Caption: GAVA Vice President Tim Suda and President Michele Wiesner present James Marshall a gift of appreciation for his years of dedicated service.
Eatonton, Georgia — April 2026 — The Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration (GAVA) today announced the retirement of long-standing board member, treasurer, and founding member James P. Marshall Jr., signaling the end of an extraordinary 40-year tenure dedicated to championing the volunteer engagement profession throughout the state of Georgia.
Since the early 1980s, James P. Marshall Jr. has been a cornerstone of the volunteer engagement community and a proud advocate for volunteerism. His career, characterized by unwavering advocacy and strategic leadership, has helped transform how organizations across the state recruit, retain, and support the volunteers who are essential to Georgia’s non-profit and public service sectors.
Throughout his four decades of service, Marshall has been instrumental in GAVA’s growth, serving as a mentor to generations of volunteer administrators. His work helped establish rigorous professional standards for the field and fostered a culture of recognition and excellence for volunteerism in Georgia.
"James P. Marshall Jr. represents the very best of our profession," said Tim Suda, Vice President of GAVA. "For 40 years, he has been a tireless advocate for the power of service. His legacy isn’t just in the policies he helped shape or the strategic initiatives he led; it is in the countless volunteer managers he coached, the organizations he stabilized, and the millions of volunteer hours that have been mobilized under his quiet, effective guidance. We are profoundly grateful for his wisdom and his friendship."
Marshall’s professional journey is most notably defined by his tenure as the Executive Director of the Georgia Commission for Service and Volunteerism (housed within the Georgia Department of Community Affairs). In this capacity, he oversaw the administration of statewide service programs, including AmeriCorps, and served as a primary advisor on how the public and private sectors could leverage volunteer power to address community needs. In addition to his work with GAVA, Marshall served as the President of the Council of Volunteer Administrators of Metropolitan Atlanta (COVA) from 1985–1986, helping to build the regional networks that today support thousands of volunteer managers.
Marshall is equally well-known in his home community of Eatonton, Georgia. His passion for history and preservation has led him to serve as the President of the Eatonton-Putnam County Historical Society. In this role, he has been a "catalyst for education," leading efforts to preserve the historic resources of Putnam County and welcoming organizations like the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to the area. Marshall is also aHistorical Preservationist. His involvement dates back to the 1970s, where he was a key contributor to the inventory and nomination of the Eatonton Historic District for the National Register of Historic Places.
Marshall is a previous recipient of the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities, which is sponsored by Georgia Humanities.
Marshall’s retirement comes at a time when GAVA continues to expand its reach and digital capabilities. The association plans to honor his contributions by developing the James P. Marshall Jr. Archives - a repository of historical documents, presentations, reports and information relating to volunteerism and volunteer engagement in Georgia and beyond.
For more information about GAVA or to share a message of gratitude for James P. Marshall Jr., please visit www.MyGAVA.org.
About the Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration (GAVA)
The Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration (GAVA) is the premier professional association for those who manage, lead, and promote volunteer engagement. Through networking, professional development, and advocacy, GAVA connects volunteer administrators across the state, providing the tools and resources necessary to build sustainable and impactful volunteer programs.
