The Greater Atlanta Water Safety Alliance (GAWSA) was founded in 2012 by Craig Sears. From then until now, GAWSA has experienced inspiring growth, but not without making some crucial mistakes. Craig will share the story of GAWSA from birth to our current impact, our struggles, and how we grew our mission and expanded our operation from dryland education to in-water instruction and swim lesson scholarships. He will describe how he used his business background and passion for aquatics to start, grow, fundraise, and build partnerships in the local community to reach underserved families without access to water safety education and swim instruction. This presentation is designed to be interactive and helpful to others seeking to start water safety non-profits in their communities.
Craig Sears has been in aquatics for over 30 years. He founded Sears Pool Management Consultants, Inc. in 1997, which provides pool management services to community and commercial pools in the metro Atlanta area. He also founded Greater Atlanta Water Safety Alliance in 2012, which provides free water safety education and subsidized swim lessons and aquatic training to Atlanta area residents. He has served continuously on the Georgia Chapter of the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) since 2007, currently serves on PHTA's CPO Advisory Council, and has earned various industry designations including ARC LGIT, CPOI, PHTA CSP, and CBP. He has also received multiple industry awards and recognitions, including being named a PHTA Fellow in 2018, PHTA CSP of the Year in 2020, and AI Power 2023.