Mayor C Jack Ellis – U.S.A
In 1999, Ellis was elected the 40th mayor of Macon, Georgia, becoming the first Black American Mayor in the City’s 176-year history. He was then re-elected In 2003. During his tenure as Mayor, Ellis’s administration was responsible for approximately $1 million in loans to disadvantaged businesses.
Under Ellis’s leadership, the City successfully won a federal Hope VI grant to improve public housing, in addition to other grants and federal aid.Ellis enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he served as a combat soldier and paratrooper in Vietnam in the 101st Airborne Division.
He was awarded the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, three Bronze Stars, the Army Commendation Medal for Heroism and the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat.
Ellis worked with Reverend Jesse Jackson’s second presidential campaign in 1988, and then went to work for the Census Bureau in from 1988 to January of 1991, and managed a cable television system on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He also hosted a public access television show focusing on public and political affairs. In 1988, Ellis helped to manage Reverend Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign for the State of Georgia.
As COAC Foundation ambassador, he is driven to create a better everyday life for the many elderly persons together with their OVCs in the hard-to-reach & hard-to-stay Ssese Island communities (Kalangala District).