The Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum announced the distinguished recipients of the 2026 Legacy Leader Awards will be Kay Ford, chair of BankSouth’s advisory board for the Savannah market/ past chief banking officer for Bank-South and Greg Parker, founder and executive chairman, Parker’s Kitchen. The Emerging Leader Award recipient is Kendria Lee, associate vice president/external affairs at Georgia Southern University.
About the 2024 Legacy Leader Award Winners:
Kay Ford, chair of BankSouth’s advisory board for the Savannah market/Past Chief Banking Officer for BankSouth Born and raised in Garden City, Ford currently serves as chair of BankSouth’s advisory board for the Savannah market, where she further promotes the bank’s commitment to serving the Savannah community. She is past chief banking officer for BankSouth, where she led the execution of the bank’s commercial, business and retail strategies across the bank’s markets throughout the state.
The former president and CEO of Sun-Trust Bank, Savannah, Ford retired after serving 41 years at Sun-Trust where she held numerous senior level positions within retail banking and private wealth management, including the position of senior vice president of Private Wealth Management.
Ford recently completed her term as hair of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, serving as the organization’s first female chair in its 99-year history. A longtime volunteer for United Way of the Coastal Empire, Ford was named the “Woman of the Year” in 2023 and served as the 2016 Campaign Chair. She is a past board chair and current board member of the Savannah Technical College Foundation Board and is a graduate of both Leadership Georgia and Leadership Savannah.
Throughout her career, Ford has served on a wide range of community- driven boards, including the Memorial Health Foundation of Memorial Health Medical Center; the Savannah Fund for Excellence in Education; St. Mary’s Home, and Senior Citizens, Inc. Ford and her husband, Bob, have three children: Poppy Brown and Jaime Miller, both of whom reside in Pooler, and their son, Bobby Ford, who lives in Texas. Together, they have seven grandchildren.
Greg Parker, founder and executive chairman, Parker’s Kitchen Parker, the founder and Executive Chairman of Parker’s Kitchen, opened his first convenience store in Midway in 1976. Today, he leads a nationally acclaimed company that has earned the industry’s highest honor as the Convenience Store Chain of the Year and has been honored as a USA TODAY Top Workplace.
With more than $1 billion in annual sales, the company completes more than 1.1 million transactions weekly and has been included on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in America eight times. Parker has been honored as the Convenience Store News 2025 Retailer Executive of the Year and inducted into the Convenience Store Hall of Fame. Over the course of his career, he has also been recognized as the Foodservice Leader of the Year, Tech Executive of the Year, Savannah Morning News Entrepreneur of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Entrepreneur of the Year and Georgia Trend Legacy Leader. In 2025, he earned the GoBeyond-Profit Champion Award, Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce Gulfstream Community Involvement Award and Richmond Hill Business Impact Award.
Parker has donated more than $30 million to make a transformative impact across Georgia and South Carolina in four key areas: education, hunger, healthcare and heroes.
Originally from Collins, he is the proud father of Olivia, Bennett and Lily Parker and has two grandchildren.
About the 2024 Emerging Leader Award Winner:
Kendria Lee, Associate Vice President for External Affairs, Georgia Southern University Lee plays a pivotal leadership role reporting directly to the vice president for External Affairs, Communications, and Strategic Initiatives. In this capacity, Lee advances the university’s community engagement initiatives, oversees the Office of Special Events and Protocol, and represents the institution in external and community-facing matters. Her work involves collaborating with institutional leaders, community partners, economic development agencies, and other key stakeholders to foster meaningful connections, align the university’s strategic goals with regional and global initiatives, and enhance the institution’s reputation. Lee also serves in an acting capacity for the vice president when needed, ensuring seamless leadership and representation.
A proud “Double Eagle” graduate of Georgia Southern University, Lee holds both a master of business administration and a bachelor of business administration in information systems from the Parker College of Business. She is a graduate of the Leadership Georgia Class of 2020/2021 and the regional Leadership Southeast Georgia program, where she now serves on the Board of Directors. Actively engaged in community service, Lee is a board member for Synovus (Statesboro), Goodwill Southeast Georgia, and Junior Achievement of Savannah. Additionally, she is a certified Protocol Officer and a member of the Protocol and Diplomacy International – Protocol Officers Association.
The awards will be presented during the 2026 Southeast Georgia Leadership Forum to be held Tuesday, February 24, at Kehoe Iron Works. Major sponsors include Georgia Power, Georgia Southern University, Metro Market Media and Morris Multimedia.
Tickets may be purchased online at: https://southeastleadershipforum. com/tickets.
