Lori Sweet, Director of Operations

Charged with handling the day-to-day operations of our large band program, Lori continues with us to ensure operational efficiency for our program. Working closely with our band directors, band staff, and Band Booster Executive Board, she remains the administrative arm of our program. Ensuring our program runs smoothly, she is always exploring new ways for us to operate economically and is the main administrator of Cut Time and our new website with Membership Toolkit. Lori also works within the community to promote the band program and recruit business sponsorships. She works with our student leadership, band parent volunteers, school administrators and staff, and ensures our band booster group remains in good standing with the protocols set in place for our nonprofit to operate on campus per Cobb County Schools and also protect our 501C3 status.

Lori has held numerous nonprofit leadership positions over the past fifteen-plus years. As a community leader and specialist in nonprofit management, she has been involved with several nonprofit boards and groups in Georgia. Within Georgia PTA she held officer positions at the local unit, council, district, and state levels including serving on the state board as an elected officer. She has led and assisted many large conferences and events; notably as a workshop presenter for numerous conferences and trainings for many nonprofit groups including Georgia PTA (and many PTA groups around Georgia), National PTA, and independent school foundations. She is a Past President of the Hillgrove Band Booster Association and recently retired from her position on the Cobb Schools Foundation Board of Directors as their By-Laws Chair, a position she held for five years.

Lori earned her “Nonprofit Finance & Accounting” Certification Spring of 2022 and her “Certified Volunteer Administrator” certification Fall of 2021, She also holds a “Qualified Association Specialist” certificate and received her “Nonprofit Management Certification” from KSU in 2014. She is a member of the Society of Nonprofits and the Georgia Society of Association Executives, an Associate Member of NAfME, and continues her study of non-profit leadership and management. Lori also holds a certificate in Parent Involvement/Family Engagement (and helped develop the curriculum for this certification), earned “Keys to Leadership” designation with Georgia PTA, and has received a number of awards over the last several years. Before working in the nonprofit field, she attended Kennesaw College, majoring in Biology, and has many years of office manager/business experience.

Lori has lived in Marietta for over 30 years where she and her husband Tom are active in their community. They have two sons: Thomas, who is a graduate of Hillgrove and KSU; and Andrew, who also graduated from Hillgrove and is a certified personal trainer.

Email: hillgrovebandops@gmail.com