Sam Olens was sworn in as Georgia’s fifty-third Attorney General on January 10, 2011.

Olens was Chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners from August 2002 through March 2010. Previously, he served as Cobb County District 3 Commissioner from 1999 through June 2002.

From December 2004 through 2009, Olens was Chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission. He was also Vice-Chairman of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District from 2005 through March 2010. Olens was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue to represent the 6th Congressional District on Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs Board in 2003 and served through 2010.

Olens also serves on the boards of various non-profit organizations, including the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

Sam Olens is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2008 Tom Bradley Leadership Award by the National Association of Regional Councils and the 2007 “Excellence in Public Service Award” by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute. For the past seven years, Georgia Trend magazine has listed Olens as one of the “100 Most Influential Georgians.”

Other honors include the 2011 “Living the Dream” Award by the Cobb County NAACP, 2010 Trumpet Award from the Cobb County Women’s Republican Club, the 2009 James L. Rhoden, Jr. Award for Visionary Philanthropy, the 2009 United Way in Cobb County Volunteer of the Year, and Cobb’s “Citizen of the Year” by the Marietta Daily Journal in 2006.

Olens graduated from the Emory University School of Law in 1983 and was a member of Ezor & Olens, P.C. from 1983 through 2010. He is a registered mediator/arbitrator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution.  He has been admitted to practice law in Georgia and D.C.


Olens and his wife Lisa have two children, Lauren and Jonathan.