moving here because of the relocation of the Armor School to Fort Benning. He says a lot of them are choosing Alabama because of the dramatically lower taxes.

“If the homestead exemption could be revised, I think Columbus could be more competitive in capturing the people that are moving to the area.”

Nick serves on the Muscogee County School District’s Business Advisory Committee, where his duties include everything from evaluating students’ projects to helping officials with the accreditation process.

His love of baseball is helping other people, too. He is the president of the Brent Schoening Memorial Scholarship Fund. Brent and Nick were a year apart at Columbus High. Brent went on to play ball at Auburn University and in the minor leagues before he died of leukemia in 2009. The newly formed college scholarship will be awarded to a Columbus High student athlete.

“We’ve also started the Brent Schoening Strike Out Leukemia Foundation in honor and memory of a great friend,” Nick says. A golf tournament this year raised money for other charities and hospitals. The second tournament and event is planned for September.

But none of these things means as much to Nick as his faith, family and friends. He and wife Tracey devote a great deal of time to their 14-year-old son Chandler. Having been born with a baseball bat in his hands, Chandler is ready to try to fill his father’s size 13 shoes on Columbus High’s championship team this fall.

“Chandler and I are together whenever I’m not at work. He’s my pride and joy. My goal, my greatest accomplishment in life is to raise Chandler to be a better Christian, a better man, a better husband and a better father than I am.”

Chris Woodruff, 30
Hometown: Columbus
Family: Single
Occupation: Real Estate Developer, WC Bradley Co.
Education: Brookstone School, University of Colorado

Chris Woodruff knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life: snowboarding. The Brookstone School graduate figured he’d pick a college in the mountains to hone his hobby. While there, he’d make time to pursue a career in graphic design. Trouble was, the University of Colorado didn’t offer a program in graphic design. Never one to run away from challenges, Chris simply changed his major to English. And despite what he calls “severe shortsightedness,” he’s never regretted any decision he’s made since.

At 30, Chris is the baby of the Five Under 40 bunch. He was born and reared in Columbus and has finally found his rocket to success as a real estate developer for the WC Bradley Co.

Chris says he moved back to Columbus for two main reasons: to be with his beloved grandfather, Barnett Woodruff, and to have a hand in realizing a vision for Columbus that one of the city’s leading developers, Mat Swift, laid out for him during a lunch meeting in 2000.

“Within the first two or three sentences, it clicked. I got it. My blood started flowing and I started getting really excited about what downtown Columbus could become.”

It was probably Chris’ grandfather who planted that interest in development and gave Chris the seeds to make it a career. One semester he left college to work for his grandfather’s company.

“I got treated no differently than the day laborers. I dug ditches and cut property lines with machetes and learned how to survey property with equipment from the 1940s. You can’t buy that kind of experience.”

Chris credits his grandfather for many of the ethos he lives by today. One came from a plaque in Barnett’s office, which the elder Woodruff photocopied and tacked to the wall above Chris’s desk. It read: We do the best we can with what we have and where we are.

Chris still lives by those words. “The only way I could conceive of failing is if I were to undertake something—anything—and walk away from the mistakes I made without accepting it, understanding it and learning from it. That’s failure.”

Chris thinks he’s found the perfect fit at WC Bradley Co. “The servant leadership, the family atmosphere … it just feels good to come to work here. It makes you proud to pour your heart and soul into what you do.”

Despite his love for the community, Chris is worried that Columbus may be “losing its way.” Older generations have described a time of more widespread support, involvement and energy, and a more unified approach in guiding the community.

“I don’t see that passion anymore,” he says. “What I have observed is that everything’s being led by the same people. There are little pockets of passion around the city, and they’re burning so bright they’re able to keep us going. But if the community’s passion as a whole could be ignited, we would be able to catapult ourselves into a progressive, positive, vibrant town.”

The answer may lie in one of the boards Chris serves on. Young Professionals is made up of 21- to 40-year-olds who want to make Columbus more attractive to young talent. He says members are chomping at the bit to make a difference.

“It’s akin to feeding a Jack Russell terrier caffeine and putting him in a small box. He’s just rip-roaring ready to go. And when you let him out, give him something to chew on and let him take ownership of it. He’ll take it and run with it.

“In time, if we continue on the path we’re on, we’ll infect this population with that same passion, because we can, and because we have the energy.”

When he’s not reinventing downtown Columbus or trying to light fires, Chris puts his body to work. He became a triathlete until a serious muscle condition led to surgery and a less demanding regimen. Now he’s going to try time-trial bike racing.

“I can’t just sit still and relax,” he says. “I have to be doing something at all times.”

The rest of his free time is spent spoiling his two nieces. Chris is close with his older sister and his mother. His father died four years ago. His parents divorced when he was 7. And despite his family challenges, he insists that he is the most blessed person in the world. “My family has done more to encourage me, love me and sacrifice for me than I can begin to articulate.”

He told a friend if he could have waved a wand all those years ago and put his family back together, he wouldn’t have. “Everything I’ve been through, we’ve been through together. All those things, good and bad, have made me who I am today.”

Rising Stars

Stacy S. Jackson, 36
Attorney, Hagler, Henderson, Jackson & Walters
Family: Wife, Mitzi; Sons, Andrew and Aiden
Education: Harris County High School
Albany State College
University of Dayton Law

Samantha Dawkins, 27
Marketing Project Coordinator, Aflac
Single
Education: Amuchee High School, Rome, Ga.
Brenau University

Melissa Ingle, 26
Branch Manager, Columbus Bank and Trust
Single
Education: Shaw High School
Columbus State University
Auburn University

Tiffany Billins, 24
University of Phoenix Enrollment Counselor
Single
Education: Shaw High School
Columbus State University

Dr. Joseph Surber, 37
Chief Medical Officer, SERRG, Inc.
Family: Wife, Mary Lou; Daughter, Camille
Education: Loudoun County High School, Leesburg, Va.
Georgia Southern University
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine