The Rotary Club of Gainesville named its man and woman on the year during its annual banquet Monday night.
Carol Burrell, chairman and CEO of Northeast Georgia Health System, was named woman of the year, while Doug Hanson, an advocate of ending homelessness and who volunteer with many local groups, was given the man of year award.
Three other awards were also handed out. Martha Zoller, host of "The Martha Zoller Show" on WDUN, was given the Sidney O. Smith Fellowship Award. LaDon Shaw, chief advancement officer at Girls Scouts of Historic Georgia, was given the W. Lee Arrendale Vocational Excellence Award. And Blair Diaz, a Gainesville certified public accountant, was given the Guardian of Ethics Award.
Under Burrell's leadership, NGHS built Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton, the first new hospital in more than 20 decades that was not a replacement for an existing facility. The system also acquired Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow in 2017.
She was recognized in 2017 as the Most Respected Business Leader by Georgia Trend and was named in 2018 as one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle's Women Who Mean Business. She has been one of Georgia Trend's 100 Most Influential Georgians for six straight years.
Hanson has spent much of this time to ending homelessness through supporting efforts between nonprofits groups and government agencies. He discovered a software system that helps agencies track what needs to be done in fighting the homeless crisis.
For many years, he's been active in the community, serving and volunteering with Meals on Wheels, Good News Clinics, United Way, Promising Futures, Family Promise of Hall County, Drug Free Hall, Gainesville Housing Authority, North Georgia Works and The Way. He's a Bible study leader for First Baptist Church.
