Dacula’s Greg Beadles Receives CFO of the Year Award

Dacula resident Greg Beadles recently received the Atlanta Business Chronicle's CFO of the Year Award. Beadles serves as senior vice president and chief financial officer for the Atlanta Falcons, and is also co-founder and board chairman of the Dacula-based Arete Scholars Fund. He was named winner in the community service category.

“One the reasons that they (Atlanta Business Chronicle) identified as to why Greg received this award was his work through the Arete Scholars Fund and his help in expanding education opportunities throughout Georgia, and specifically for low income families,” Buck Alford, Arete Scholars Fund communications manager, explained.

The award recognizes the achievements of Atlanta’s chief financial officers. Nominees are judged on a number of financial criteria, overall leadership, significant achievements, and community contributions.

“It is very humbling and a great honor to receive this award for sure,” Greg Beadles said. “The thing I was most excited about was to be able to get a little bit more recognition for the different nonprofit groups that I am working with. Arete Scholars Fund is new, and the folks have just done a tremendous job, and have already made a pretty good name for themselves even nationally with other educational reform folks. I am happy that they are getting their name out locally as well.”

Arete Scholars Fund is a Dacula-based nonprofit that awards K-12 scholarships to low-income children throughout the state. Since their inception in 2010, they have awarded more than 2,400 scholarships worth over $11 million to more than 1,100 students. The average scholarship recipient is from a household of five with an annual income under $29,000.

“Greg is a co-founder of Arete, and he has a real heart for education in Georgia and particularly for providing education opportunities to those who would not otherwise have it,” Alford said. “His position has opened doors for us to get in front of potential corporate partners and share with them our mission and our vision for education opportunities in Georgia.”

Being recognized as Atlanta Business Chronicle's CFO of the Year not only speaks to Beadles' dedication to our community, it also means a lot to the organizations he supports. 

“This award at some level validates our work in the community,” Alford said. “It is encouraging that others are aware of the benefits of our scholarships and are acknowledging the work that we are doing as an organization and that our leaders are doing specifically to expand education opportunities.”

Beadles is passionate about giving back to our community. In addition to his work at Arete, he was a co-founder and still serves as the chairman at Lawrenceville Dominion Classical Christian Academy, and is also on several boards at Georgia State University.

“I think giving back first comes from my faith background,” Beadles said. “I have certainly been blessed with education opportunities, and other opportunities in life and I do not want to take any of that for granted. I want to be able to help out where I can for others that may not have the same opportunities that I have had in my lifetime."

Click here for more information on Arete Scholars Fund. Any individual who is a taxpayer in the state of Georgia is eligible to contribute to this program in exchange for a dollar for dollar tax credit. If you are a individual or corporation in the state of Georgia, you can help Beadles and his mission to support education opportunity by basically making a zero cost contribution to organizations like Arete who in turn award these scholarships to those who need it most.

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