Awards | National Speakers Association Georgia

NSA Georgia Kay Herman Legacy Award

Kay Herman Award Every year NSA Georgia recognizes individuals who represent two values we passionately stand for: service to one another and growing our individual speaking businesses. To win one of these achievements is truly an honor of incredible talent and selfless support.

Though Kay Herman was not a paid speaker, she was considered by many to be the force behind the beginning of what was then called the Georgia Speakers Association (GSA). At National Speakers Association’s specific request, Kay was one of GSA’s founders in 1980. She was the third president of GSA and remained on the board for several years. Kay was instrumental in creating the Professional Speakers Benefit Fund, which provides financial assistance to NSA members in need. One of her last wishes before she died in 1999 was to send the fund another check.

A member of NSA for many years, she was the wife of a CPAE—Fred Herman—and the mother of a CSP—Kay duPont, who began the initiative to honor the woman behind the founding of what we now know as NSA Georgia.

A mentor to new speakers, Kay never said “no” to a would-be speaker seeking advice or to a once-active speaker seeking motivation. It is said she even fed more than a few fledgling speakers in her time. Kay left a legacy to all in the speaking business, but especially those of us in NSA Georgia.

Kay Herman Legacy Award Recipients

2024 - Jim Ziegler, CSP

2023 – John Brantley

2022 – Sandy Weaver

2019 – Tricia Molloy

2018 – Jeff Justice

2017 – David Greenberg

2016 – Dr. David Ryback

2015 – June Cline, CSP

2014 – Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman, CSP, CPAE

2013 – Jim Dawson

2012 – Jon Schwartz

2011 – Dan Thurmon, CSP, CPAE

2010 – Shirley Garrett, CSP

2009 – Jean Houston Shore, CSP

2008 – Steve Cohn, CSP

2007 – Austin McGonigle

2006 – Gene Griessman, Ph.D.

2005 – Terry Brock, MBA, CSP, CPAE

2004 – Ken Futch, CSP, CPAE

2003 – Mike Stewart, CSP

2002 – Dick Biggs

2001 – Kay duPont, CSP

NSA Speaker Hall of Fame (CPAE)

In February 1977, the National Speakers Association (NSA) established the Council of Peers Award for Excellence (CPAE)® Speaker Hall of Fame to honor professional speakers who have reached the top echelon of platform excellence.

Admission into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame is a lifetime award for speaking excellence and professionalism. Inductees are evaluated by their peers through a rigorous and demanding process. Each candidate must excel in the following five categories:

Message
Presentation & Delivery
Experience
Professionalism
Collateral Material

Current NSA Georgia Members Awarded CPAE Designation

Ken Futch, CSP, CPAE

Dan Thurmon, CSP, CPAE

Lt. Col. Rob "Waldo" Waldman, CSP, CPAE

Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)

By earning your CSP designation, you can prove to meeting professionals that you are among the top echelon of professional speakers who have earned this international designation that only about 17% of speakers worldwide have earned.

With this designation, meeting professionals looking to work with the best speakers will see your commitment to the profession and know you have top-notch speaking ability with a track record of professionalism and success.