Mr. Center is a Savannah native, born in 1955. He is a product of the public school system and graduated from Beach High School in 1973. He attended George Washington University, the University of Southern California, and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1978. In 1982, he attended the Fails Management Institute at Georgia Tech where he received the “Outstanding Student Award.”

 

Mr. Center is the President of National Office Systems which he has owned since 1986. National Office Systems is the exclusive distributer in coastal Georgia of DIRTT Environmental Systems and Herman Miller Furniture. He is a graduate of Leadership Savannah and the 1995 class of Leadership Georgia. Mr. Center has served as the Chairman of the Small Business Council of the Chamber and was the editor of their paper for and about small business, The Small Street Journal. He is a Director of the World Trade Center Savannah where he serves as a chairman, Step Up Savannah (treasurer), Savannah Technical College Foundation (past chairman), the Savannah Jewish Federation, the Rotary Club of Savannah, and the Savannah Music Festival. Mr. Center was also president of the local chapter of AIPAC. Formerly, he was a Director of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, Mickve Israel Synagogue (president of the Brotherhood), Executive Association of Savannah, Frank Callens Boys and Girls Club, Vision 20/20 (past president), Chatham County Democratic Party, American Cancer Society, Nature Conservancy’s Corporate Council, CASA, BB&T Bank, Greenbriar Children’s Center, Parent and Child Development Agency, Dolphin Project (treasurer), Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, and United Way of the Coastal Empire.

 

As President of Vision 20/20, Mr. Center was involved with the conception, planning, and passage of the first local option sales tax for community improvement projects, the successful solicitation of a low-fare airline for Savannah, a lobbying effort to create state incentives for business expanding and relocating in Georgia, the nomination of Savannah as an All American City, and the Yamacraw Art Project. As a board member of SEDA, he was responsible for the successful recruitment of DIRTT’s first US factory in Savannah, the construction of the DFACS building, and helped with the creation of the World Trade Center in Savannah.

 

The Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce named Scott Center its “Small Business Person of the Year” in 1995. Mr. Center was the president of the 1996-1998 class of Leadership Savannah.