Mayor Roper Named To State Commission
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has named Vidalia Mayor Doug Roper to the state’s Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC).
The GNPEC authorizes and regulates the operations of private postsecondary colleges and schools in Georgia and reviews complaints filed by students attending these schools. Additionally, GNPEC processes transcript requests for students who attended private, postsecondary schools in Georgia that have since closed. The Commission is comprised of 11 members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The members are appointed for threeyear terms of office and may serve two terms consecutively. The 1990 Act that created the Commission continued from page
specifies that it must include a member appointed to represent each of the following: a degree-granting institution, a nondegreegranting institution, and an exempt institution. The Commission is required to meet at least quarterly. The day-to-day activities of the Commission are handled by a 12-person staff headed by an Executive Director appointed by the Governor.
Also named to the Commission were Pranay Udutha, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Strategy, Operations, and Corporate Development at ARPA-E.; Drew Van Horn, president of Young Harris College; and P.K. Martin, former state senator from Georgia’s 9th District.
In addition to his duties as Mayor, Roper is the Branch Manager at Vidalia Federal Savings Bank. An active member of his community, Roper has served on the Toombs-Montgomery Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, is on the fundraising committees for the Mercy Medical Clinic and Meadows Regional Medical Cancer Center, and is a mentor with Toombs County Family Connection.
He served for nine years as a member of the Vidalia City Schools Board of Education and serves on the Board of Directors of the Georgia School Boards Association. Currently, he serves on the local Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Roper holds a bachelor’s degree in speech and communications from Clemson University. He and his wife, Marly, have two sons.
