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Wednesday, December 12, 2001 Cowan wins Cenker Award Joel Cowan of Peachtree City has won the 2001 Lewis Cenker Award, the highest honor given by the Greater Atlanta Homebuilders Association to an individual who has made a lifelong contribution to the advancement of the home building industry in the greater Atlanta area. The award is named for Lewis Cenker, who served as the president of the National Association of Home Builders in 1974. Cenker is the only Atlantan to have served in this office. Cowan grew up in Cartersville and graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in business management. His major business interests in the past were real estate development and corporate finance. One of the founders of Peachtree City, Cowan served as the city's first mayor beginning in 1959. He was also chief executive officer of its development company through 1976. Cowan also developed Phipps Plaza shopping center in Atlanta as well as Palmetto Dunes in Hilton Head, S.C. He was former Gov. Joe Frank Harris' honorary chief of staff for two terms. He served in various unpaid capacities under Gov. Harris, including the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, chairman of the Governor's Growth Strategies Commission and chairman of the board of the Department of Community Affairs. He was the founding chairman of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) as well as the Governor's Development Council. He is currently chairman of the Fayette Community Foundation and a member of the board of The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta. He is a former trustee of The Georgia Conservancy, former trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation, former chairman of the board of Rabun Gap Nacoochee School, a former director and vice chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Central Atlanta Progress. He has also served as a member of the Georgia State University College of Law advisory board, Ivan Allen College Advisory Board of Georgia Tech, Olympic Environmental Support Group, Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission and Planning Advisory Council of the Atlanta Regional Commission. For the last several years his primary interests have involved working in the emerging economies of Eastern Europe, Russia and China. He currently has an active presence in China, focusing on home building, e-commerce and merchant banking. He recently privatized a Chinese company which was active in low-cost housing and is now its chairman and majority owner. He is a director of World Airways Inc. and a former director of Interstate General Company, Continental Airlines, and IRT Property Company. Cowan has three grown children and five grandchildren. He and his wife Geraldine have lived in Peachtree City since 1959 and attend First Presbyterian Church. Gov. Roy Barnes appointed Cowan in June as chairman of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District.
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