Center for Leadership & Community Development Board of Directors

• Oak Ridge Center for Leadership and Community Development Chair
• Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce Executive Board Member
• City of Oak Ridge Planning Commissioner (former)
• Roane County United Way, Board Chair (former)

Gene Patterson is the Community Relations lead at the Y-12 National Security Complex. He works with local government and community leaders on initiatives that impact Anderson County and the area, and he provides guidance to nonprofit organizations on how to best access resources at Y-12. 
Gene joined the Y-12 communications team in 2015, after more than 30 years in television news.
Gene has won numerous Tennessee Associated Press (AP) and East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) awards during his broadcast career, including the National Edward R Murrow award in 2011 for his series, Mission to Africa.
Gene serves on several boards, including the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, (ADFAC), and the East Tennessee Foundation. He is a member the Oak Ridge Chamber Advocacy Committee and the Knoxville Chamber’s Government Relations Committee.

Naomi is a long-time resident of Oak Ridge graduating from ORHS in 2001 before completing her BS in Music and Theology at Johnson University. She is the Executive Director of the United Way of Anderson County and holds an MBA in Marketing from King University. She is a graduate of the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness through the University of Tennessee, Leadership Oak Ridge, Leadership Anderson County and East Tennessee Regional Leadership Association. She is the Chair for Explore Oak Ridge, and incoming President of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. She is a Past-President of the Altrusa Club of Oak Ridge, a founding board member of the Anderson County Young Professionals. In 2017 she was named the Anderson County Chamber Young Professional of the Year and was the 2018 recipient of the East Tennessee Economic Council’s Postma Young Professional Medal. She is a current PhD candidate at Carolina University.

Since 1987, Jim Dodson has been an art teacher in the Oak Ridge school system. In 1998 he was named Tennessee Art Educator of the Year and in 1999, National Middle School Art Educator of the Year. He was appointed to Humanities Tennessee Board by Gov. Bill Haslam in 2015 and received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Tennessee Education Association. He has led efforts to establish student art exhibitions in Tennessee at high-profile venues. He secured more than $10 million in scholarships for students whose work was represented at the exhibits. He has been selected to participate in Knoxville Leadership Education, Oak Ridge Leadership, and East Tennessee Leadership, is a past president of the Tennessee Art Education Association, has served on the board of Dogwood Arts in East Tennessee, is active in many non-profits and is a member of the Municipal Planning Commission and City Council. Jim is married to Becky, and his daughter Laura and son-in-law Joe are expecting in August.

Ben Williams serves as the public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. In this role, he guides media relations and community outreach efforts for the $650+ million annual program that is focused on eliminating hazards and creating new economic opportunities for the region. Williams is a graduate of the Oak Ridge Leadership Class of 2019.