Tim Echols

A younger Tim Echols was selected by the Atlanta Airport Rotary Club as "Student of the Year" from his high school in 1978. While at the luncheon, he met Truett Cathy, a member of the club. After the meeting, Truett invited Tim to his Hapeville office where he gave him a set of motivational tapes and a challenge. Tim said the tapes changed his life and, as a result of listening to Zig Ziglar and his teaching, Tim set a goal to become a statewide elected official.

Shortly after graduating from UGA, Tim and his wife Windy founded TeenPact, a training experience for conservative high school students. The program began at the Georgia Capitol and now operates in all 50 states, having trained 60,000 students. After building TeenPact, Tim ran for and was elected to statewide office in 2010. He now serves as a Public Service Commissioner.

The PSC's primary job is energy regulation. When Tim took office, Georgia was 34th in solar power. Now, the state is 7th in the nation for installed solar. In 2020, Conservatives for Clean Energy dubbed Tim the "Solar Architect of Georgia."

Tim has also created the Clean Energy Roadshow that has traveled the state every summer for the past 14 years. This educational event helps commuters, businesses and municipal governments evaluate alternative fuel for their transportation and residential use.

In December 2017, Tim authored the motion to keep the expansion project at Plant Vogtle moving forward. He believes carbon-free nuclear energy plus solar is the best way forward for Georgia. Tim has represented the United States at the World Nuclear Exhibition since 2014.

Tim has tried to lead by example. He added solar hot-water heating to his Athens home just before he was sworn in. He bought a natural gas car, a propane van and now owns an electric car. Tim also led the effort to provide the Salvation Army and two other agencies with $5 million to help low-income seniors in Atlanta with heating assistance. That program continues today.

Tim created a pilot program to provide specially equipped iPads to the hearing impaired to help them function more productively. Tim also led the PSC to increase the number of pediatric hearing aids it provides to eligible hearing-impaired children.

In 2019, Tim rallied donors and the solar community to build and donate to the Hog Hammock Foundation a 16-panel solar pavilion for the community library on the remote Sapelo Island off Georgia’s coast. Sapelo is the home of one of the last remaining Gullah Geechee communities and this array will provide free electricity to the library for 30 years. With help from YellaWood, Southern Current and EDF Renewables, Echols led the way to build this lasting asset.

Tim also has been at the forefront in fighting human sex trafficking. He created the "Unholy Tour" that helps policy makers see first-hand the harms of human trafficking. As a part of his efforts to educate the public about the harms of trafficking, Tim created the Wilberforce Fellowship that meets once per year at Jackson Lake in Newton County. Tim and Judge Tim Batten head this effort.

Tim has a weekly radio show called Energy Matters airing on Cox Media Group and in four other Georgia media markets. The show has over 300 episodes.

Tim most recently finished writing a historical fiction book about the founding of the Jekyll Island Club entitled “Jean Marc of Jekyll.” The book is about the power of remarkable friendships.

Tim and Windy have been married 41 years and have seven children. He has three degrees from the University of Georgia and lives in Hoschton.