Glenda Hatchett, best-known for her nationally syndicated show Judge Hatchett and now a senior attorney with the Hatchett Firm, will deliver the 2015 Holmes-Hunter Lecture Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. in the Chapel.
Hatchett, a former chief presiding judge of the Fulton County Juvenile Court, was the first African-American chief presiding judge of a state court in Georgia and head of one of the largest juvenile court systems in the country. She left her post in Fulton County to preside over her two-time Emmy nominated show, Judge Hatchett, for 13 seasons. Judge Hatchett won a Prism Award for best unscripted nonfiction series or special for television.
A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the Emory University School of Law, Hatchett completed a federal clerkship in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia. She then spent nearly 10 years at Delta Air Lines, where she was the airline’s highest-ranking woman of color worldwide, serving both as senior attorney and public relations manager. She left the corporation to work in Fulton County.
A seasoned litigator with more than 30 years of experience, Hatchett recently created the Hatchett Firm, which specializes in risk and crisis management as well as innovative and effective closing and settlement strategies. The firm engages a national network of attorneys to handle complex civil litigation. She also serves as a consultant adviser to corporations as they communicate with the media during crisis situations.
Hatchett sits on the Atlanta Falcons’ Board of Advisors, a position she has held since 2004, and is a consultant to the National Basketball Association on legal and social issues. She has served on the boards of three Fortune 500 companies-the Hospital Corporation of America Inc., Gap Inc. and ServiceMaster Co.
She continues a commitment to community development through service on the boards of nonprofit organizations including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Play Pumps International, the Afterschool Alliance and the Women’s Resource Center at Spelman College.
Hatchett is the national spokesperson for CASA-Court Appointed Special Advocates-a nonprofit organization that trains volunteers to represent abused and neglected children, and its President’s Award is among her many accolades.
Her other awards include the Roscoe Pound Award for outstanding work in criminal justice and the NAACP’s Thurgood Marshall Award. Hatchett has been recognized as one of the “100 Best and Brightest Women in Corporate America” by Ebony magazine.
Hatchett is the author of the national best-selling books Dare to Take Charge and Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say.
The Holmes-Hunter Lecture honors Charlayne Hunter-Gault and the late Hamilton Holmes, who in 1961 became the first African-American students to enroll at UGA. Held annually since 1985, it focuses on race relations, social justice and education with implications for inclusion and diversity.
One of UGA’s Signature Lectures for 2014-2015, the lecture is sponsored by the Office of the President.
