Shelby R. Grubbs, executive director of the Atlanta Center for International Arbitration and Mediation, has been appointed chair of the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
Shelby Grubbs has been appointed chair of the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
The mission of the commission is to increase the knowledge, goodwill and understanding of the world through people-to-people diplomacy, education, cultural and economic exchanges and humanitarian assistance. The commission fosters and develops relationships between Atlanta and its 18 sister cities.
“I am honored to be appointed,” Grubbs said. “I’m happy to continue to work on elevating Atlanta’s profile as an international city. My predecessor Teri Simmons has done a great job and I hope to measure up. I’m very grateful she has agreed to remain involved and active with the Nuremburg committee.”
As chair, Grubbs will continue to develop connections between Atlanta and its 18 sister cities, including fostering business, cultural and educational opportunities. ASCC is an affiliate of Sister Cities International (SCI), the national membership association for sister-city, county and state programs in the United States. ASCC is one of more than 2,100 sister city communities in over 100 countries throughout the world.
“Sister Cities is a mechanism for developing and leveraging transnational relationships,” said Grubbs, one of the founding board members of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society. His involvement with Sister Cities will be complementary to his work at the arbitration center, Grubbs said, providing the opportunity to expand domestic and international networks in both.
Grubbs, who is of counsel at Miller & Martin, has more than 37 years of experience in the area of civil litigation and dispute resolution. He worked as a litigation lawyer and as an advocate, special master and neutral in alternative dispute resolution proceedings prior to joining Georgia State University College of Law in 2014. He is a past chair of the Litigation, Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Section of the World Law Group, an international network with more than 15,000 lawyers in 52 firms in more than 200 cities.
Atlanta’s sister cities include Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Brussels, Belgium; Cotonou, Benin; Toulouse, France; Fukuoka, Japan; Ancient Olympia, Greece; Lagos, Nigeria; Nuremberg, Germany; Newcastle, England; Bucharest, Romania; Daegu, South Korea; Lagos, Nigeria; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Tbilisi,Republic of Georgia; Ra’anana, Israel; Salcedo, Dominican Republic and Salzberg, Austria.