The Steering Committee is comprised of Leadership Franklin alumni. The Day Chairs for all activities are also LF alumni. Youth Leadership Franklin encourages all LF alumni to participate in helping organize and lead YLF day activities.

Steve Smith - Chair
Steve Smith attended Mississippi State University, earning a Bachelor Degree in Banking and Finance as well as a Masters of Business Administration in 1977. Steve and his wife Diane lived in Memphis from 1977 until 1987 when they moved to Franklin. Smith worked for First American Bank and Third National Bank from 1987 through 1997. Since 2002 he has been Executive Director of Williamson Medical Center Foundation, Inc., a 501c-3 organization established to raise private funds in support of Williamson Medical Center’s healthcare mission.

Smith has been active in the community, beginning as President of Maplewood Homeowners Association. He is also a former member of the Franklin Municipal Planning Commission. Smith was an Alderman-At-Large for the City of Franklin for twelve years and now serves as Williamson County Commissioner for the 12th District. He is a past president of the Franklin Noon Rotary Club, has served on the Board of Directors of the Williamson County/Franklin Chamber of Commerce and Chairs the Steering Committee for Youth Leadership Franklin. Smith serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Williamson County Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is a graduate of Leadership Franklin and the Franklin Citizens Police Academy.

Jim Kropp - Past Chair
Jim Kropp is Vice President and co-founder of ClickFundraising.org, a Franklin, TN based online fundraising company. Jim opened Click! in 2007 to pursue his passion for helping schools, churches and sports leagues raise the money they need- more easily. He has helped organizations raise more than $250 Million in his fundraising career.

Prior to opening Click! Jim spent fifteen years with Teters Floral Products as Vice President of Craft Marketing and most recently spent ten years as Director of Marketing for the Fundraising Division of American Greetings, Inc where he helped more than 20 million students raise money each year.

His accomplishments include the “Let’s Just Play” fundraising campaign in partnership with Nickelodeon™ that reached 4 million households and donated more than $750,000 in sports equipment to schools. With Teters, Jim served on the Hobby and Craft Association board for three years. He has developed product and programs for more than 3,000 mass merchandisers that achieved a 10% average annual growth rate for eight consecutive years. He instituted the first product safety testing for all imported fundraising products for American Greetings and was nominated for the American Greetings’ Chairman’s Award for team leadership in 2004. Jim was also responsible for doubling the American Greeting’s fundraising sales from $12 to $24 million dollars in just three years.

He is the past President of Youth Leadership Franklin and serves on the board of the Nashville Chapter of the American Marketing Association. He has been actively involved in numerous parent and volunteer activities throughout Franklin, TN.

Jim earned a Masters of Business degree from Washington University in St. Louis and an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University. He lives in Franklin, TN with his wife and has three adult children.

Anna J. Shuford - Program Coordinator
Program Coordinator
City of Franklin Parks Dept.
Leadership Franklin Class #4 (1999-2000)
615.794.2103

Kat McElroy - Youth Coordinator
Kat was born and raised in Franklin. She graduated from BGA in 1997 and University of Alabama in 2001. After college she returned to Franklin and started working with Bank of Fanklin in 2002. Since then, Bank of Franklin merged with Cumberland Bank, and then merged with Green Bank. She is currently Vice President of Green Bank and a commercial lender. Kat serves on the Heritage Foundation Next Generation board. She is the past president of Young Alum board, Citizens Police Academy and is Coordinator of Youth Leadership Franklin.

