SAVANNAH — Leadership Southeast Georgia recently announced the election of its 2016 Board of Directors. Among the board members is Sherrie Struble, vice president of The Heritage Bank in Hinesville, who will serve as treasurer.

Leadership Southeast Georgia is a regional five-month program designed to equip and empower community leaders to effectively work promoting positive growth while improving the quality of life in the Southeast Georgia Coastal region. The LSEGA executive board members, representative of all of the program’s participants, live or work within Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh or Screven county.

• Ruel Joyner, president, is a Savannah native who studied business at Georgia Southern University and later founded 24e Furniture, now 24e Design Co., at the same Broughton Street address where his parents once owned a business. Joyner currently serves as a president of the Downtown Business Association and as a board member of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Visit Savannah and Tourism Leadership Council.

• Leigh Acevedo is the director of the Business Retention and Expansion Department of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. With a focus on the manufacturing and logistics industries, she works to connect companies with resources, identify and facilitate opportunities for growth, and address any challenges they may face. She serves as president of the board for the Coastal Center for Developmental Service’s workforce division, Quantum Inc.; is a member of the Coastal Workforce Investment Board, and serves as programs chairwoman for Metropolitan Savannah Rotary.

• Struble has served as vice president with the Heritage Bank since 2014, having been with the company since 1995. The LeGrand, Iowa, native attended Marshalltown Community College and Kansas State University. She has been active with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia and the Liberty County Citizens Judicial Panel Review. She and her husband, Jeff, have a daughter, Jordan, and twin sons, Jacob and Seth. She enjoys spending time with her family, the beach, sports and cheering on her sons’ travel baseball team.

• Royce Proctor is a marketing/member services representative with Okefenokee Rural Electric Membership Cooperative in Nahunta.

Also serving on the 2016 Board of Directors are: Tan Adams, Lee Beckmann, David Boland, Jared Downs, Steve Liotta, Frank Fortune, Bill Gross, John Henry, Freddy Howell and Jon Seagraves.

Each year, alumni of the Leadership Southeast Georgia program, along with community business leaders in the coastal region, nominate new program participants. There are 28 participants in the LSEGA class of 2016 who will each spend one weekend a month in surrounding counties learning about topics that effect the region, such as health care, education, economic development and transportation.