By ANNA SHAND, Cleveland Daily Banner

During the Habitat Tennessee state conference this week, Cleveland’s own Executive Director Tammy Johnson was recognized as the "leader of the year".

“I am very honored. I'm very humbled. I'm very shocked,” Johnson said at a ceremony today, July 28. “I am very, very clear that there are two things that are needed to make a good leader, and the first is God's direction. I seek His direction for every single thing I do. … The second thing is this team that I'm surrounded by. There is no way I would be here and no way I would have taken this job if I hadn’t known the board, the core volunteers, our donors, the community and the staff that I was going to be working with — we have an exceptional group.”

Patty Silverman, former president of Cleveland's Habitat board of directors, said multiple awards are given every year at the state Habitat conferences. Out of 40 affiliates in the state of Tennessee, Johnson was chosen as the No. 1 leader this year.

“During my tenure as president, which I've just stepped off of, our executive committee decided that we wanted to nominate our Tammy for an award,” Silverman said.

Silverman said Johnson is a hero every single day in the community.

“This woman right here is our hero every day at Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. And we love her. She's not only a great leader, but she's a great friend to all of us,” Silverman said. “And every day, I am just inspired as I see the way she just figures things out. And during the pandemic, when many Habitats in our state did not make it, ours exceeded expectations. We are in a better financial place than we have been in years, and I really attribute it all to this woman right here. So we are blessed to have her. We love her.”

Habitat of Cleveland affiliates — construction volunteers, staff, board members and donors — came together Thursday to throw a surprise party for Johnson.