Meet Donna McLeod

Democratic Candidate for Gwinnett County Chair

Early Years and Education

Donna McLeod was born on the island of Jamaica and grew up in Canada. She moved to Georgia in 1998.

Donna McLeod is a Chemical Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in Quality Assurance Management/Engineering, and the President/CEO of Enviroqual, LLC a Quality Assurance/Regulatory Consulting company specializing in Medical Devices, Food, Plastics and Pharmaceuticals.

Ms. McLeod is the mother of a grown daughter and she is also a very proud grandmother.

A Grass Roots Organizer

Getting Into Politics

John Lewis and Donna McLeod

Ms. McLeod was a grassroots organizer for Senator Obama’s 2008 campaign. In 2012, she was National Director for Voter Outreach for Black Women for Obama in President Obama re-election campaign.

In 2016, she ran for State House Representative, District 105, in Gwinnett County, GA. Ms. McLeod was endorsed by President Barack Obama. She lost the race by 222 votes (less than 1%) in a gerrymandered district.

Ms. McLeod ran again for State House Representative, District 105 in 2018. On November 6, 2018 she was elected State Representative for District 105, winning with over 4000 votes. In 2018, she also earned the endorsements of both President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. In 2020, former Representative McLeod sought re-election with her “Let’s Do It Again” campaign, the campaign ended in a landslide victory.

State Representative Donna McLeod at the Georgia State Capitol

Work as a State Representative

During the 2019-2020 Legislative Session, former Representative McLeod worked with the Department of Corrections and the Department of Community Services to update their release documents to ensure that Ex-Felons that have served their time will be informed that their Voting Rights are restored.

Former Representative McLeod has also made an impact on the State of Georgia when she worked with the Secretary of State to update the MVP (My Voter Page) with commissioner and school board districts so that every registered voter would know what districts they live in at the County level of government.

In the 2021-2022, former Representative McLeod introduced legislation to update the outdated, 1987, QBE (Quality Basic Education) formula to better fund all Georgia Public Schools.

She was the legislative Whip in the 2021-2022 session. 

She introduced legislation to legalize small amounts of marijuana and expunging the criminal records of those affected by these outdated laws.

 She introduced the House Resolution that recognized September as African Immigrant Heritage Month

She was a co-signer on the Legislation to ensure that Government employees are paid for the Juneteenth Holiday

She also created legislation to make election day a holiday and legislation to remove the $127 Million dollars in the Georgia budget for Private Prisons.

Ran for Congress

In 2022 Ms. McLeod ran for the Democratic nomination for Congress for Georgia’s 7th District.

 

Awards and Memberships

Organization Membership

 

  • NBCSL (National Black Caucus of State Legislators)
  • N.O.B.E.L (The National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women)
  • Georgia Legislative Black Caucus along with the National Caucus.
  • International Women of Hope
  • Atlanta Caribbean Lions Club
  • Gwinnett Women’s Chamber of Commerce
  • Greater Eastside Chamber Of Commerce

Ms. McLeod is the co-founder of C.A.N.I, Inc., (Community Action Network Initiatives) a non-profit 501c3 organization that helps educate and inform people of their civic and societal rights and responsibilities. Such enlightenment will lead to a higher level of voter participation in the United States, whose voter turnout currently is the lowest among the world’s industrialized nations. Her organization has registered over 30,000 new voters.

 

Awards

 

  • Georgia Secretary of State Outstanding Citizen Award in 2015
  • RevUp’s Sankofa Leadership in 2017
  • Gwinnett County Democratic Party Leadership/Service Award in 2017
  • Freedom Fighter Award from the Family in 2018,
  • The Caribbean American Foundation-Captain of Industry Award.
  • GAUKS Outstanding Achievement Award
  • Atlanta Caribbean-Community Award
  • Caribbean Community Awards in the “Lifetime Achievement Category”
  • 2022 Jamaican Museum and Cultural Center award for outstanding representation and a leader and mentor
  • Georgia Association of Educator Legislative Honor Roll.

 

Board Memberships

 

  • STEM Board at Discovery High School.
  • Family Promise of Gwinnett (provides homes for homeless families)
  • Liberian Chamber of Commerce in the Americas
  • Community Outreach Resources
  • Board of International Women of Hope and Jamaica Chamber of Commerce.