Pat McKinnon is the President, CEO for the United Way of South Central Georgia covering 5 counties: Ben Hill, Cook, Irwin, Tift, and Turner. McKinnon began her duties January 5, 2015. Pat has 15 years of fundraising and non-profit leadership experience. Her previous job was working with the Tifton Judicial Circuit with the District Attorney’s Office serving 4 counties, where she helped with the office of Victim Assistance Program. Prior to that, McKinnon worked with the American Heart Association. While at the American Heart Association, Pat was a Sales Youth Market Director and covered 27 counties. Her job was to raise dollars for research for the American Heart Association with emphasis of Jump Rope for Heart, Hoops for Heart, Cardiac Arrest and Go Red for Women as her many campaigns and fundraisers. Jump Rope for Heart {targets elementary students} and Hoops for Heart {targets middle school students} are national education and fundraising events sponsored by the American Heart Association and the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). These events engage elementary and middle school students with jumping rope or playing basketball while empowering them to improve their own health and help other kids with heart-health issues. Cardiac Arrest was a campaign for the local citizens in the each community to participate in raising funds for research. Go Red for Women encourages awareness of the issue of women and heart disease with a focus on teachers and educators in the school systems. McKinnon, a graduate from Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, majoring in Speech Communications. McKinnon is very active in her local community, including serving as a Lupus Advocate. McKinnon has organized several events in which she covers South Georgia with a Lupus Awareness Football Bowl Game, Painting the Town Purple for Lupus Awareness, and promoting the L-Hand Sign for Lupus Awareness. McKinnon has also participated in Susan G. Komen community projects in Savannah, Georgia. She has served as chairperson over many community activities in the Savannah area and Tift area. She has a son, Kristopher McKinnon-Miller, 19, who was a 2013 Tift County High School graduate. He's currently a student at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. Pat has a motto that she strongly promotes “Life Is What You Make It” which her Mother the late Bernice Litman McKinnon instilled in her from a very young age.