Paula began her volunteer role with the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) SHRM Chapter in 2003 as the Hospitality Chair. She served on the CSRA SHRM Board of Directors from 2003 until her Presidency in 2010. This marked the first year of a combined chapter after the boards of two local Augusta area chapters came together to form a stronger better chapter. As a direct result of this merger and the board’s leadership, CSRA SHRM was awarded the Best Chapter in Georgia award by the state.
Paula began serving on the Georgia SHRM State Council in 2011 as a District Director for the eastern chapters in Georgia. She also served as the Membership Director from 2016 – 2018 and is currently completing a two year term as the State Director. Paula credits her professional success to SHRM membership and her volunteer roles. The network of professionals and the online resources have both helped her to become better.
Currently, Paula is the Human Resources Manager at McCorkle Nurseries in Dearing, Georgia where she leads the company’s HR, Training, and Safety functions. Prior to her current role, she served as Vice President of Augusta Metro Federal Credit Union leading the company’s HR, Marketing, Training, and Compliance departments. Her early career included public relations and communications roles with International Paper in Savannah, Georgia. Human resources is the perfect fit for Paula since she thrives on helping employees and the company leadership succeed together.
In addition to her SHRM volunteer roles, Paula has served on the Savannah Chamber of Commerce’s membership committee, and volunteered with the March of Dimes and United Way of the Coastal Empire. She also served on the Georgia Credit Union Affiliated Compliance Committee and the Augusta Area Credit Union Chapter.
Paula holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Augusta University, where she majored in marketing. She is a SHRM Certified Professional and holds the Human Resource Certification Institute’s Professional in Human Resources certification.