Deborah E. Edmonson

Deborah E. Edmondson is a board member of the Don Ryan Center for Innovation.

Edmondson is a real estate agent, a certified grant writer, and a marketing consultant for non-profit organizations. Her experience and expertise give the Don Ryan Center for Innovation’s Board of Directors a local network with minority-owned companies, small businesses, and the know-how of doing business with developing countries.

Edmondson continues to work as a certified grant writer, mainly for the Beaufort County Human Services Alliances as she works with local non-profits to apply for local, regional, and federal grants.

In addition to Edmondson’s professional positions, she also has dedicated herself to countless civic positions in the South Carolina Lowcountry including: 

The Native Island Business and Community Affairs Association (Board Member), United Way of the Lowcountry (Board Member & Marketing Committee), Hilton Head- Bluffton Leadership Council (Board of Regents), Beaufort County Economic Development Board, Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Small & Minority Business Council and the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Arts Council. Edmondson is also a 2003 graduate of the Leadership Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce. She most recently served on the Negotiating Committee for the Town of Bluffton having to relinquish her seat to serve on the Don Ryan Board.

Prior to her real estate career with Southern Lifestyle Properties, Edmondson was a vice president with Mission Resources Group. She assisted businesses and non-profit organizations through the development and implementation of marketing programs and communications strategies.

She was also a senior consultant with Gazelle Communications Group as she advised senior executives with corporate, non-profit, and tourism-related organizations to develop and implement marketing communications plans. During this position, Edmondson also provided business development services for small businesses in Asia and Africa through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID is a federal government agency that administers civilian foreign aid with the mission of “extending a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country.”

Edmondson lives in Bluffton with her husband, Dr. Clarence Edmondson, and daughter Naomi, currently a sophomore at May River High School.