Diane Giddens - Vice Chair

• Page High School Graduate
• 2003-04 Leadership Franklin Alumni
• University of TN - Local Government Leadership Program Alumni
• Executive Board of Directors - Williamson County Fair Board
• Employed by Williamson County Government - 29 years
• Chief of Staff to the County Mayor, serving under 4th administration, beginning under County Judge, later County Executive and now County Mayor (29 years employment with Williamson County)
• Hobbies include daughters’ sports, photography, scrap booking

Dr. David Snowden - Treasurer
David Snowden is serving in his ninth year as the Director of Schools for the Franklin Special School District. He currently serves as Executive Vice-Chairman for the Williamson County-Franklin Chamber of Commerce and is also a board member of the Franklin Boys and Girls Club, and Franklin Tomorrow. He also serves as Emeritus board member for the United Way of Williamson County. He is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Franklin, a 2003 graduate of the Citizens Police Academy, and a member of the Franklin Noon Rotary Club. He serves on the Steering Committee and is the Treasurer of Youth Leadership Franklin. He also currently serves as the Immediate Past President of the Association of Independent Municipal Schools organization. David was recently selected as the 2009-10 Mid-Cumberland Region Superintendent of the Year.

Prior to his position in the Franklin Special School District, David served as the Superintendent of the Pascagoula Municipal Separate School District in Pascagoula, Mississippi. He served a total of twenty years in that district as an assistant principal, principal, Assistant Superintendent and the last four as Superintendent.

David earned his B.S. degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, a M.Ed. from Mississippi State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi.

He and his wife Kathy reside in Franklin. Together they have three children and seven grandchildren.

Robert Blair - Secretary
Robert Blair is a life-long resident of Franklin. He is a graduate of Leadership Franklin (Fourth Class) and has been involved in Youth Leadership Franklin since 2002. Blair was the Community Service day chair for three years and has served as chair and vice chair of the Youth Leadership Franklin. He currently serves as the Secretary of YLF. Blair also serves on the Board of Directors of the Franklin Special School District.

He is employed at Financial Date Technology Corporation in Franklin,Tenn.

Harrison Crabtree
Harrison Crabtree has been involved in the banking industry in Tennessee since his graduation from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Crabtree began work with the Nashville City Bank. He continued as a regional vice president for Dominion Bank of Middle Tennessee after it purchased Nashville City Bank. He moved to First Citizens Bank in Franklin, Tenn. in 1988 as an executive vice president. Subsequently, in 1994, Crabtree became president of Citizens Corporation Mortgage where he managed the daily operations of the company.

Crabtree next became the president of Citizens Credit Services, Inc. after which he began managing the lending portfolio of Citizens Corporation in 2001. From 2003 until present, Crabtree has held the position of City President of the Nolensville, Tenn. office of the Peoples State Bank of Commerce. He is currently a member of the Board of Director of the Nolensville Chamber of Commerce, the Franklin/Williamson County Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Franklin Noon Rotary Club. Crabtree graduated from the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.

Gail Powell
Gail Powell is currently Executive Director of High Hopes, Inc. , a non-profit organization in Cool Springs that serves children and youth in Williamson County and throughout Middle Tennessee. It has an inclusive preschool that educates children with and without special needs, coupled with an outpatient therapy clinic that provides speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy and music therapy to children ages birth to 21.

Education and children have been Powell’s life as she has been an educator for more than thirty years. She has been an elementary school teacher and an elementary school principal both in public and private schools. Powell was the Head of the Lowers School for Battle Ground Academy for nine years.

Although Powell is originally from Texas, she has lived in Franklin for eleven years and is committed to life in Williamson County. She is a graduate of Franklin Police Academy and Leadership Franklin, and a member of the Franklin/Williamson County Chamber as well as the Greater Cool Springs Chamber. Powell’s daughter is a graduate of Youth Leadership Franklin.

Chip Higgins
More information coming soon.

Kristi Earwood
Kristi Dunlap Earwood is a land use and government attorney located in Franklin, Tennessee. Kristi has more than twelve years of experience representing both public sector and private sector clients in a wide range of environmental, zoning, land use and regulatory matters. Kristi currently represents Williamson County Government in the areas of planning, zoning and environment. Kristi lives in Fieldstone Farms with her two children, and they attend Franklin First United Methodist Church. Kristi serves on the Board of Franklin Tomorrow and is an alumnus of Leadership Franklin.