Statesboro resident and Georgia State Senator Billy Hickman was named the 2023 Citizen of the Year at a joint meeting of The Rotary Club of Statesboro and The Rotary Club of Downtown Statesboro held at Forest Heights Country Club.
Rotary of Downtown President, Per Holtze presided of over the joint meeting along with Rotary of Statesboro President George Rountree.
"I am just so humbled by this. I always wanted Statesboro to be a place our children will come back to. We do this by providing great jobs and opportunity. This is what I have dedicated my professional life to accomplishing," said Senator Billy Hickman. "I heard recently a man say I want to thank my God who made me, my Jesus who saved me and my Holy Spirit that sustains me. I have so much to be thankful for."
Senator Hickman's children and grandchildren surprised him at the luncheon along with his wife of 48 years JoAnn.
Long time friend and last years recipient Doug Lambert introduced Senator Hickman as this years recipient. Below we have included Lambert's introduction.
President Per Holtze also presented Senator Hickman with a Paul Harris Fellow on behalf of the two clubs.
Eight past recipients attended the luncheon including:
- Ellis Wood
- Kenny Stone
- Ray Hendley
- Charles Sikes
- Roy and Deborah Thompson
- Jack Proctor
- Doug Lambert
Doug Lambert's Introduction
Traditionally the introduction of the Rotary Citizen of the Year begins with a veiled description of the recipient and the audience is left to wonder, if only briefly, about the identity. This year’s Rotary Citizen of the Year is so well known in the community it will be almost impossible to obfuscate.
Video of the presentation
Theodore Roosevelt said, "The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight; that he shall not be a mere passenger, but shall do his share in the work that each generation of us finds ready to hand; and, furthermore, that in doing his work he shall show, not only the capacity for sturdy self-help, but also self-respecting regard for the rights of others.
Our recipient has certainly pulled his own weight. The following is just a sample of the weight this years’ Rotary Citizen of the Year has pulled:
- Past President of the Downtown Rotary Club
- Past President of Southeast Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants
- Business Advisory Council, College of Business Administration, Georgia Southern University
- Board of Trustees, Georgia Southern University Foundation
- Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation Board Member
- Past President and Director, Ogeechee Technical College Foundation
- Board of Directors, Excelsior Electric Membership Corporation
- Past President, Statesboro Bulloch County Chamber of Commerce
- Member of the Bulloch County Development Authority.
- Chairman of the Savannah – Augusta Developmental Highway Association.
- Chairman of the Bulloch County Agriculture Building Committee
- Campaign Chairman for Bulloch County United Way, 2004
- Chairman of the Board for the United Way of Southeast Georgia
- Leadership Georgia Class of 1986
- Chairman of the Relay of Life Cancer Drive 2002 & 2003
- Chairman of “A Day for Southern,” 2004
- First Baptist Church Finance Committee
- Past President Midday Optimist Club
He has been honored as:
- Recipient Deen Day Smith Service to Mankind Award 1989
- Alumni of the Year in 1997 Theta Kappa Chapter of Sigma Nu
- Outstanding Accounting Alumnus Georgia Southern University 1998
- Statesboro-Bulloch County Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year 2007
- In April of 2012 he was inducted into the International Honor Society of Beta Gamma Sigma at Georgia Southern University
- He was the 2013 Alumni of the Year for the College of Business, Georgia Southern University.
- And was the Statesboro Herald 2018 Humanitarian of the Year
These are all evidence of an enviable career but if you ask Billy Hickman what he is most proud of, it will not be these accomplishments but rather the relationships he has built over a lifetime. In an age that is driven by goals and results, Billy still finds time to communicate and connect with people. Almost everyone in this room has a relationship with Billy and I can tell you, he treasures each one of them.
I’ll pause here to say that despite all his attributes, this year’s Rotary Citizen of the Year is a little sensitive about his age. Twenty years ago, we were at a Georgia Southern – Appalachian State football game in Boone when a flock of Mountaineers began taunting us and called Billy an old man. Billy became quite agitated, and I thought we were going to have to fight our way off the mountain. Later I said, “what were you going to do if they jumped us?” He said, “hit them with my cup and run!” I said, “you can’t outrun those 18-year-olds!” He said, “no, but I can outrun you!”
A first-generation college student, our honoree is a prime example of what Dr. Kyle Marerro describes as the transformational power of an education. Billy Hickman worked three jobs in college and graduated from Georgia Southern University with an accounting degree in 1974. He soon joined the firm currently known as Dabbs, Hickman, Hill & Cannon, LLP and became a partner in 1983. From 1998 to 2008 he was managing partner. He is a licensed CPA in Georgia and South Carolina and is certified in Financial Forensics.
Billy’s managerial responsibilities are undergirded by wide ranging expertise including individual and corporate taxations, litigation support and small business planning.
Just after the completion of the Bulloch County Agriculture Arena and the untimely death of Senator Jack Hill in 2020, Billy stopped by my office on a Friday afternoon and said, “be thinking about what we can work on next.” I was hoping to avoid working on anything else, so I suggested, “why don’t you run for the state senate?” He took a step back and said, “let me think about it over the weekend.” After a thoughtful and prayerful weekend, he emerged as a candidate for the state senate. Billy was elected to fill the unexpired term of Senator Hill in 2020 and reelected to a full term beginning in November of 2022.
True to form, Billy has quickly risen to a leadership position in the state senate.
- He is Chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee
- Member of the Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee
- Secretary of the Senate Finance Committee and a
- Member of the Development and Tourism Committee
In fact, on Thursday, Billy will join Brian Kemp in Savannah to witness the Governor signing a bill he sponsored establishing the Georgia Council on Literacy.
On a personal note, Billy has been married to JoAnn Hickman for 48 years and is a dedicated husband and father to two sons, Rusty, and Rhett and their five grandsons. He and JoAnn are dedicated Georgia Southern athletic supporters and avid thoroughbred horse racing fans.
Special thanks to Rotarian Kathy Spivey for assisting with the story.
