A Life Well Lived and Wealth Well Spent with Dame Stephanie Shirley artwork
The Change Maker

A Life Well Lived and Wealth Well Spent with Dame Stephanie Shirley

  • S3
  • 37:45
  • February 1st 2023

This week on the Change Maker: Dame Stephanie Shirley. Dame Stephanie is a philanthropist and business owner in the United Kingdom. She arrived there shortly after the start of World War II as an unaccompanied child refugee. From those beginnings, she went on to create one of the first woman owned and staffed software companies in the UK to great success. She has since created several charities for causes near and dear to her. 

You can learn more about Dame Stephanie Shirley and he philanthropic work at: https://www.steveshirley.com

To find more information on this show: https://www.augustapodcasts.com/thechangemaker

You can watch the video version of our conversation on our Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/AZGqiXN3qRg

The Change Maker

The Change Maker is hosted by Deke Copenhaver. When Deke took over as mayor of his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, the city’s politics were broken and riven along racial lines. No group trusted any other group, so nothing got done.

From 2005 through 2014 Deke was a catalyst in helping to transform Augusta, attracting businesses to spur economic development, implementing social programs that impacted the lives of Augustans on a daily basis. He focused effort on communities that had been neglected for years.

No serving as the Principal of Copenhaver Consulting, Deke remains committed to being a Change Maker while helping others realize their potential to impact their communities for the better. For his work, he’s been recognized on multiple occasions by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians.

Deke currently authors a monthly column on leadership published by the Georgia Municipal Association. Deke earned a BA in Political Science from Augusta College and is a graduate of Leadership Georgia and the Mayors’ Institute on City Design.

A passionate athlete, Deke has completed five Ironman 70.3s and several half marathons. He and his wife, Malisa, reside in Augusta with their dogs Sarah Bet, Buddy, and Johnny.