Mr. Lesser is the former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. He is now in the private sector providing advice and strategy in the areas of economic development and government affairs through various entities including the Pendleton Group, the JEL Consulting Group and the Saffron Group.
Mr. Lesser led the Georgia Department of Economic Development from 2004 2007. As chief marketing officer for the state, he directed efforts to recruit new business to Georgia and expand trade and tourism on a global stage. During his tenure, there were almost 500 new investment and expansion announcements, totaling more than $8 billion, creating more than 40,000 new jobs. Mr. Lesser also oversaw expansion of Georgia’s international presencewith state representation in Germany, Chile, Brazil, China and France, in addition to the already existing international offices. During this period, he also served as president of Hemisphere, Inc., a public private partnership that led efforts to bring the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas Secretariat to Atlanta.
Mr. Lesser served as managing director of McKenna Long & Aldridge, where he headed international affairs consulting. He served as vice president of government and regulatory affairs for Georgia Power Company; president and CEO of Mirant, New York; and senior vice president of external affairs for Mirant Americas.
Mr. Lesser is chairman of the board of Georgia Public Broadcasting. He most recently served as chairman of the board of the World Trade Center Atlanta and recently finished a three year stint as chair of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Competitiveness Initiative.
He chaired the Georgia Chamber of Commerce International committee for 2013. In 2012, he was chairman of the chamber’s bi-national chamber committee. In 2011 he was named by Governor Nathan Deal to serve as one of 23 members of the steering committee of the Georgia Competitiveness Initiative. He also served on the Downtown Cities Task Force organized by the Georgia Municipal Association. He is chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Economic Competitiveness Initiative and serves on Mayor Reed’s Marketing Task Force of Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.
In its January 2016 issue, Georgia Trend Magazine once again named Mr. Lesser to its list of the 100 Most Influential Georgians. He has been honored for his work in the international sector and the arts by a number of organizations and has been asked to speak on international business and economic development at universities and seminars around the world, including China, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, England, Honduras and El Salvador. Recently, he spoke on public private partnerships at a UN conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
He received his B.A. from the State University of New York College at Oneonta and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, Leadership Georgia and the Regional Leadership Institute.
He and his wife Nancy live in Sandy Springs. His oldest daughter is a senior at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and his youngest is a junior at the University of Georgia.